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 makes cookies chewy vs crunchy? ›

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? ›

Cookies. Cornstarch does kind of incredible things to cookies. I mean not only does it give them soft centers, prevents them from spreading, and makes them somewhat thick (in a good way), but it also contributes to the chewiness factor, which, in my opinion, is the most important cookie attribute.

What are chewy cookies made of? ›

Cornstarch helps product soft and thick cookies. Using more brown sugar than white sugar results in a moister, softer cookie. An extra egg yolk increases chewiness. Rolling the cookie dough balls to be tall and lumpy instead of wide and smooth gives the cookies a bakery-style textured thickness.

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

There are a few things you can try to get soft, chewy chocolate chip cookies:
  • Use a higher ratio of brown sugar to white sugar. ...
  • Use more egg yolks and less egg whites. ...
  • Add a bit of cornstarch to the dough. ...
  • Make sure you're using the right type of flour. ...
  • Don't over-bake the cookies.
May 17, 2018

Should I use baking soda or baking powder in cookies? ›

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 ingredient contributes most to the texture of a crisp cookie? ›

Fat is a very important ingredient in cookies – it tenderizes, crisps and browns, adds color and a wonderful flavor that is impossible to duplicate. Butter, our fat of choice, ensures good baking results and adds the most desirable taste, texture and appearance.

What does brown sugar do in cookies? ›

Brown sugar, meanwhile, is dense and compacts easily, creating fewer air pockets during creaming—that means that there's less opportunity to entrap gas, creating cookies that rise less and spread more. With less moisture escaping via steam, they also stay moist and chewy.

What is the secret ingredient to keep cookies soft? ›

There's an ingredient that will make your cookies extra flexible and soft. It's corn syrup. That's it! That, my friend, is the secret ingredient to the best SOFTEST chocolate chip cookies.

What happens if you use cornstarch instead of flour in cookies? ›

What does cornstarch do in cookies? Like in this case, when the amount of cornstarch is higher than the flour, the texture of the cookies will get more crumbly, favoring that melt-in-the-mouth texture that we all love.

What type of flour is used in the chewy cookie Why? ›

Type of Flour: Add Bread Flour

More protein means more chew because and increase in protein directly correlates to an increase in gluten development (aka chew). For most cookie recipes you can swap the all-purpose flour out in favor of bread flour at a 1:1 ratio by weight (always by weight!).

Does chilling cookies make them chewier? ›

Chilling cookie dough makes the cookies much more flavorful, with that blissful caramelized butterscotch flavor, and it makes them thicker, chewier, and browner.

Why do my cookies never turn out chewy? ›

Hard cookies: you are over mixing, baking too long, baking at too high a temperature, or some combination of these. Cakey cookies: not enough brown sugar, too much or too little egg, too much flour, maybe you used baking powder instead of baking soda?

How do you make cookies stay soft and chewy? ›

Baking at 375 degrees F as opposed to a lower temperature will help cookies stay soft: they'll bake faster which means they aren't in the hot, drying air of the oven too long. Pull the cookie sheet out of the oven when the cookies are just set: underbaking is better than overbaking.

Do you need more or less eggs for chewy cookies? ›

The extra egg yolk helps to add more moisture and richness, for a soft and chewy texture. The other trick is found in the size of the dough ball…. a whole 3 tablespoons in each! This creates larger cookies that spread out perfectly with ultra-soft centers.

How do you make cookies soft and chewy again? ›

Another way to soften cookies is by placing the cookies in an airtight container with a damp paper towel. The paper towel will release moisture and help to soften the cookies without making them too soft or mushy. Another way is to place the cookies in a plastic bag with a slice of apple or a damp tea towel.

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.

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