Apple Cider, Maple and Pecans Sugar Cookies

Sharon Alvarenga

A delicious combination of some favorite Fall flavors - apple cider, maple syrup and pecans. Rolled in a maple sugar coating for added flavor.

5 from 3 votes

Just enter your email below and I'll send you this recipe direct to your inbox! You will also get notified when new recipes hit the blog!

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 11

Chill Time 2

Total Time 3 11

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 15 cookies

Take ½ cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter. In a light colored medium sized pot, place butter inside and cook on low medium heat. No need to stir consistently, just allow the butter to melt and begin cooking.
About half way through the butter will begin to foam up a bit, but you only need to take your rubber spatula and give it a stir to bring it back down a bit. Continue to cook on the same heat, and about 6 to 7 minutes in you will begin to see light foaming on the top.
You will notice the along the edges browning, and if you stir the butter there will be small browned pieces at the bottom. Begin stirring at this point until the color is a light to medium color and you smell the nutty flavor of the butter.
Remove from heat and pour into heat safe bowl. Ideally you'd have a kitchen scale here to measure the amount in grams, but you should be left with approximately 6 to 7 tbsp (or 90 g).
Allow butter to cool for about 1 hour before placing in refrigerator to continue cooling. Allow to sit in fridge between 15 to 30 minutes. You are looking to slightly solidify the butter where it is still palpable and easy to smooth.
The brown butter bits will naturally fall to the bottom of the bowl. Take your rubber spatula and mix the butter together so that the browned bits are distributed evenly throughout. The butter should be soft but not melted. Set aside.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add brown butter, unsalted butter, light brown sugar and vanilla.
Turn mixer on medium high speed, and cream until light and fluffy – approximately 2 to 3 minutes.
Add egg and mix on medium until well combined. Use rubber spatula to scrape down bowl and mix for a few seconds to ensure fully incorporated.
Add maple syrup and boiled apple cider. Mix on medium until well combined.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and fine sea salt.
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, and mix on low until flour begins to combine with wet ingredients. Turn mixer on a bit higher to allow for more thorough mixing.
Add pecans and mix until well distributed – about 20 to 30 seconds.
Take two pieces of parchment paper and roll out dough to preferred thickness. Cut circular shapes (or other desired shape), and place at least 1" apart on baking sheet.
Place dough in refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours, but no more than 24 hours. Cover with a cookie sheet cover, or plastic wrap.
After chill period, preheat oven to 375 F. Remove dough from refrigerator and bake for 10 – 11 minutes.
While baking, combine maple sugar, sugar and ground cinnamon for coating the cookies after baking. (optional)
Remove cookies from oven and place on wire rack to cool. Allow to cool for a minute before picking up and placing inside sugar mixture to coat. BE CAREFUL, COOKIES ARE HOT.
Allow to cool completely before decorating, or enjoying .

This rollout recipe has a little bit more spread than my others. Balancing flavor and structure is no easy feat, and in this recipe I chose flavor. Because of this I recommend using this recipe for circular shapes.
The sugar coating is completely optional, but if you do choose to do it I recommend coating the bottom of the cookie if you are doing it PRIOR to the bake. If you are coating AFTER the bake then coat the top layer after the cookie has slightly cooled for easy handling, but still warm to retain the sugar.
Don't skip the chill period. Chilling the dough will help ensure the dough does not spread and it helps keep the structure of the cookie.

Keyword apple cider, apple cider cookies, fall cookies, maple, pecans, sugar cookies