Stacey – 85 Comments
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This recipe for my Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies is classic, easy, and crazy delicious! They’re chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside!
Of all of my cookie recipes, this Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookie recipe is probably my favorite. It was the first cookie recipe I posted, and I suppose I’m a little nostalgic about that. Regardless, it’s a seriously great recipe!
What makes cookies chewy?
Chewy, gooey cookies have a special knack for making us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. The secret to their delightful chewiness lies in a couple of key players, but mainly it’s brown sugar. The brown sugar works with the other ingredients harmoniously to hold onto moisture, resulting in a soft and tender cookie texture. It’s like they create a cozy little haven within each cookie, making sure you get that satisfying chew with every bite.
Do I really have to chill cookie dough?
To chill or not to chill, that is the dough-lemma we cookie enthusiasts face! It’s like a personality test for your sweet treats.
Chilling cookie dough is like sending it to a spa retreat – it gets all relaxed and zen, allowing the flavors to mingle and the ingredients to bond like old friends at a reunion. It also helps the dough firm up, preventing cookies from spreading like gossip at the work water cooler, which is the main reason for me.
On the other hand, baking dough right away is like catching a cookie in its pre-makeover state. It’s spontaneous, and it spreads in the oven more, resulting in thinner cookies that embrace the crispy side of life.
So, in essence, chilling creates plump and chewy cookies while skipping the chill delivers crispy and thin ones. But hey, let’s be real: whether chilled or unchilled, all cookies are delicious. It just depends on what kind of cookies you want to make.
What if my cookies spread too thin?
If your pecan chocolate chip cookies spread too thin in the oven, it’s likely that you either have used too little flour or that your butter is too warm. Most commonly, it’s the butter issue. Chilling the dough for about 30 minutes in the refrigerator will firm the butter back up and help to keep them from spreading too quickly.
Ingredients Needed
- Butter – Unsalted is best to control the salt content, but salted will work in a pinch. The most important thing to keep in mind is that you’ll want the butter to be room temperature but not too soft and certainly not melted. Butter that’s too warm will melt too quickly in the oven’s heat and cause the cookies to spread too quickly.
- Sugar – Plain granulated sugar helps to give these cookies a crisp exterior and helps to provide structure in the cookies.
- Brown Sugar – Either light or dark brown sugar will work here. The brown sugar helps to make the cookies chewy, and the acid in the sugar helps to activate the baking soda to make these cookies lighter.
- Vanilla – I’ve talked about it a lot recently, but I’ll say it again… Either vanilla extract or the less expensive vanilla flavoring will work in this recipe. I actually prefer the flavor of the vanilla flavoring over the vanilla extract in many instances.
- Eggs – Two large eggs that are at room temperature are going to give you the best results in this recipe. The eggs provide structure, help to hold the ingredients together, and keep the cookies soft.
- All-Purpose Flour – I wouldn’t recommend swapping the all-purpose, baking soda, and salt for self-rising flour in this recipe.
- Salt – Plain table salt works just fine in this recipe – nothing fancy here.
- Baking Soda – Baking soda helps these cookies brown up faster and more beautifully and gives them a little lift.
- Chocolate Chips – I prefer the flavor of semi-sweet chocolate chips in this recipe, but milk chocolate chips or even dark chocolate chips will work.
- Pecans – Chopped pecans add great flavor and texture to these cookies. You could swap the pecans for another nut like pistachios, walnuts, or almonds.
OMG! These are the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve tried. I stumbled across this recipe while trying to find a cookie recipe to try during our stay safe at home period. My boys gobbled them up! I followed the recipe exactly and they came out perfect! Thank you! It’s exactly what we needed at a time like this.
Kim M.
This post was originally published 4/26/2011 and was updated 8/30/2023.
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4.63 from 16 votes
Recipe Card
Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies
Author Stacey Little
Course Dessert, Snack
Prep Time 15 minutes minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes minutes
Total Time 25 minutes minutes
Servings 48 cookies
Calories 145kcal
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature, not melted)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or flavoring
- 2 large eggs
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick silicone baking mat.
In a large bowl, use a stand mixer or hand mixer to cream the butter and sugars together until well combined. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.
In another bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture, mixing well after each addition.
Once combined, stir in the chocolate chips and pecans.
