Bourbon Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies
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May 03, 2018, Updated Nov 26, 2023
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These Bourbon Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies are an updated twist on the classic cookie. Chewy from brown sugar, nutty from pecans, and a little boozy flavor from the bourbon make these a nice addition to any cookie lineup.
Saturday is a big day for the United States. There is Cinco de Mayo AND The Kentucky Derby. WHAT DO THE AMERICANS DO?!?
I usually don’t celebrate The Kentucky Derby but this year I’m actually going to my friend Whitney’s Derby Party! I can’t wait because I’m excited about drinking a mint julep, fried chicken and a few of these cookies (again).
A big winner for sure will be these cookies. They’re basically my typical Cozy Chocolate Chip Cookies but with added bourbon and pecans.
They taste bourbon-y and the pecans are delicious. I love them. They’re also super easy to throw together the morning of. I baked a double batch (that’s what you see here) so I could bake the other half of the batch on Saturday.
How Much Bourbon Can You Put in Chocolate Chip Cookies?
Not too much! I like to think of it as vanilla extract, where the warm caramel notes of the bourbon help accent the rest of the cookie. Too much and the alcohol could bake out and give you a dry cookie you weren’t planning on and not enough means you won’t taste anything. It took some testing, but I think the amount I used is just enough.
How to Make Bourbon Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies:
- Mix together all the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder then set aside.
- Combine the wet ingredients. In the bowl of a stand up mixer, mix together the melted butter with the sugars until combined. Add the eggs and the bourbon and mix until smooth.
- Combine! Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix just until it comes together then add the chocolate and pecans and mix until it’s all evenly combined.
- Refrigerate. Chill for at least an hour for the dough to firm up and hold it’s shape.
- Scoop. Scoop out the dough into 1.5 tablespoon sized balls of dough. I like to use a medium sized cookie dough scoop for this so all the cookies are the same.
- Bake! Bake on parchment lined baking sheets to make sure the cookies don’t stick.
- Eat! All chocolate chip cookies taste best 5 minutes out of the oven but these also last for a day or two tightly wrapped and stored at room temperature.
Tips and Tricks:
- These cookies freeze really well, just get to the step where you roll them out then freeze until firm on the baking sheet and transfer to a freezer safe bag to store until ready to bake.
- To bake from frozen just an extra 2-3 minutes to the bake time.
- Feel free to switch up the nuts if you don’t have pecans. Walnuts or macadamia nuts would be a great swap in these.
- Use whatever bourbon you have on hand. No need to go out and buy an expensive bourbon, I used Bulliet for these and it worked great.
Bourbon Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
Dry Mix:
- 3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Wet Mix:
- 1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons bourbon
- 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chunks
- 1 cup roughly chopped pecans
- Large flakes of salt, such as Maldon or Jacobson
Instructions
- To a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.
- To the bowl of a stand-up mixer with the paddle attachment (you can also do this with a hand-mixer or by hand in a medium/large bowl), add the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar. Beat together until nice and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, until combined. Pour in the bourbon and beat once more.
- In one batch, add the flour. You will probably have to lift up the head part of your mixer to be able to add it all at once. Cover the mixer with a clean kitchen towel and turn it on low speed. Mix until the flour is mostly combined and then increase speed until you no longer see any flecks of flour. Pour in the chocolate chunks and pecans; mix one last time. Transfer the dough to the fridge to chill for an hour or up to 2 days.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop out balls of dough. If it’s super chilled, you may need to push some dough into the scoop so it’s nice and compact and then release the lever. I like to add all the balls of cookie dough to a sheet of parchment versus scooping dough, as I bake.
- Transfer 6 to 7 balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them a part because these do spread. Place in the oven and bake for about 7 to 8 minutes. If the dough is super cold, it may need up to 10 minutes to bake. They should be light to medium golden brown. Sprinkle with a few pinches of salt upon exiting the oven. Repeat until you’ve baked all the cookies.
- To freeze, add the cookie dough balls to a baking sheet and stick in the freezer until very cold, about 20 minutes and then transfer to a freezer-safe plastic bag.
Notes
- These cookies freeze really well, just get to the step where you roll them out then freeze until firm on the baking sheet and transfer to a freezer safe bag to store until ready to bake.
- To bake from frozen just an extra 2-3 minutes to the bake time.
- Feel free to switch up the nuts if you don't have pecans. Walnuts or macadamia nuts would be a great swap in these.
- Use whatever bourbon you have on hand. No need to go out and buy an expensive bourbon, I used Bulliet for these and it worked great.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did you make these? Let me know on Instagram!
Looking for more cookie recipes? Here are some of my favorites:
Made exactly as written; fantastic. Didn’t have bourbon, used brandy. Top cookie with ice-cream right out of the oven. Can’t even describe the yumminess!
Always looking for a good pecan recipe. We love pecans (and corgis)! I am thinking I might try swapping out some or all of the all-purpose flour with pecan meal/flour to see if I can create a gluten free option. The pecan meal seems to do pretty well and we have plenty of it. Hard to go wrong with a pecan/bourbon flavor, right?
It’s a match made in heaven type combo!