Chewy Pecan Cookies - A Great American Cookie Company Copycat Recipe! (2024)

This buttery, chewy pecan cookie recipe is a copycat version of your favorite mall cookie shop: Great American Cookie Company Chewy Pecan Supreme Cookies!

I partnered with Imperial Sugar on this recipe. Click here for the FULL RECIPE.

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Soft and Chewy Pecan Cookies!

These pecan cookies are incredibly underrated. I mean, no chocolate, no frosting, no sprinkles…they would be an easy one to pass over on a cookie platter. I totally understand. I mean, all I see here is a a brown cookie with …. nuts? No thanks, pass me the whoopie pie. Turns out, that is exactly the wrong move. These chewy, sweet butter pecan cookies with crispy edges and soft centers are the type of cookie that keep me coming back for “just one more”. A classic is a classic for a reason, and these taste like pure comfort!

A Great American Cookie Company Copycat Recipe!

TheseCopycat Great American Cookie Company Chewy Pecan Cookies are an absolute dream! I found many versions of the recipe when I was doing my cookie research and came up with a version that holds true to the original, while also incorporating a few of my own tweaks. What I landed on is a delicious and easy cookie recipe with the flavor as close to the original as I could get!

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Pecan Cookie Ingredients:

For the full recipe and ingredient like CLICK HERE

  • Room temperature butter.I prefer using salted butter in this recipe because there is no additional salt added, except in the self rising flour. You can absolutely use unsalted if you are salt-sensitive, or watching your sodium intake.
  • Light brown sugar
  • Vanilla extract
  • Large eggs
  • Crushed corn flakes.You will want to finely crush the corn flakes, with no large pieces. The corn flakes add texture to the cookie, so don’t crush them into a dust, but you don’t really want to “see” the flakes.
  • Self-rising flour. I don’t normally bake cookies with self-rising flour, but as I did research on this recipe, all the versions that I came across used self-rising. And since this is essentially a “copycat” cookie recipe, I wanted to keep the integrity of the recipe intact.
  • Chopped pecans. You can buy the pre-chopped pecans at the supermarket, but I would give them another chop. You don’t want very large pieces of pecans in the cookie.

Why Self Rising Flour?

As I stated above, this is a copycat cookie from the Great American Cookie Company. In all the research I did for the recipe, every version I saw included self-rising flour instead of all purpose. I wanted my interpretation to be as authentic as possible, so I chose to use self-rising flour as well. However, you can absolutely sub out all purpose flour for the self rising. Here are two options how:

  • 1 cup all purpose flour + 1/2 teaspoon baking soda + 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup all purpose flour + 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder + 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
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Instructions:

Click HERE for the full recipe.

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
  2. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla together for 2 minutes on medium speed, creaming until pale in color and fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Alternately you can do with this a hand mixer and a large bowl.
  3. Turn the mixer to low and add in the corn flakes and flour until just combined.
  4. Add in the pecans and mix until evenly incorporated.
  5. Using a medium (2- tablespoon) sized cookie scoop, portion the dough out and place onto the lined baking pan 3- inches apart. The cookies will spread while baking. If you don’t have a cookie scoop, roll into balls and place on the baking sheet. You don’t need to chill the dough, but you can if you would like to!
  6. Bake for 9 – 11 minutes, until the edges are golden and the tops are set.
  7. Allow the cookies to cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
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Equipment Needed:

No special equipment is needed for this recipe, here’s what you will need:

  • Baking Sheet
  • Parchment Paper
  • Stand Mixer
  • Paddle Attachment
  • Rubber Spatula
  • Cutting board and Chefs Knife to chop the pecans
  • Blender or Food Processor to crush the corn flakes.
  • Cookie scoop

Tips for Success

These cookies are very straightforward, and you should have great success, but here are a few tips to make them perfect:

  • Using a cookie scoop is key to ensure all the cookies are the same size. This is great for aesthetics, but also ensures even baking.
  • Taking cookie size to the next level, you can use a food scale to weigh your dough out when portioning it for the cookies. 45 grams of dough is what I would recommend for each cookie.
  • If you don’t have a cookie scoop, roll the dough into balls and place on the baking sheet. This helps as they bake and spread to stay in that perfect circular shape.
  • As soon as they come out of the oven you can use a spatula to shape the cookies back into perfect circles if they appear misshapen.

Can You Freeze These Cookies?

Yes absolutely! You can either freeze the cookies are they are baked, or you can freeze the dough before baking. Check out my fill post onhow to freeze cookie dough. It will change your life!