(For thicker, chewy cookies, refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes before scooping. For thinner, crispier cookies, bake immediately.) Use a cookie scoop to scoop the dough onto the prepared cookie sheet in heaping 1 tablespoonfuls.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Allow to rest on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container on the counter.
Nutrition
Calories: 145kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 18mg | Sodium: 77mg | Potassium: 68mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 134IU | Vitamin C: 0.02mg | Calcium: 12mg | Iron: 1mg
* If nutritional values are provided, they are an estimate and will vary depending on the brands used. The values do not include optional ingredients or when ingredients are added to taste. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, I recommend grabbing your favorite brands and plugging those ingredients into an online nutritional calculator.
Did you make my Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies?I’d love to see! Share on Instagram, tag @southernbite, and use the hashtag #southernbite!
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Comments
Kate
Unfortunately this recipe didn’t work for me. I was sure I did everything accurately, but the cookies rose like cake almost. And they weren’t very good.
I -know- I measured the flour right- I triple checked!
Sadly this took me a long time and has put me off making cookies for a long while 🙁Reply
- Stacey
Sorry they didn’t turn out as expected, Kate! There are a few different reasons why cookies turnout puffy and cakey. This link might be helpful: https://www.allrecipes.com/article/cookie-troubleshooting-problems-and-solutions/
Don’t let this discourage you, though. Get back in there and try again. After all, they’re just cookies. 🙂
Cookee
Hi Stacy,
In the pics of your cookies, did you use the thin or chewy thick method that are listed in recipe.
You are some terrific cook or is that CHEF!!
Thanks for your hard work and love of cooking.Reply
- Stacey
Hi Cookee! For these is refrigerated my dough – so I used the chewy, thick method. Hope you enjoy them!
Dawn Reese
Omg, so easy to make. I chose to make my dough the night before and refrigerated over night. My coworkers were very happy when I walked in with fresh baked cookiesReply
- Stacey
Thanks, Dawn! I’m tickled to hear your coworkers enjoyed them!
Chantell Crenshaw
I made these cookies and let me tell you the were so good. I could taste the ingredients and it was just the right amount of everything. Thank you so much for sharingReply
- Stacey
Wonderful! So happy to hear that!
Gloria Sturby
Super yummy cookies i made it.Reply
- Stacey
Glad to hear they turned out great for you!
Jules
I substituted one of the cups of chocolate chips with butterscotch…..delish!Reply
- Stacey
Sounds like a delicious addition!
Katherine
These turned out super delicious! Used the exact recipe and refrigerated dough for an hour before baking 😋
Reply
- Stacey
They’re beautiful!! So glad to hear you’ve enjoyed them!!
Audrey Crawford
Could this recipe be used for pan cookies like Nestle’s recipe can be?
Reply
- Stacey
Hi Audrey! Just so I can make sure to answer correctly, what do you mean by pan cookies?
Audrey Crawford
Spreading the dough out evenly on a greased 15x10x1 baking pan. For a crowd this is how I have always baked my cookies and cut into 35 squares. Got this off an old Toll House Pan Cookie recipe put out by Nestle.
- Stacey
Gotcha! Yes, I think this should work like that, but can’t for sure. I’ve not tested it that way.
Lauri
Hey all, I just made these cookies after refrigerating the dough overnight. I let the dough come to room temp for 1 hour or so. They baked up great in 10 minutes! I also toasted the pecans ahead of time, adds great flavor. Thanks for the recipe!!Reply
- Stacey
So glad you enjoyed them!
Nana
These make the best chocolate chip cookies! My husband wants me to make cookies using crushed heath bars. Do you think I could use this recipe substituting the chocolate chips for crushes heath bars?
Reply
- Stacey
Absolutely! I’ve done that several times. Enjoy!
Kim M.
OMG! These are the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve tried. I stumbled across this recipe while trying to find a cookie recipe to try during our stay safe at home period. My boys gobbled them up! I followed the recipe exactly and they came out perfect! Thank you! It’s exactly what we needed at a time like this.Reply
- Stacey
I’m so glad that y’all enjoyed them!
M. G
Can we substitute the eggs with anything? I’ve been making these cookies for a couple years now, was just wondering about the egg.
Reply
- Stacey
I’m just not sure how egg substitutes will work in this recipe and since I haven’t tested it, I just can’t say for sure.
