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.
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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.
Expert tips
- Refrigeration: This dough is particularly soft so it's important to give it the full 2 hours of refrigeration to reduce the chance of spreading and burning.
- The importance of leaving cookies on the baking sheet: To prevent the cookies from getting too brown or dry, remove them when they're no longer shiny leaving them slightly undercooked. Cooling them on the baking sheet will finish the baking process.
- Fixing cookies that have spread: Place a round cookie cutter or small bowl over each cookie and, using a circular motion, gently swirl it around the edges of the cookies. This works best when the cookies are hot and fresh out of the oven.
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.
Recipe
Maple Cookies
These pecan-bespeckled maple cookies have a chewy center, a crispy exterior and are drizzled with an irresistible maple glaze.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Refrigeration: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 11 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 26 minutes
- Yield: 16 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
Maple cookies:
- 1 ¾ cup (210g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup (100g) light brown sugar
- ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- ¼ cup (60ml) maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon maple extract
- ½ cup (57g) pecans + extra for garnishing
Maple glaze:
- 2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter
- ¼ cup (60ml) maple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon maple extract
- ¾ cup (90g) powdered sugar
Instructions
Maple cookie:
- Stir together the melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until the sugar dissolves.
- Add the egg, maple syrup, vanilla extract and maple extract, stirring until combined.
- Fold in the baking soda, salt and flour 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. Refrigerate for another 1 ½ hours.
- Place six balls of dough two inches apart on another parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Leaving the remaining cookies in the fridge.
- Bake at 350F for 11-12 minutes, or until no longer shiny on top. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet.
- Repeat until all the cookies are baked.
Maple glaze:
- Combine the maple syrup, maple extract, and butter in a small saucepan.
- Cook over low-medium heat until the butter melts.
- Remove from heat and stir in the powdered sugar.
- Drizzle over the cooled cookies and immediately garnish with chopped pecans.
Notes
- Refrigeration: This dough is particularly soft so it's important to give it the full 2 hours of refrigeration to reduce the chance of spreading and burning.
- The importance of leaving cookies on the baking sheet: To prevent the cookies from getting too brown or dry, remove them when they're no longer shiny leaving them slightly undercooked. Cooling them on the baking sheet will finish the baking process.
- Fixing cookies that have spread: Place a round cookie cutter or small bowl over each cookie and, using a circular motion, gently swirl it around the edges of the cookies. This works best when the cookies are hot and fresh out of the oven.
- Storage: These cookies can be stored in an air-tight container for up to a week at room temperature.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 219
- Sugar: 19.1g
- Sodium: 172mg
- Fat: 10.2g
- Saturated Fat: 4.9g
- Carbohydrates: 30.8g
- Fiber: 0.8g
- Protein: 2.2g
- Cholesterol: 29mg
Gloria says
The perfect cookie for dunking. I love maple too. My grandkids ware going to devour these for sure.
Elaine says
These cookies are the best!! I love maple syrup and use it in place a lot of sweeteners. These cookies are now officially my hubby's favorite cookies and I bet I'll be making many more batches.
Sue says
I love the sounds of these!!
Marta says
These cookies remind me so much of the best things of fall. I loved the combination of flavors of walnuts and maple together in these cookies.
veenaazmanov says
These Maple cookies look good. Perfect for gifting. I loved your recipe and cannot wait to try these out.
Kathryn says
These maple cookies were so delicious and easy to make. I love maple flavor this time of year so these hit the spot. Thanks for the recipe.
Bernice says
Well, I was just thinking about how much I love fall. Especially sunny fall days that are similar to summer days but are bookended by cool nights. This is the perfect time for baking delicious things... including maple cookies. You get 5 stars from this Canadian!
Sean says
Just in time for fall these maple cookies were so good I couldn't get enough.
sophie says
The rich maple flavor in every bite makes these cookies an irresistible treat for any sweet tooth
Amy says
I loved everything about these cookies. I made them for my book club and they were a hit. The pecans and the glaze made the cookies extra delicious!
Valentina says
These maple cookies look so good! They would be perfect for the fall as well as gifting to loved ones. Will save it to make it later. Thanks for sharing!