Pecan Shortbread Recipe - Sally's Baking Addiction (2024)

These pecan shortbread cookies combine butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and pecans to make one extraordinarily flavorful cookie. Made in 1 bowl without eggs or leavening, this shortbread is soft yet dense with crisp crumbly edges. We’ll use the simple slice and bake method, which helps guarantee thick cookies. No rolling pin required!

Tell Me About Shortbread!

Traditional shortbread is made from one part sugar, two parts butter, and three parts flour. Eggs and leavening are typically absent, so you enjoy that trademark dense/crumbly texture. Butter and sugar add flavor and keep the cookies soft. I have several shortbread variations on my website. However, I love using the slice and bake method for this style of cookie.

While rolling out and cutting into shapes allows for different designs and decorations, sometimes the dough is just easier to roll into a log and slice. Or try baking shortbread in a cake pan and cutting into triangles like my wedge-shaped shortbread cookies and salted chocolate pistachio shortbread.

I also have drop shortbread cookies on my website including cherry almond shortbread cookies and pistachio cookies.

This Pecan Shortbread Is:

• A 1-bowl cookie recipe
• Brown sugared & cinnamon spiced
• Extra soft in the centers
• Not dry; it’s very buttery
• Crisp/crumbly on the edges
• Thick thick thick
• Coated in toasted pecans and coarse sugar
• Easy slice-and-bake style

Slice and Bake Cookie Style

If you aren’t already, it’s time to fall in love with the slice and bake cookie.

The cookies are slice-and-bake style, which you know is my favorite. Make the cookie dough, roll into logs, chill the logs, slice the logs, bake the sliced cookies. This isn’t a new concept—I’ve shared a few other variations before including:

2. Santa’s Whiskers Cookies

I even published a chocolate version, a maple walnut version, and a vanilla spice version in Sally’s Cookie Addiction. Some of these flavors include an egg, so they don’t have the same deliciously dense/crumbly texture of today’s shortbread version.

How to Make Pecan Shortbread

Now that you know the style of cookie, let’s walk through the process.

1. Make the cookie dough in 1 bowl. Beat butter and sugars together until very creamy. Beat in the vanilla, then add the dry ingredients. Cookie dough will be thick.
2. Roll into logs. Divide the dough in half on a floured work surface. Do your best to roll each into logs. Why 2 logs? There’s too much dough for 1 log. Plus, two smaller logs chill quicker.
3. Chill the logs. Wrap each in plastic wrap, then chill for 3-4 hours. All good cookies need to chill out in the refrigerator first!
4. Roll the logs into chopped pecans. You can actually do this before or after chilling the logs. The pecans on the outer edges become nice and toasty. I actually add a little coarse sugar to the mix, so the edges are crunchy and sweet, too. YES!
5. Slice & bake.Slice the logs into about 12 cookies, arrange on cookie sheets, and bake.

Here’s a photo of the creamed butter and sugars, as well as a photo of the finely chopped pecans. We want pecan pieces in each bite, so chop them up small as if you were making pecan sugar cookies.

See Also

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Cookie dough is thick & buttery, and quite similar to the dough we need for snowball cookies.

Chill the Cookie Dough as Logs

Chilling the dough is key to this pecan shortbread. Divide the cookie dough in half, then roll each half into a log. Chill these logs for at least 3-4 hours. Seems like awhile, but I actually prefer to chill them overnight—so this is a fantastic recipe to make ahead. If you skip the chilling, expect the Great Cookie Spread on your baking sheets.

Only 8 Ingredients in Pecan Shortbread

Have I mentioned you only need 8 basic ingredients? And isn’t it incredible how many different cookie recipes we can make from the same basic ingredients including butter, sugars, vanilla, flour, cinnamon, salt, and nuts? Just another reason why it’s ok to shout “I LOVE BAKING” from the rooftops.

I love how the cinnamon, brown sugar, vanilla, and pecan flavors combine in 1 cookie. Sort of like my maple pecan sticky buns and maple brown sugar cookies, only without the maple. Or brown sugar cookies with added pecans. (But trust me, these flavorful cookies aren’t lacking anything!)

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