Pecan Dessert Recipes
Pecan pie gets one slice a year, and the pecan deserves more of the calendar than that. Toast one and it already tastes halfway to caramel. Thirty pecan dessert recipes from bakers who go past the pie, with bars, cookies, cakes, pralines and a pan of caramel pecan rolls.
Six to Bake First
One from every section, plus the toffee, because the salted candy deserves two seats at the table.
Gooey Pecan Pie Bars with a Shortbread Crust
Gooey enough to need a napkin and still firm enough to slice clean, thanks to cream and a dash of cider vinegar in the filling. Vanilla goes in both layers, so use Pure Vanilla Extract.
Pecan Shortbread Cookies
Equal parts pecans and flour, two cups each, make this the nuttiest cookie on the page. Cold butter keeps it short and crumbly, and a stone-milled All-Purpose Flour brings flavor of its own.
Southern Butter Pecan Cake
From-scratch butter pecan layers under a brown-sugar cream cheese frosting. Pecans toasted with butter and cinnamon go half in the batter and half on top.
Pecan Pralines with Flaky Salt
Toasted pecan halves in a creamy condensed-milk praline, with a pinch of flaky salt on every one. That last pinch is what Flake Spring Salt was made for.
Sea Salt Pecan Toffee
Two cups of whole pecans in a butter toffee with no chocolate, so the nuts stay in charge. The salt on top is the part to get right, and Flake Spring Salt handles it.
Caramel Pecan Cinnamon Rolls
Up to two cups of pecans in the swirl, cream poured over before baking, salted caramel on top. Two tablespoons of cinnamon go in, so Royal Cinnamon makes them count.
Pecan Pie Bars, Cheesecakes & More
Everything people love about pecan pie, in a shape that does not need a pie plate. Bars travel well, and the cobbler skips the crust entirely.
Gooey Pecan Pie Bars with a Shortbread Crust
Gooey enough to need a napkin and still firm enough to slice clean, thanks to cream and a dash of cider vinegar in the filling. Vanilla goes in both layers, so use Pure Vanilla Extract.
Maple Pecan Pie Bars
Real maple syrup sets this filling instead of corn syrup, and the pecans on top get a maple glaze of their own. Where it calls for salt flakes at the end, Flake Spring Salt fits.
Pecan Pie Cheesecake
For the table that cannot pick between pie and cheesecake. A brown-sugar cheesecake sits on a pecan-graham crust under a bourbon caramel holding two cups of pecans.
Pecan Pie Cobbler
Boiling water poured over the top sounds wrong and works: it sinks through and bakes into a butterscotch sauce under a cake layer. No crust to roll, no corn syrup to buy.
Classic Pecan Tassies
One-bite pecan pies in a tender cream cheese pastry, pressed into mini muffin cups. Built for the dessert board, where nobody wants to be the one cutting a slice.
Salted Pecan Pie Brownies
Fudgy brownie on the bottom, a pecan pie layer baked on top, and a tablespoon of salt flakes over the lot. Pie people and brownie people finally agree on something.
Pecan Cookies
Pecans and butter are old friends, so most of these are shortbread at heart. Chop the nuts fine for snowballs and leave them chunky for everything else.
Pecan Shortbread Cookies
Equal parts pecans and flour, two cups each, make this the nuttiest cookie on the page. Cold butter keeps it short and crumbly, and a stone-milled All-Purpose Flour brings flavor of its own.
Toasted Butter Pecan Cookies
Butter pecan ice cream in cookie form. The pecans toast in butter and dark brown sugar first, then fold into a browned-butter dough, so the nutty flavor shows up twice.
Pecan-Rolled Brown Sugar Shortbread
Pecans inside and out: each brown-sugar shortbread ball rolls through chopped pecans before baking, so the coating toasts while the middle stays tender.
Pecan Snowball Cookies
Finely chopped pecans in a tender powdered-sugar dough, rolled in sugar twice so the coat stays snowy. Bake a batch now and save the recipe for the Christmas tin.
Pecan Praline Cookies
Newspaper contest winner, class of 1986. The brown-sugar dough presses thin and bakes crisp and candy-like, closer to a praline than a chewy cookie.
Pecan Pie Cookies
Shortbread thumbprints hold a cooked brown-sugar pecan filling under a thin drizzle of dark chocolate. Pecan pie you can eat standing at the counter.
Pecan Cakes & Coffee Cakes
Butter pecan layers up front, bundts that keep for days further down. Toss chopped pecans in a spoonful of flour and they stay suspended in the batter.
Southern Butter Pecan Cake
From-scratch butter pecan layers under a brown-sugar cream cheese frosting. Pecans toasted with butter and cinnamon go half in the batter and half on top.
Butter Pecan Sheet Cake
Built like a Texas sheet cake: butter-toasted pecans in the batter and a boiled brown-sugar icing poured warm over the hot cake. One pan feeds the whole table.
Cinnamon Coffee Cake with Pecan Streusel
Morning cake with a thick pecan streusel and a tablespoon each of cinnamon and vanilla. With that much vanilla, Pure Vanilla Extract is worth reaching for.
Praline Pecan Bundt Cake
A cream cheese pound cake with three cups of homemade cinnamon praline pecans folded through and a brown-sugar praline glaze poured over. Slice it thick.
Pecan Upside Down Cake
Brown-sugar caramel and pecans go in the pan first, a scratch vanilla butter cake goes on top, and the flip at the end is the fun part. The pecans come out glossy.
Pecan Praline Pumpkin Bundt Cake
Maple and brown-sugar pecan praline meets a pumpkin bundt made with sourdough discard, finished with cream cheese glaze. The fall cake for anyone with a jar of starter.
