Chai Spiced Pecan Cookies

5 from 3 ratings

Inspired by pecan pie, these Chai spiced pecan cookies are fall in cookie form. They are filled with dark chocolate, candied pecans, and toffee bits, and then flavored with warm Chai spices.

Prep Time30

Cook Time14

Resting Time1

Total Time1 44

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Asian

Diet: Vegetarian

Keyword: chai spiced pecan cookies, pecan cookie recipe, pecan cookies

Servings: cookies

Calories: 276kcal

Author: Becca Du

Equipment

Ingredients

½ cup unsalted butter
1 tbsp earl grey tea loose leaf
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cardamom
¼ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground star anise
1 cup + 1 tbsp all purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup dark brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 egg room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 oz dark chocolate ~1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
½ cup candied pecans roughly chopped
¼ cup toffee bits

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Brown 1/2 cup of unsalted butter. Melt butter over medium high heat until it is completely melted. Lower the heat to medium low and cook until brown bits start to appear at the bottom. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Add 1 tbsp of earl grey tea to a spice grinder or food processor. Pulse until it is broken down into powder and add to a bowl.
Add 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground cardamom, 1/4 tsp of ground ginger, 1/4 tsp of ground star anise, 1 cup + 1 tbsp of all purpose flour, 1/2 tsp of baking soda, and 1/4 tsp of salt to the bowl. Mix until combined and set aside.
Add browned butter, 1/4 cup light brown sugar, 1/4 cup dark brown sugar, and 1/4 cup granulated sugar to a bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix until combined.
Add the egg and 1 tsp of vanilla extract. Mix for 3-5 minutes until the mixture turns a light brown color.
Add the dry ingredients from step 3 to the bowl and mix until just combined.
Lastly, add 2 oz of dark chocolate, 1/2 cup of candied pecans, and 1/4 cup of toffee bits. Mix until just combined.
Cover and let the cookie dough chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C).
Prepare 2 baking sheets by covering them with parchment paper.
Using a medium cookie scoop (~2 tbsp), scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets. Make sure they are 2 inches apart.
Bake for 14-16 minutes.
After baking, let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Notes

Use all room temperature ingredients. This really does matter because butter and eggs don’t like to mix together, especially when they’re at different temperatures, so having them at the same temperature helps them come together better.
Why are you using brown butter? This is one of the keys to the intense flavor of these cookies. The brown bits add so much extra flavor to the dough. Make sure to cool it down to room temperature before using because using hot butter will create for a greasy dough.
Why are you using both dark brown and light brown sugar? I found that this gives a good balance of sweetness and color to the cookies. Dark brown sugar gives that nice light brown color to the cookies as well as sweetness. I found that using only light brown sugar doesn’t give it the light brown color I like. And using all dark brown sugar makes the dough too wet and too sweet.
Mix the butter, sugars, and egg thoroughly. The biggest mistake people make is not mixing the wet ingredients properly. When you mix the wet ingredients, especially the butter and sugar, you’re really trying to incorporate/dissolve the sugar.
Don’t over mix the cookie dough after adding the dry ingredients. You want to mix the dry ingredients as little as possible because mixing encourages gluten formation which creates tough, chalky cookies. I like to mix the dough until there is a little bit of flour not incorporated into the dough. I then add the chocolate chips and finish mixing the dough.
Why do I need to rest this dough so long? Resting/cooling the cookie dough allows the butter to solidify, so it doesn’t melt so quickly in the oven. This matters because if it melts too quickly in the oven, your cookies will spread more, creating flatter cookies. In addition, allowing it to rest makes it more flavorful. The cookie dough is sort of like marinating while it’s cooling.
How do I make my cookies flat? How do I make them more chunky? This will depend on how much time you allow the dough to rest in the fridge. The more you chill the dough in the fridge, the chunkier the cookie will be. If you don’t chill the dough at all, the cookie will be very flat.
Why is scooping your cookie dough with a scoop important? This is important because the scoop helps give your cookies their round shape. To get the perfect round shape, scoop the dough, press it into the scoop with your hand, and then level it off so you get a flat bottom.
Why is cooling your cookies important? I know it is SO HARD to not eat a cookie right away, but your cookies are still baking when they’re on the baking sheet! The center will still look soft but it will slowly get firmer as it sits on the baking sheet.

Nutrition