Pecan Pie Cookies have a thin flaky crust with a layer of the amazing nutty caramely pecan pie filling we love so much! These are the perfect cookies for any occasion!
Pecan Pie Cookies
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Pecan pie is always a favorite around here! If I’m going to have pie for dessert, it’s going to be a pecan pie any day of the year, not just at Thanksgiving!
Pecan pie is the perfect combination of a sweet, caramel-y, nutty filling in flaky pastry crust! We top it with fresh whipped cream… ahh, so rich and decadent. These cookies have the same delicious flavors!
Pecans are great in cookies but these are different than any ol’ cookie you’ve eaten before. These cookies have thin flaky crusts with a layer of the amazing nutty caramely pecan pie filling we love so much!
These are surprisingly quick and easy to prepare! 
The key to success with this recipe is the consistency of the filling. If it’s too runny, it’ll run out of the mini crusts. If it’s too thick it won’t spread to fill the crusts and caramelize on the edges.
You’ll start by combining all of the filling ingredients and then stirring constantly over low heat until the mixture slightly thickens. Low and slow is definitely the way to go on this recipe!
You’ll want it just slightly thinner than pudding so that once it is put into the crusts it will spread easily. If you happen to cook it a little too long you can mix in up to 1 tablespoon extra corn syrup to get the right consistency.
I very highly recommend baking these on parchment paper as the sugar caramelizes and the filling sometimes slightly overflows. If you don’t use parchment, they will most likely will stick to your baking pan!
I used Pillsbury refrigerated crust in this recipe however, you can use whatever crust is your favorite including homemade!
Tools & treats you’ll need for this recipe:
Karo Corn Syrup – Parchment Paper – Round Cookie Cutter – Pecans
Ingredients
- 1 single pie crust unbaked, homemade or purchased
- 2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- ⅓ cup brown sugar packed
- ¼ cup corn syrup
- 2 eggs
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Optional
- ¼ cup semi sweet chocolate chips for drizzling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Combine butter, pecans, brown sugar, corn syrup, salt and eggs. While constantly stirring, cook on the stovetop over medium-low heat just until thickened. (You don’t want it dry, just slightly thickened, about the consistency of pudding). Remove from heat and set aside.
- Unroll dough and using a 3″ cookie cutter, cut out circles. Gently fold about ⅛-¼″ up on the edges.
- Spoon 1 tablespoon of the pecan mixture into each circle.
- Place on a parchment lined pan (it’s important to line it) and bake 8 minutes or until filling is just set. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.
Optional
- Place chocolate chips in a small Ziploc bag (use brand name, the store brands tend to leak). Microwave about 15 seconds or until mostly melted. Snip off a tiny corner of the baggie and drizzle chocolate over the cookies. Cool until set.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dessert
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Pecan Pie (without corn syrup)
can you tell me how you measured the brown sugar? loose or packed? thanks!
I measured it packed!
These look amazing! I think I’ll take these to my family’s Thanksgiving. Would melted caramels taste good as a drizzle, too?
I’m sure it would be great!
That’s what I wondered, too. I’m going to try melting caramels instead of chocolate.
OMG…. I need those!! Thank you for sharing, I’m definitely pinning these to make soon :)
I couldn’t wait to try this recipe. My results were a tender, slightly underdone home made crust, thin, but set, filling and stale pecans. I got 12 cookies out of a single crust pie crust recipe. The recipe didn’t say anything about pre-baking the crusts, so I didn’t, but will try that next time. I was unclear about the directions to cook the filling until it’s “slightly thickened, like pudding”. I’m concerned that I didn’t cook it long enough because I had enough to make about 6 more cookies. The melted chocolate really made it special. I’m going to try again and pre-bake my crusts, cook the filling until it’s thicker and either toast the pecans or use fresh ones. My first results were good, but not something that I’d serve with confidence. I’m looking forward to trying again. Thanks for the recipe, what a neat idea.
Thank you for sharing your feedback! I didn’t precook my crust but my crust was not homemade so that would definitely make a difference! While making this recipe I tried several variations of the filling including cooking it completely and not cooking it at all! The best results were when the filling was partially cooked on the stove top (not too runny and wasn’t dry in the end). If you have the chance, please stop back and let us know how your pre-cooked crusts work out for you!
Hi Holly, just tried this as my 2nd ever cookie attempt. Pretty pleased with the results even if mine don’t look quite as polished as yours. Used Pilsbury pie crust and added a splash of vanilla and cognac. I have no idea what it’s like to make pudding so I cooked for almost 10 minutes constantly stirring until I could pass the spatula through the pan and the 2 sides slowly filled back together. However I may have over done it as i had to use a spoon to spread the filling within the mini “tartlet” because my first 3 tester cookies kinda stayed a blob and didn’t spread out at all. Ended up baking for an extra 2 minutes as well because the filling was thicker than I presume yours was.
All in all a great mini pecan pie cookie, love it.
So glad you enjoyed them Sean!
I agree. Mine turned out horrible. Used Pillsbury pie crust, it came out raw. And the filling ran everywhere. I will also try cooking the filling longer and precooking the crust.
Same happened to me too! A little disappointed but I will try again soon.
Just wanted to add that I had a bit of pastry left over, and popped it into the oven, with some butter/cinnamon/sugar. Just took a bite, and it was salty, as well…. That’ll teach me to buy the Wal Mart brand, instead of Pillsbury, which I normally buy!