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More Pecan Recipes:

  • My MEGA popularPecan Pie Recipe! It’s always a hit!
  • Pecan Pie Bars
  • Southern Pecan Bread
  • Sour Cream Candied Pecans
  • Candied Pecans
  • Chocolate Pecan Pie
  • Pecan Pie Brownies
  • Pecan Sour Cream Coffee Cake
  • Pecan Pie Muffins

PIN for later:

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Chewy Pecan Cookies - A Great American Cookie Company Copycat Recipe! (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to chewy cookies? ›

Cornstarch gives the cookies that ultra soft consistency we all love. Plus, it helps keep the cookies beautifully thick. We use the same trick when making shortbread cookies. Egg yolk: Another way to promise a super chewy chocolate chip cookie is to use an extra egg yolk.

Why are chewy cookies chewy? ›

Chewy cookies

Sugar dissolved in baking forms a syrup as the dough heats up. Different types of sugars affect the texture because they absorb different amounts of water. Remember moisture is the key! White sugar creates crispier cookies and brown sugar creates chewier cookies.

What makes a cookie crispy? ›

Using lower-moisture sugar (granulated) and fat (vegetable shortening), plus a longer, slower bake than normal, produces light, crunchy cookies. That said, using a combination of butter and vegetable shortening (as in the original recipe), or even using all butter, will make an acceptably crunchy chocolate chip cookie.

How do I make my cookies chewy instead of crunchy? ›

How To Make Cookies Chewy Without Cornstarch
  1. Go heavy on brown sugar. It has more moisture than its granulated counterpart, which means the cookie comes out less crispy. ...
  2. Choose margarine or shortening instead of butter. ...
  3. Use baking powder instead of baking soda. ...
  4. Rest your dough. ...
  5. Shorten baking time.
May 14, 2023

What are 3 factors that contribute to a chewy cookie? ›

The ingredients you use and how you shape your cookies both play an important role in whether your cookies turn out crispy or chewy. The type of flour and sugar you use, if your cookie dough contains eggs, and whether you use melted or softened butter all factor into the crispy-chewy equation, too.

What does adding cornstarch to cookies do? ›

As Levy Beranbaum writes in The Baking Bible, replacing a little bit of the flour in the dough with cornstarch results in “a more delicate cookie that is also easier to pipe or push through a cookie press.” Adding cornstarch helps tenderize tough gluten, contributing to a softer cookie dough with a finer crumb after ...

Why does melted butter make cookies chewy? ›

This simple switch frees up the water content of the butter so that it can freely interact with the flour in the dough or batter. This allows gluten—the protein that gives baked goods their chew—to develop.

Does baking powder make cookies chewy? ›

Baking powder, fortunately, contains both baking soda and cornstarch in it, which allows us to bake these cookies until they're crisp, but still have a nice chewy bite.

What ingredient will keep cookies soft? ›

Eggs, particularly egg yolks. Eggs work to make your cookies soft in two ways: They add a ton of moisture, and the proteins add structure that prevents spreading. Cake flour instead of all-purpose flour. Low in protein and high in moisture, cake flour is used to leaven all sorts of baked goods.

How do you make cookies soft and chewy vs hard and crisp? ›

chewy vs crispy is a combination of 2 things… ratio of fats to flour, and baking times/temps.. for more chewy cake like cookies, you want something with a high fat, content cooked at a lower longer temperature… for a more crispy or dryer cooking you want a lower fat batter cooked at a high temperature.

Why is my cookies soft but not chewy? ›

Not using enough fat in the dough.

A greater fat ratio (butter, margarine, shortening, etc.) to flour will result in a more tender cookie. Start by adding just a ¼ cup additional to your recipe. Melting the butter before adding it to the sugar will also up the chew factor.

Why do you put vinegar in cookies? ›

King Arthur Flour says the purpose of the vinegar is to temper the sweetness of the sugar and it also reacts with the baking soda to allow the cookies to rise a bit more in the oven. Who knew, eh? So try it–you'll be surprised how it perfectly balances the taste.

Which is better for cookies baking powder or baking soda? ›

Baking soda is typically used for chewy cookies, while baking powder is generally used for light and airy cookies. Since baking powder is comprised of a number of ingredients (baking soda, cream of tartar, cornstarch, etc.), using it instead of pure baking soda will affect the taste of your cookies.

What makes cookies chewy butter or shortening? ›

But, it turns out that margarine or vegetable shortening is the secret to chewy cookies. I still make mine with butter, though.

Why are my cookies not flat and chewy? ›

It sounds like you need to chill the dough, especially if you're making it with butter. shape the cookies, put them on the tray, then put it in the fridge for 15 minutes before baking. If you don't want puffy cookies, flatten them with the back of a glass dipped in flour before chilling.

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