Oatmeal Pecan Cookies

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Delicious and flavorful Oatmeal Pecan Cookies — crisp on the edges and chewy in the center!

Oatmeal Pecan Cookies are a classic that everyone loves! If you aren’t sure about nuts in your cookies, this is the perfect recipe to start with! Or click if you’d like to stick with Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (no nuts) or these Coconut Oatmeal Cookies.

 

Freshly baked and delicious oatmeal pecan cookie with melted chocolate chips on top, a sprinkle of fresh sea salt, and baked pecans.

Oatmeal Pecan Cookies

My favorite cookie ever is an oatmeal chocolate chip (does that make me boring?!). I have so many different oatmeal cookie variations on this site — some with caramel, some with coconut, some plain, and some with lots of chocolate. So, it was definitely necessary to add some nuts to an oatmeal cookie and share that recipe as well!

These cookies have crispy and crunchy sugary edges, a soft slightly underbaked center, plenty of melted chocolate throughout, and overall, plenty of chewiness. We’re totally obsessed with them!

Beating the butter and sugars until creamy, adding egg and vanilla and mixing again, combining dry ingredients with wet ingredients, and adding chopped nuts and chocolate.

How to make oat flour

To add an extra oat-y flavor to these cookies, we use oat flour. No need to run out and buy a special flour for these cookies, though — if you have oats, you can have oat flour in minutes.

  1. Add old-fashioned oats to a food processor or small blender jar.
  2. Pulse the oats until they are ground into a powder-like consistency that resembles flour.
  3. Stir the oats around to be sure that all the oats have been finely ground and there aren’t any whole oats left (this will affect the texture and liquid absorption of these oatmeal pecan cookies). 

QUICK TIP

Make sure to fill the ¼-cup measurement of oat flour to the very top. Then level off the top by scraping the backside of a table knife across the top.

Dough ready to chill and dough rolled into large round balls.

Using the right ingredients

It’s important to use the right ingredients in this recipe to yield the best results.

  • Margarine doesn’t substitute for real unsalted butter, a large egg is essential, and don’t use any other kinds of oats besides old-fashioned oats!
  • The oats are particularly important because old-fashioned oats are what give these cookies such a great texture. When you use quick oats, they act like flour, making the cookies much drier and cake-like. 
  • Good-quality chocolate chips, or even chopping a high-quality chocolate bar, really heighten the flavor and give these cookies something special! I prefer Ghirardelli® or Guittard® chocolate chips for these cookies. For us, there’s nothing better than milk chocolate chips in an oatmeal cookie, but you can use semi-sweet or dark chocolate if you prefer.

Oatmeal chocolate chip pecan cookies split in half to reveal the gooey chocolate center.

Oatmeal Pecan Cookie tips

  • It’s important to have room-temperature butter for this recipe. Allow the butter to come to room temperature on its own for the best results. Do not melt the butter or these cookies will spread way too much!
  • Thoroughly cream the butter and brown sugar. This helps with the cookie’s structure.
  • When measuring dry ingredients, spoon and level the measurements or weigh them for accurate measurements. If you scoop a measuring cup into a bag of flour you will pack in too much flour which will create cake-like cookies that don’t spread.
  • Chill the cookies. Chilling matters because the fats need to re-solidify and the oats need time to absorb the liquid in this recipe. If you bake the dough immediately, the cookies will spread and become thin, hard, and crispy. The longer the fat stays solid, the less the cookies will spread.
  • And then chill again. The dough is chilled again after forming the dough balls because the heat from the hands warms up that dough. We want the dough balls as cold as possible when going into the oven. 
  • Watch the bake time! Oatmeal Pecan Cookies go from soft, chewy, and delicious to overall crispy and blah in the blink of an eye. I pull them out of the oven even when they look a little gooey in the center because they firm up more when they set up. That makes them super soft and chewy. As soon as the edges are browned, these cookies are most likely finished baking!
The finished dessert, full of delicious and complementary flavors, ready to be enjoyed right out of the oven.

