Praline Candy Cookies
There’s a lot to love in these humble-looking cookies. From the pecan-packed, thick and melt-in-your-mouth cookie base to the salty-sweet praline topping, these would be the perfect cookie to grace your Thanksgiving dessert table (or your Christmas cookie tray). Truly the perfect embodiment of candy meets cookie, this is a must-try recipe!
Why you’ll love these praline cookies:
Unique: a refreshing change from your typical snickerdoodles or oatmeal cookies, I got really creative developing this recipe and am so pleased with how they turned out. I bet you haven’t had a cookie quite like this before! No chilling required: Simply prepare the dough and go! No fancy ingredients: everything should be in your pantry already–don’t you love when that happens? No candy thermometer needed: while this isn’t exactly a true praline-candy topping, it certainly passes as one! The topping comes together so fast without any fussiness and tastes amazing. The texture is INCREDIBLE. I wanted cookies with a thick base that melted in your mouth. The lightly salted candy coating gives way to such tender cookies, that are also chock-full-of chopped pecans!
These praline cookies aren’t quite as flat or chewy as the rest of my cookies, and this was intentional; they need to hold their own under the praline topping! The base was also designed to not be overly sweet, as the candy coating is quite sweet. The two parts balance each other beautifully and I really am excited for you to try them!
Ingredients
While these praline cookies taste totally gourmet, they don’t require any fancy ingredients–just basic pantry staples. Here are the most important ones you’ll need.
Unsalted butter. While some of my cookie recipes start with melted butter, we’re using softened butter here today. This means these praline cookies won’t be quite as flat and chewy (remember, that’s intentional!) as some of my other cookies (like my butterfinger cookies), but it also means there is NO chilling required–so it’s a trade off 😊 Cornstarch. I use this for that melt-in-your-mouth texture, similar to pecan sandies! Pecans. We’ll add pecans to the cookie dough AND on top of the praline topping for maximum flavor. For even more flavor, I recommend you toast your pecans before chopping them; it’s easy to do, especially if you check out my post on how to toast pecans. Sugar. A combination of granulated and light brown sugar makes these praline cookies super flavorful. Sea salt. A sprinkle of sea salt balances the flavors perfectly and offsets the sweetness of the topping. Optional, but highly recommended!
SAM’S TIP: If you forget to set your eggs out ahead of time, check out my post on how to quickly bring eggs to room temperature. It’s a life saver when you’re in a pinch! Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Praline Cookies
Make the Cookie Dough
SAM’S TIP: This is a stiff, dry cookie dough, so add the dry ingredients gradually, preferably in several parts. If you try to add them all at once, you will have a very tough time bringing the dough together.
Bake
Make the Topping
Anytime you’re making candy, you need to make sure you have all of your ingredients measured and nearby (including your cooled cookies!) before you start cooking the praline topping. This comes together FAST. SAM’S TIP: It is SO important that you do NOT over-bake these praline cookies! Over-baking will make them turn out dry and crumbly where they should be soft and melt-in-your-mouth. To make sure they’re not over-baking, check the bottoms of your first batch; they shouldn’t be too brown (they should be a very light golden, hardly darker than the top of the cookie). If yours are, reduce the bake time by a minute or two. These praline cookies will be such a hit on your Christmas cookie tray this year! Enjoy! Let’s cook together! Subscribe to my newsletter and make sure to follow along on YouTube where I have over 500 free video tutorials! 💜
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