Ingredients
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
3/4 c. powdered sugar
1 large egg
1 c. toasted pecans, finely chopped
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. grated fresh nutmeg
Preparation
Step 1In a medium pot over medium-low heat, cook butter, swirling pot occasionally, until just foamy, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat and immediately add pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, and salt, swirling pot to lightly toast spices until fragrant.Step 2Whisk powdered sugar into pot until smooth. Let cool slightly. Reserve 1 tablespoon egg white and set aside. Whisk remaining egg white and yolk into pot until mixture is smooth and emulsified. Fold in pecans, all-purpose flour, and whole wheat flour until no dry spots remain. Step 3Place dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper. Using a rolling pin, roll dough to 1/4" thick. Place dough on a baking sheet and freeze until hardened, about 30 minutes.Step 4Preheat oven to 350°. Peel away 1 sheet of parchment from dough. Using a 2" round cookie cutter, cut out cookies. Arrange cookies on baking sheet about 1" apart. Step 5In a small bowl, combine granulated sugar and nutmeg. Dip edges of cookies in reserved egg white, then roll in granulated sugar mixture.Step 6Bake until cookies are just starting to turn golden on the edges, 11 to 13 minutes.Step 7Let cool completely before serving.
Reserve a bit of your egg white to roll the edges of your cookies in so you can roll it in a nutmeg-spiked sugar to create a frilly, crunchy edge as they bake. The caramelized sugar in combination with the browned butter in the cookie tastes like the most amazing toffee. Read on for more tips on these fun fall cookies. And if you’re a fan of all things pecan, it’s time to give paprika-spiked pecan shortbreads or these butter pecan cookies a try too. What if I don’t have pumpkin pie spice? No worries! You can easily sub it out with 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg, and 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger. Don’t have nutmeg or ginger? Swap them out for allspice or cardamom. Any of those warm spices would fit in perfectly here. Can I use all whole wheat flour? While we love the warm earthiness that whole wheat flour brings to these cookies, we don’t recommend swapping out all your flour for it. Whole wheat flour has a coarser texture and also absorbs slightly more water than all-purpose flour, so a cookie made with 100% whole wheat flour will be drier and more dense than one made with a combination of the two. Stick with the 50/50 blend we’re recommending here: It’ll give you all that great depth of flavor and add a great warm color to the dough without compromising the cookie’s texture. Do I have to chill the cookies? Absolutely! Because we’re using melted brown butter in the dough, we need to chill it down before we cut out and bake the cookies. Without the chill time, it’ll be next to impossible to cut out the cookies, and they’ll turn into puddles of sugary brown butter as soon as they hit the oven … delicious, but not exactly cookies. Made these? Let us know what you think in the comments below. Editor’s Note: The introduction to this recipe was updated on August 3, 2022 to include more information about the dish.