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Oatmeal Pecan Cookies

4.86 from 28 votes
Delicious and flavorful Oatmeal Pecan Cookies -- crisp on the edges and chewy in the center!
Freshly baked and delicious oatmeal pecan cookie with melted chocolate chips on top, a sprinkle of fresh sea salt, and baked pecans.
Print Recipe

Oatmeal Pecan Cookies

Freshly baked and delicious oatmeal pecan cookie with melted chocolate chips on top, a sprinkle of fresh sea salt, and baked pecans.
4.86 from 28 votes
Delicious and flavorful Oatmeal Pecan Cookies -- crisp on the edges and chewy in the center!
Course Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American
Keyword Oatmeal pecan cookies
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 20 cookies
Chelsea Lords
Calories 289kcal

Ingredients

  • ½ cup (8 tablespoons/ 113g) unsalted butter at room temperature, not melted
  • ½ cup (110g) dark brown sugar packed
  • ½ cup (100g) white sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • ½ cup + 3 tablespoons (86g) white flour (when you measure, make sure to spoon and level)
  • ½ tablespoon cornstarch
  • ¼ cup (25g) oat flour (See Note 1)
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • teaspoon nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 ½ cup (147g) old-fashioned oats (not quick oats)
  • 1 cup (180g) milk chocolate chips plus more for adding to the tops of the cookies
  • cup (40g) chopped pecans

Instructions

  • BUTTER PREP: Make sure the butter is at room temperature and not melted. Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone liner (without one, the bottoms tend to burn).
  • WET INGREDIENTS: Cream together the butter, brown and white sugar until light and creamy, at least 3 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
  • DRY INGREDIENTS: In another bowl, add the flour and cornstarch. To make oat flour, blend regular oats in a blender or food processor until they resemble flour. Measure to get ¼ cup and add that in. Add in the baking soda, fine sea salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and old-fashioned oats.
  • COMBINE WET AND DRY: Add the dry to the wet and mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Coarsely chop the pecans and add them in.
  • CHILL DOUGH: Stir all the ingredients together, cover tightly and chill for at least an hour. These cookies don't bake well without being chilled.
  • PREHEAT OVEN: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Scoop out balls of dough (if you have a food scale, make cookie balls about 1.8 ounces in size or about 2½ tablespoons in size). Roll into even-sized balls.
  • CHILL AGAIN: Place balls of dough (no more than 8 cookies at a time; these cookies spread a lot) on the cookie sheet. Return the tray of cookies to the fridge for 10 minutes.
  • BAKE: Bake for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned at the edges (even if the center looks a little underdone -- cookies continue to bake after being pulled out of the oven). These cookies set up and become extremely delicious and chewy if they're slightly underbaked; they firm up more as they cool. (Err on the side of slightly underbaking for soft, chewy, and tender cookies!)
  • MAKE 'EM PRETTY: Press some extra chocolate chips onto the tops of the cookies if desired. If desired, add a sprinkle of sea salt to the cookies. Cookies are best enjoyed within 2-3 days.

Video

Recipe Notes

Note 1: Oat flour: Making oat flour takes just a minute to do! Here's all you need to do
  1. Add some old-fashioned oats to a food processor or small blender jar.
  2. Pulse the oats until they are ground into a powder-like consistency that resembles flour.
  3. Stir the oats around to be sure that all the oats have been finely ground and there aren’t any whole oats left--this will affect the texture and liquid absorption of these oatmeal pecan cookies.
  4. Measure: make sure to fill the ¼-cup measurement of oat flour to the very top. Then level off the top by scraping the backside of a table knife across the top.

Nutrition Facts

Calories: 289kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 22mg | Sodium: 93mg | Potassium: 148mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 164IU | Vitamin C: 0.05mg | Calcium: 32mg | Iron: 1mg

We do our best to provide accurate nutritional analysis for our recipes. Our nutritional data is calculated using a third-party algorithm and may vary, based on individual cooking styles, measurements, and ingredient sizes. Please use this information for comparison purposes and consult a health professional for nutrition guidance as needed.

DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?

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Delicious and flavorful oatmeal pecan cookies -- crisp on the edges and chewy in the center! via chelseasmessyapron.com
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Recipe Rating




89 Comments

  1. Mmmm I love pecans and chocolate together, I will definitely be incorporating this recipe into my holiday cookie baking!

    1. I made these with Butterscotch chips instead of Chocolate. They went so fast I had to make another batch!

  2. 5 stars
    I can tell right now, the hard part for me is going to be waiting for the dough to chill! I also love Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies and I am excited to try yours with the cornstarch and oat flour. Love the little shape of the dough you make too! Can hardly wait to try these.

    1. Sure! 🙂 I just like to control the amount of salt more precisely so I generally use unsalted butter and add additional salt to my preference, but salted would work great, just leave out the additional salt or add in less.

  3. Do you use an electric whisk to mix the dry into the wet? Or do you just use a spatula? Planning to make these!

    1. I’m sorry Kim, I don’t have any experience with high altitude baking so I’m not sure on these. Wish I could be of more help.