Shawn
I used a kosher salt which gave them a salted caramel taste was this just caused i used kosher salty not the less delish going to make another batch tonight using regular saltReply
Shawn
Meant none the less it was delish
- Stacey
These do have a bit of salt in them to cut the sweet some. It shouldn’t make a huge difference by using the other salt, but if you’re super sensitive to it, you might notice it.
Jennifer Culpepper
I stumbled across your recipe. My husband loves chocolate chip and pecan cookies. I made these for him. Let’s just say I think you helped create a monster! Awesome recipe, simple directions, great taste!Reply
- Stacey
So, so glad he enjoyed them!! Thanks, Jennifer!
Christina
The cookies are great. Very tasty, and baked nicely. These are not the puffy, cakey cookies, these are the flatter, chewy center-crunchy edge cookies.
My one complaint is the serving size.
Either it is off, or the recipe is designed for small, 2 bite cookies. I just tried to make 12 dozen of these, and wound up 2 dozen + 4 cookies short. And I didn’t make huge cookies, just a stansard, home made, spooned cookie size. Probably 4 bites. So- just keep that in mind. This will only make 4 dozen, as the serving size suggests, if you make mini cookies, so adjust your expectations accordingly.
God bless!Reply
- Stacey
Hi Christina! SO glad to hear that you enjoyed them, but sorry about the yield issue. Any time I have a question like this, I often look to other similarly sized recipes as a comparison. Looking at the Original Nestle Toll House recipe, it uses 2 1/4 cups of flour and similar measurements of the other ingredients and yields 5 dozen cookies. https://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/18476/original-nestle-toll-house-chocolate-chip-cookies/
Lauri
If I may respond, I did the recipe and got 49 cookies. I measured them with a tablespoon measure with a touch extra.
Sarah
Thank you for the recipe. Made cookies two nights in a row! Second night we substituted m&m. Kids loved them!
Reply
- Stacey
SO glad y’all enjoyed them!!!
Olvera.amy
What width cookie scoop did u use and how big were your cookies? I’m looking for 3in cookies , what cookie scoop should I use?
Reply
- Stacey
I use a 1 1/2 tablespoon scoop.
J. Strauss
This recipe is awesome! The cookies were the perfect consistency.
I lightly toasted the pecans and substituted half of the chips with butterscotch chips (still half chocolate). Everyone raved about the cookies!
Reply
- Stacey
Awesome! I’m so glad they turned out great!!
Chipper12
Made these cookies today and substituted 1/4 tsp. steva extract powder for 3/4 c. white sugar. We really like the cookies and making the recipe this way there is 1 tsp. less sugar for every two cookies. (We had 67 cookies) The cookies browned better with this substitution when baked on convection oven setting.
Reply
- Stacey
So glad they worked out for you!
Da-Nel
These were a hit! Delicious, moist, buttery and packed with flavor (and I made them a little larger too)! Thanks for sharing and best wishes!! Oh, and the fun thing about baking these was that I smelled like vanilla and brown sugar for the rest of the day. #BakersSmellGood
Reply
- Stacey
Glad they turned out great for you!!
carol
I’ve been baking for nearly 50 years and these are the best chocolate chip pecan cookies I have ever made. Followed the recipe exactly, oven temp and all.
Reply
- Stacey
Nothing makes me happier than hearing seasoned cooks happy with my recipes! I’m so glad you enjoyed these, Carol!
TayTay
These cookies are the best! Wanted to make them for a friend who is allergic to wheat. Any suggestions on how to make them gluten free?
Reply
- Stacey
So glad to hear you enjoy them! I don’t have much experience with the gluten free diet, so I’m not much help there.
Dallas
Could you replace the pecans with more chocolate chips? Or will that mess the recipie up?
Reply
- Stacey
Sure! Go right ahead. 🙂
Evelyn
I’ve noticed that most chocolate chip cookies call for unsalted butter. Your recipe calls for butter. I’m just concerned with the amount of salt. Thanks!
Reply
- Stacey
I like for my chocolate chip cookies to have a bit of salt in them. Feel free to use either salted or unsalted, though.
Aria
These are the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had. I’ve been baking them for two years now and they are my favorite!
Reply
- Stacey
Love hearing that!! Thanks for coming back to let me know, Aria!
