If you love shortbread, you are going to adore these Brown Butter Pecan Shortbread Cookies. They are simple to make with only five ingredients and will quickly have you addicted.

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These shortbread cookies are a MUST bake at Christmastime for so many reasons. They only require five basic ingredients and I’m betting you’ll have them in your cabinets already.

They are also super quick to mix up but there are a few things to keep in mind when planning for these cookies: the brown butter needs to be cooled and once the dough is mixed it needs to be refrigerated for a few hours. So make sure you plan for those things when baking.

Ingredients for Brown Butter Pecan Shortbread

So we’ve discussed that there are only five ingredients in these cookies. Here’s what you are going to need:

Butter: This is the main ingredient that provides flavor for these cookies. So because of that I like to use really good butter. Kerrygold is my personal favorite but use what you love most. We’re going to brown the butter for a super nutty flavor that goes amazingly with the pecans.

Brown sugar: I like to use light brown sugar for this recipe since I want the nuttiness to shine through. But if all you have is dark brown sugar that will definitely work too.

Powdered sugar

All-purpose flour

Pecans: You can toast the pecans for this recipe if you want even more nuttiness. Simply place the pecans in a dry pan over medium heat and stir constantly until you can smell the nuts and they are lightly golden. But be careful, they can burn quickly.

Brown the Butter

If you’ve never browned butter before, don’t fret. It’s super simple to do. Cut the butter into small pieces and add to a skillet.

Turn the stove on to a medium-low heat and let the butter melt. Once melted, stir constantly. You’ll see that the butter will kind of seperate and little bits will be on the bottom of the pan.

Watch those bits and continue stirring. They will start to turn golden and it’s important to keep stirring and watch them closely as they can go from golden to burnt really quickly. Once they are a golden brown color, remove the pan from the heat and pour into a heat-proof container.

Place the butter in the refrigerator for an hour to cool.

Mix Up the Dough

Once the butter is cooled, it’s time to make the cookie dough. Add the butter to the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl.

Next, add the brown sugar and powdered sugar then cream together until light and fluffy.

Add the all-purpose flour slowly until it just incorporates. Stir in the pecans by hand.

Divide the dough in half on two pieces of plastic wrap. Shape each one into 8 inch logs and wrap tightly. Place in the refrigerator for four hours to chill the dough.

Once the dough is chilled and firm, cut into 1/4-inch rounds. You should get 32 cookies out of each log.

Bake and Enjoy

Preheat the oven and bake the prepared shortbread cookies. I like to use parchment paper to keep the dough from sticking to the baking sheets. Once the cookies are lightly golden, they are ready.

Let the cookies sit on the baking sheet for a few minutes after removing them from the oven. They are crumbly so be careful when removing them from the baking sheet to a cooling rack.

Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for three to four days.