  4. Regarding that oat flour, when you say “regular oats”, are you referring to quick oats, or can old fashioned oats be used here as well?

  5. These sound delicious!! You talked about sending these cookies in a mailing cookie exchange – what would be the best way to package and ship these cookies so that they arrive fresh and unbroken?

    1. Yes!! Cookie exchanges are the best! If you line the postage box with bubble wrap before placing the container in it that should be enough to keep them in great shape! 🙂

  6. 5 stars
    Chelsea – can I just tell you how happy I am right now? I just took a bite of these spectacular cookies. I have to say I am absolutely blown away. The texture is fantastic and the rich buttery flavor mixed with the carmel-y taste of brown sugar is absolutely to die for!! I sprinkled mine with some fleur del sel and my taste buds are doing a happy dance. Thank you for creating such a delicious cookie recipe for all of us!!!

    1. Oh my gosh you made my day!! I’m sooo happy you enjoyed these!! They are some of my faves too! Thanks Carol! 🙂

  7. 5 stars
    Would I be able to make the dough, form the cookie balls, then freeze them for a later date? For example if i wanted to make just 5 cookies out of the 20 which the recipe yeilds,

  8. 5 stars
    I made these for the grocery store cashier. I was only going to try one to see how they tasted with nutmeg in them, since I usually only add the cinnamon. I’m having a very hard time stopping at one. I need to do something {anything } outside the kitchen. These are very very good. Thank you. If he gets any, I’m sure he will agree, but at this point, that’s a big if!!!

  9. Chelsea, have you ever had the problem with these cookies not really spreading? Ive made them two years straight for Christmas cookie exchange, and I cant get mine to spread out hardly at all. Im not high altitude (OHIO), please help!

    1. Hey Heather! I haven’t had that problem; but I believe a little less flour would quickly remedy it 🙂 (Either that or less chilling time! Are you chilling for longer than an hour by chance?) Try with 3 tablespoons less flour and/or chilling for only 30 minutes and I’m betting you’ll get cookies that spread. (Also when you measure your flour, be sure to spoon the flour in and level it off to avoid packing in too much flour) Enjoy!

      1. I had the same problem. I followed the directions exactly. I’m not at high altitude and the cookies did not spread. ????

  10. These were good, but I like my cookies a bit fluffier. I should’ve done more regular flour and less oatmeal. Tasty, but I won’t make them again.

    1. I don’t want to add any chocolate chips. Is there anything I should change to it or add more pecans?

  11. Hi! The fam says they are good, but um… they came out so thin and flat. I used a small ice cream scoop to make the balls. I read the entire post including your tips. I cant figure out why their so flat. Thoughts?

  12. In “Ingredients,” you list “1/2 teaspoon salt.” In “Instruction“ (#3), you the salt referenced is “fine seal salt.”
    Why the difference in referring to this ingredient?

  13. In “Ingredients,” you list “1/2 teaspoon salt.” In “Instruction“ (#3), you the salt referenced is “fine seal salt.”
    Why the difference in referring to this ingredient?

  14. 5 stars
    These were THE BEST OATMEAL COOKIES I HAVE EVER EATEN!!! I am at high altitude so they did come out flat but seriously who cares when they taste this good!!!?! I only had raisins, no pecans or chocolate but omg incredible. Thank you!!

  15. 5 stars
    I added some pieces of chopped kraft caramels to these and they turned out delicious! I put aside half the batter and mixed in raisins and walnuts. They were just as good, and tasted like a completely different cookie! Thank you so much for sharing!

    1. Yum! I love those substitutions and need to give them a try! Thanks for the tip and for your comment! 🙂

    1. So happy to hear you loved this! Pumpkin pie spice sounds like an amazing addition! Thanks for your comment! 🙂

  16. This may be a silly question, but are there other names for white flour?? Every time I go looking, I cannot find it and it always mentions AP again

  17. 5 stars
    These are SOOOOOOO awesome! I’m gluten free, so I substituted oat and rice flour for all the flour, and they turned out awesome! Thank you!!!!

  18. so if I want to make them JUMBO would I just bake longer? About 15 minutes or what do you suggest?
    Thanks

    1. I haven’t tried making these jumbo so I can’t say for sure; I’m concerned they won’t spread well being super huge though

  19. 5 stars
    My 4 year old daughter and i just made these and they are amazing!!!! We are not big on anything really sweet but my dad loves it sweet and rich! Somehow this cookie is perfect for all of us!! The flavor is amazing! I didn’t have nutmeg and can only imagine this would make them even more amazing! Honestly if you like chocolate and oatmeal you will love these!! Follow direction’s for baking exactly as written and add the extra chocolate chips at the end!