Angelina Smith
My cookies came out a weird casey texture but for some reason my dough looked more like cake batter than cookie dough prior to cooking. 🙁
Reply
- Stacey
Oh no! Are you sure the measurement were correct? I hate to hear when things don’t turn out right.
Beverly
Can you use baking powder instead of baking soda for this recipe and if so how much baking powder would be appropriate ?
Reply
- Stacey
You can, though I wouldn’t recommend it.
Ashley
These cookies, most importantly, were most DEFIANTLY MADE WITH A LOT OF LOVE! (((<3)))
Reply
Sara
These cookies are *awesome*!! Don’t bother with that Tollhouse recipe; use this one!!!
Reply
- Stacey
Ha! Now that’s an endorsem*nt right there!! So glad you enjoyed it!!
Lauren
These are some of the best cookies I’ve ever made. Thanks for the recipe!
Reply
- Stacey
Wonderful! I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
Pam
Just made your chocolate chip pecan cookies… I am not sure if I just had a good baking day, which is rare, or these just baked up perfectly as instructed. Big, puffy, crispy, and soft..I am very happy how they turned out. I may have made them a little big but I still got 41 cookies out of the batch. This is a keeper. May use walnuts next time…thanks
Reply
- Stacey
The credit goes to you!! So glad they turned out well for you!
kat
I just have to tell you, I make these cookies (minus the pecans) all the time for family parties and people go crazy for them! This is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever!! thank you!! xx I baked them at 360 for 10 minutes and they were heavenly!
Reply
- Stacey
So glad they’re part of your regular rotation! 🙂
Marla
375 is a little too high to bake cookies, so I baked these at 350 and they were really good. I used a tsp of vanilla-butter emulsion instead of just vanilla…….they were awesome!
Reply
- Stacey
Good deal. I’m not had any problems with these cookies at 375. It’s give them the crispy exterior I really like.
Gaby
Thanks for the recipe! I only had 1 cup of chocolate chips and I added a bit of flaxseed meal. The cookies are delicious!
Reply
- Stacey
So glad they turned out great!
ayssha
Thank you sooo much. They we’re delicious and my family loved them. Great recipe!
Reply
- Stacey
I’m so glad y’all enjoyed them!!!
Jen
Not that this is timely, but I thought 350 was the “standard” cookie baking temperature too. I gave 375 a shot but at 10 minutes they were already getting a tad darker/crunchier on the outside than I like, so I turned it down to ~360 and they came out perfect!
Reply
Oh what a cutie! Bless his heart, I hope he feels good real soon. What wonderful parents this little cutie has to be able to feel safe with Mama and Daddy in their big bed and then have a little treat for comfort that Daddy has made especially for him. Your little man sure is a cutie pie. I love chocolate chip cookes but am afraid if I bake them at 375 degrees they won’t turn out for me. I normally bake my cookies at 350 degrees. I just don’t have any luck baking cookies if its over 350 degrees, they turn out hard for some reason. Will they still turn out the same if I bake them at 350 degrees?
Reply
- Stacey
Hi Betty! You’re welcome to try them at 350, it may just take little longer. The 375 temp combined with a ball of dough creates a crispy outside and chewy inside. Let me know how it works at 350 just so I’ll know! Thanks!
Marcia
Poor little cutie. I bet with the cookies and meds, he is all well again! Chocolate chip pecan cookies make everything better. I would hate to have to chose between these and your pecan chewies for my favorite cookie!
Reply
- Stacey
He is feeling a little better today, Marcia. Thanks! Good luck pick a fav!
Bless his little heart. Yes, it is harsh when we can’t do anything for them. Such a helpless feeling, glad he got some rest with his Mama and Daddy. I remember anytime a storm came going to my parent’s room, we weren’t allowed in bed, but just sleeping in the floor made me feel better. Safe. Does your recipe yield a cakey cookie or a flat one?
Reply
- Stacey
For the most part, it’s a more cakey, chewy cookie. This can change based on the heat of your oven and the consistency of your dough, though.
Poor baby! I hope he’s feeling better soon.
I SO love a chocolate chip cookie with pecans. Unfortunately, my family doesn’t like nuts in things! Clearly, something is wrong. I have to make two batches of everything. The good kind and the nutless kind.Reply
- Stacey
Thanks, Paula! This recipe works great without nuts too!
Tammy
Bless his heart!!! Hope he’s feeling better soon!!!
Thanks for the recipe!!!!
Reply