Sweet pecans need salt
Flake Spring Salt is all thin, crunchy flakes that sit on top of a praline or a caramel bar and pop instead of dissolving. A pinch right before serving makes brown sugar and toasted pecans taste like more. Third-party tested for microplastics and heavy metals.
Pecan Pralines, Toffee & Candy
A candy thermometer earns its drawer space here. Every one of these packs into a tin, so this is where the homemade gifts come from.
Pecan Pralines with Flaky Salt
Toasted pecan halves in a creamy condensed-milk praline, with a pinch of flaky salt on every one. That last pinch is what Flake Spring Salt was made for.
New Orleans Pecan Pralines
The classic New Orleans praline, cooked with evaporated milk and both brown and white sugar. Make a batch alongside the salted ones above and let the table vote.
Cinnamon Vanilla Candied Pecans
A full pound of pecan halves in a cinnamon-vanilla egg-white coating, baked crisp. Cinnamon is the main flavor here, so bold Royal Cinnamon earns its spot. Jar them for gifts.
Chocolate Caramel Pecan Clusters
Pecan halves, melted caramel and semisweet chocolate stacked into clusters and finished with coarse salt. Store-bought caramels keep it quick enough to make with kids.
Easy Pecan Brittle
Twelve ounces of pecans in a stovetop brittle, with baking soda stirred in at the end for that airy snap. Break it into shards for the gift tins.
Sea Salt Pecan Toffee
Two cups of whole pecans in a butter toffee with no chocolate, so the nuts stay in charge. The salt on top is the part to get right, and Flake Spring Salt handles it.
Caramel & Chocolate Pecan Desserts
Three desserts for the end of a long meal, where pecans meet caramel, chocolate or both. Clear a little room in the fridge.
Chocolate Pecan Pie Cake with Salted Caramel
Chocolate cake layers stacked with a baked pecan pie filling and a scratch salted caramel. Stir a teaspoon of Espresso Powder into the hot coffee and the chocolate tastes deeper.
Caramel Pecan Cheesecake
Pecan-cookie crust, sour-cream vanilla cheesecake, and 200 grams of pecans in a from-scratch cream caramel on top. It needs the fridge overnight, which makes it an easy make-ahead.
Brown Butter Chocolate Pecan Bars
Brown butter in the crust, chocolate and a heap of pecans in the filling, and flaked sea salt underneath and on top. Every bite goes sweet, then salty.
Pecan Breakfast Bakes
The pecans you did not finish by dessert go here. Rolls for a slow weekend, and banana bread to see you through the week.
Caramel Pecan Cinnamon Rolls
Up to two cups of pecans in the swirl, cream poured over before baking, salted caramel on top. Two tablespoons of cinnamon go in, so Royal Cinnamon makes them count.
Butter Pecan Banana Bread
Cooking the pecans in butter first means they taste toasted all the way through, and a cream cheese glaze goes on top. The bananas going spotty on the counter finally have a plan.
Spiced Maple Pecan Scones
Yogurt keeps these scones tender, and a warm spice mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and cloves keeps them interesting. Maple glaze and more pecans go on top.
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The Scoop on our Flake Spring Salt
A delicate flake finishing salt drawn from an underground spring in the Spanish foothills - the crunch and bright, clean pop you sprinkle on chocolate, caramel, and cookies right before they hit the table. Third-party tested for microplastics and heavy metals, and it ships plastic-free.
Delicate Flakes- Spring-Sourced (Spain)
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We've Got Answers
Should I toast pecans before baking with them?
Usually, yes. Eight to ten minutes at 350°F turns pecans from soft and waxy to crisp, with a deeper, buttery flavor. Toast them when they go inside a dough or batter, like cookies, cakes and banana bread. Skip it when they sit on top of something that bakes for 30 minutes or more, like pecan pie bars or a streusel, since the oven toasts them for you.
How do I keep pecan pie bars from being runny?
Bake until the edges are set and the center only jiggles slightly, then let the pan cool completely, at least two hours, before cutting. The filling keeps setting as it cools. Prebake the shortbread layer until it is lightly golden before the filling goes on so it stays crisp under all that syrup, and chill the bars if you want the cleanest slices.
Why did my pralines turn grainy, or never set?
Grainy pralines crystallized, usually from stirring too long or from stray sugar crystals on the side of the pot. Wipe the sides down with a wet pastry brush and stop stirring once it boils. Pralines that never set did not get hot enough. Cook to the soft-ball stage, about 236 to 240°F on a candy thermometer, then stir off the heat just until the mixture thickens and turns slightly cloudy before you scoop.
How do I store pecans so they do not go rancid?
Pecans are high in oil, so they turn stale and bitter faster than most pantry staples. Keep them in an airtight container in the fridge for several months, or in the freezer for a year or more. They thaw in minutes at room temperature, and you can chop and bake with them straight from the freezer.
Can I use pecan pieces or walnuts instead of pecan halves?
Save the halves for anywhere the nuts show, like the top of pie bars, a cake or a praline. Inside cookies, breads and fillings, chopped pecans or pecan pieces work the same and usually cost less. Walnuts swap in one for one in most of these recipes, but they taste more bitter and less buttery, so toast them first and expect a slightly different dessert.
How far ahead can I make pecan desserts for the holidays?
Further than most desserts. Pralines, toffee, brittle and candied pecans keep in an airtight tin at room temperature for about a week. Pecan pie bars, cheesecakes and tassies keep in the fridge for three to four days, and the bars freeze well for up to three months. Cookie dough and unbaked cinnamon rolls freeze too, so the oven only has to do the last step.
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