      1. 5 stars
        Follow up: I added the nutmeg but I make double batches each time (yes because we all LOVE them that much!!) So I only add about 1/2 a tsp and I sift the nuts so I can add the “nut dust” to the oat flour, use 2 TBS cinnamon and I use vanilla paste. Some changes (even following the recipe these are the best cookies ever fyi): I add 1/8 tsp of cadamom, a large pinch of cream of tartar, and chopped crystalized ginger. I also use large dark chocolate chips. I feel the added spices just add a little touch of warmth to these already amazing cookies! Since I first tried them I have made them at least twice a week and have had several request for them from friends and family. I keep waiting to get burned out but so far I can honestly say, I’m addicted!

        1. Awe you made my day!! And thanks so much for sharing your modifications, I can’t wait to try them 🙂 Crystalized ginger? YUM!

  20. About to bake some! I noticed this in instructions butter prep #1 -“Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper or a Silpat liner (without one, the bottoms tend to burn).”
    Anything else I can use to line the pan? Foil? Spray my pan?
    Then #7 mentions to put them on cookie sheet, not paper or liner???

    1. Silpat/parchment will keep the ends evenly browning and avoid any burning. I wouldn’t recommend foil, but spraying the pan is probably the next best option, (just know the bottoms will brown more without a liner). #7, I just mean putting them on the pan that has been lined; didn’t want to be redundant mentioning lining it again 🙂

  21. Hi Chelsea! Would these cookies still work as well if I chilled them in the fridge overnight and baked them the next day? Does it affect the baking time? And should I take the dough out a couple of hours before baking them? Thanks!

    1. Hey Hannah! They typically end up much puffier/thicker with an overnight chill (they don’t spread much). I think if they were taken out a few hours before, it could also mess up with consistency a bit. I’d just set them out for 10-15 minutes and flatten the dough as much as possible before baking.

  22. Hi,

    I’m planning on freezing the dough so I can bake these at a later date. How would you recommend cooking them after? Should I defrost them before baking?

    1. Hey! I love freezing these cookies! I just pull them straight out of the freezer and put them in the oven, they typically just bake for 2-3 more minutes than the not frozen ones and the flavor is just as good! 🙂

  23. I want to freeze these, should I roll them into balls then freeze? also when its time to bake do I just put them straight in the oven while frozen?

  24. These sound so good. I don’t have a blender/processor to make oat flour. Will the recipe work without the oat flour? Should I just use extra AP flour in place of the oat flour? Thanks

  25. 5 stars
    Omg so I came across your recipe and I had to try it. I had bariatric surgery this last may and wanted to try and make a “healthier” cookie…. so I substituted some things and made a protein cookie with basically everything you did… an WOW!! Delicious thanks for sharing!!!

  26. Hey,
    I was just reading about baking powder and baking soda and leavening. What ingredient is the baking soda supposed to react with to cause leavening?
    Just wondering…

  27. 5 stars
    Just finished pulling the last batch out of the oven. I questioned them when rolling into balls due to the dough being dry and having to slightly squeeze it into a ball to hold together, despite being short on oatmeal (1 1/3C vs 1 1/2C called for). I did add about 1/3C of Craisins to the mix. They came out great. I rolled into golf ball size +/- balls and cooked for 12 minutes while keeping an eye on them towards the end. 6 to 8 per sheet, they do flatten out as said. I got 2 dozen in total. Tip: if you do not have a food processor for the oat flour, use a coffee grinder as I did. I found a scant 1/4C of oats ground to a full 1/4C oat flour.

  28. Love these cookies. I chilled the dough the first time and skipped that step the second time. I didn’t notice much of a difference. Both times they spread out a bunch, which is fine. Second time I also made them 1.2oz each which yields a more manageable size, in my opinion. I’ll definitely make these more often, and should probably start freezing dough to make them whenever I want!

  29. 5 stars
    Just commenting years later to say these are still my favorite cookie recipe. I make them every year for Christmas boxes and pretty much every time I need to bring a dessert somewhere. I DON’T bake, but these turn out great every time.

  30. 5 stars
    I used salted butter and left the sprinkle of salt off the top. I had to divide the dough in half to add the chocolate chips in half the recipe…husband doesn’t care for the chips. I like the thin and crispy but chewy texture. Thank you

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