Maple Cookies

These maple cookies have it all - chewy cookie centers, buttery pecans, and perfectly balanced maple sweetness! Baked to golden perfection and topped with an irresistible maple glaze, these cookies offer a cozy taste of fall.

In a world where every day is fall, these maple cookies reign supreme!

Not only do they boast all the best cookie textures (soft, chewy insides, crispy outsides, and just the right amount of spread), their flavor hits all the right notes: Buttery, nutty, oh-so-maple-y, and sweet but not sickeningly so.

Drizzled with a delectable maple glaze, these golden, pecan-bespeckled cookies are like a cozy fall sweater for your tongue, wrapping you in their sweet maple embrace.

Ingredients

Below you'll find a few helpful tips and recommendations for key ingredients. A full list of ingredients and measurements is available in the recipe card.

• Butter: Melting the butter is what gives these cookies their slightly fudgy, chewy texture. And unlike creamed butter, melted butter is easier to mix in, reducing the chances you'll overmix your dough. Unsalted butter works best for this recipe.
• Brown sugar: Adds moisture, a chewy texture and caramel undertones that complement the maple syrup.
• Granulated sugar: Adds sweetness. Because it tastes sweeter than brown sugar (and we're also adding a sweet syrup), we're using a minimal amount.
• Maple syrup: I recommend using pure maple syrup and avoiding breakfast syrups. While any grade will work, I think these cookies taste best with an amber or dark syrup.
• Egg: Provides stability and richness. Start with a room-temperature egg to keep the dough from seizing.
• Maple extract: While the maple syrup adds the basis for the maple flavor, adding just a little bit of extract really kicks it up a notch. After experimenting, I found a ½ teaspoon in the cookies and ¼ teaspoon in the glaze is the perfect amount to bring out that flavor without making it overpowering.

Working ahead

The dough for these cookies can be made and refrigerated or frozen for easy baking later.

Cover and refrigerate for 3-5 days or scoop out onto a baking sheet and freeze until solid. Transfer frozen dough to an airtight bag and store for up to three months. To bake frozen dough, add 1-2 minutes to the baking time.

If you're working ahead for a cookie platter, a few of my other favorite cookie recipes that prep well include graham cracker cookies, chocolate malt cookies and s'more cookies.

How to make maple cookies

Stir together everything but the flour, salt, baking soda, and pecans until the sugar dissolves.

Fold in flour, salt, and baking soda until nearly combined, then add pecans.

Continue folding until completely incorporated.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Scoop 3-tablespoon balls of dough onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.

Refrigerated for 1 ½ hours.

This dough is very soft, so be sure to let it chill for the full amount of time, otherwise they're likely to spread thin and burn.

Position cookies two inches apart and bake at 350F for 11-12 minutes.

Leave the dough in the fridge while the other cookies bake.

Cook maple syrup, maple extract, and butter over low-medium heat until melted.

Whisk in powdered sugar and drizzle over cookies.

Substitutions and variations

Nuts: Don't like pecans? You can substitute other nuts at a 1:1 ratio or leave them out altogether.

Baking chips: Chocolate chips (semi-sweet and white) and flavored baking chips (like butterscotch) work well in these cookies. Add ½ cup or swap them for the nuts.

Glaze: Want to try a different glaze? I recommend the brown butter icing on these pumpkin oatmeal cookies, the cream cheese glaze on these carrot cake muffins or the vanilla glaze on this buttermilk donut cake.

Scaling

While this recipe can easily be doubled or tripled, I don't recommend halving it; Because it's hard to split an egg, the ratio of egg to other ingredients will be off, resulting in a cakey cookie.

Storage

These cookies will keep at room temperature in an airtight container for up to a week. They do not require refrigeration.

They can also be individually wrapped and frozen for up to six months.

More fall recipes

Did you make this recipe? Please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below! I regularly update these posts and feedback from wonderful readers like you help me improve them.