Thanks for the recipe! I just finished making them, and sampling… Running a test, before the holidays.. lol. The presentation is wonderful, but I thought they were a bit salty. I’d probably cut the salt, in half, if not omit it, completely. I also might try to do these, with a butter type cookie base, instead of pastry. Thanks again!
Thanks for the tip and letting us know it had to do with the pastry brand! I didn’t realize that the Walmart brand had such a salty flavor… might be great for a savory recipe!
No need for salt. The pie crust is already made with salt. Plus the butter is already salted as well.
Yum! These will be on my holiday baking list. Thanks for a great and easy recipe
Love pecan pie can’t wait to make these.
Did you use dark or light corn syrup? Really want to make these now! Yummy!
I used dark but either will work!
Holly, I cannot WAIT to try these. Love it, thanks so much for sharing, ~ Melissa
Thank you Melissa! I hope you enjoy them! <3
I made these 2 years ago for a cookie exchange, and they were a huge hit…and came out perfect! Here I am 2 years later attempting them again, and failing. I attempted to double the filling recipe to get about 2 dozen done tonight, and it would not thicken. I dumped and even retried…double and triple checking my math. I cooked low to medium low, and after a half hour (which I know is too long), it wouldn’t thicken. I used dark corn syrup and dark packed brown sugar (and I think I used light on both last time)…any ideas??
How disappointing. The eggs should definitely thicken the mixture so I can’t say for sure what went wrong.
Any substitution for the corn syrup?
I’ve only tried them as written.
Use honey with a little sugar added for the usual thickness, or apple juice concentrate simmered and cooled so it’s thicker. When I did the juice everyone LOVED it but they were softer/more moist. I didn’t try adding honey or sugar to the concentrate. but I think that would work also for a sweeter moist result.
I used pure maple syrup instead of corn syrup and they turned out very good!
These look delicious. I hope they are easy enough for a man to make.
thanks for getting on facebook…love your website…looking forward for more special cooking…
GREAT recipe! Has anyone had luck with freezing these beauties?
I made thes last year and froze them. They froze very well, and were my favorite cookie. I need to be careful not to overbake. Darned oven.
How important is the folding up in step 3? They seem to flatten out while baking. If you just put a dollop of the filling in the middle only (knowing it will spread), would that work? The folding up is the only part of this recipe that seems a bit labour intensive if you were making a larger volume of the cookies.
The folding just takes a few seconds for each cookie. I think if you skipped this step the filling would leak out. If you put less filling, it may seem like too much pastry and not enough filling.
That being said, I didn’t try it!
Hi Holly!! I have a cookie exchange coming up do you think these would work and hold up well if I made them smaller? Like 2″? I need six dozen! :)
I think they may hold up but you will need to play with the amount of filling you put in. I’d suggest trying a small batch to test them. :)
I made these over the weekend and I think my circles were a little smaller than 3″. They overflowed the circle and spread big time, even when I put in a little less filling – didn’t look very pretty, but were delicious. Took them to a party and got asked for the recipe by two people. I’ll make these again and play with the amount of filling so they don’t overflow.
did you give these folk permission to post? i wasn’t able to get to your actual recipe until someone linked it in the comments.
regardless – these look DELISSSHHHHHHH!! love pecan pie – will HAVE to try these! glad I was able to find this :)
Thanks so much for stopping by Marla! I hope you enjoy these as much as we did!
(I’ve asked them to add my link so readers can find the recipe!).
These look delicious! I can’t wait to make these cookies. Did you use dark or light corn syrup?
I used dark but either works just fine in this recipe!
YUM! This looks like the best cookie recipe of the week! I am sooo going to make these!
Looks delicious! How many cookies does this make?
This should make 10-12 cookies.
How many eggs? The recipe calls for eggs but there are none listed in the ingredients list.
This recipe calls for 2 eggs.
I guess I turned up my edges too much. They look like tartlets and not cookies! Excellent Recipe. (I got 21 cookies out of my home-made pastry dough).
Hi, Mary, would you please how you make your pastry dough? I love to learn how to make pastry dough. Thanks.
I would love to learn too!
2 cups of tender flake lard, use pastry blender to cut in 4 cups of flour and a tsp of salt. When well blended and crumbly mix in 20 oz of ice water. Only mix it, by hand, enough so that all the flour is mixed in. Do not over mix. It will be sticky. Cover and refrigerate over night. Best and easiest pie crust ever. Should get you about six 9 inch pies. :)
Do you mix the dough with the 20 Oz. Of water
Will save this recipe for future reference tks
We agree! TOO SALTY!!!!
Too salty? It’s only got 1/4 teaspoon of salt.
Probably used salted butter, if you don’t have the unsalted butter, leave out the 1/4 tsp. of salt.
I just made these and they were/are so good! (I really didn’t eat them all) BUT I used a cupcake pan to get the 1/4 in sides so the filling wouldn’t fall out and it worked great! Didn’t need the parchment paper. Use crushed walnuts and they are a keeper too… Thanks!
Love these recipes, hope to see many more !!
Thank you so much,
Linda Brommer
Did you put the dough in the cupcake tins or did you use the back side to make the fold
I used a 2 1/2 inch circle cutter and got 20 cookies out of one pie crust.