Pecan Toffee Cookies with Salted Caramel

If you’re looking for an amazing brown sugar cookie loaded with crunch and depth of flavor, this is the recipe for you! These delicious pecan toffee cookies are packed full of brown sugar, toffee bits, and pecans and they’re drizzled with salted caramel. 

Merging Toffee and Pecans

I came up with this idea when looking through my stash of leftover baking supplies. (Let’s be honest: most of my “What should I bake today?” decisions are made based on leftovers.)

This particular day I happened to have half a bag of leftover Heath toffee bits and some chopped pecans.

These are some of my favorite flavors. Toffee? Yes, please. And pecans? In and on everything.

I know. Not everyone agrees.

But this time I wanted to clear some space in my pantry and fridge so I decided to combine these. I immediately decided they would be great in combination with brown sugar, so I perused the web to see if anyone had a recipe out there that combined al of these things.

I was delighted to find a recipe at The Beach House Kitchen.

I could have used my Ultimate Brown Butter Chocolate Chip cookie recipe and just substituted ingredients, but in this case I liked the look of her recipe, so I decided to give it a try.

Brown Sugar is Straight from Heaven!

One of the appealing things about this recipe was the use of brown sugar in place of white/granulated. In case you don’t understand where brown sugar comes from, it’s basically granulated sugar with the addition of molasses. This is where the brown sugar gets its color and flavor.

I know that molasses flavor would be perfect with the toffee bits and pecans, so I loved the idea of working with brown sugar for this recipe.

The original recipe called for dark brown sugar and I only had light, but I didn’t let that stop me. (Basically, dark brown sugar has more molasses in it, which gives it a stronger flavor.)

As I said above, this was a “leftovers” recipe for me to use up existing ingredients and I always have light brown sugar on hand. So, that’s what I went with. (Hey, skip the trip to the store if you want to change things up. That’s a baker’s prerogative!)

Pecan Toffee Cookie Ingredients

You will find a full printable recipe card at the bottom of this post but here’s a quick peek at what you’ll need. These are simple ingredients you might already have on hand in your pantry or refrigerator but if you don’t, they’re available at any grocery store.

• room temperature butter (salted or unsalted butter, your choice) 
• light brown sugar
• large egg
• vanilla extract
• all-purpose flour
• ground cinnamon
• baking soda
• salt
• chopped pecans
• Heath toffee bits
• melted caramel (warm, for piping)
• sea salt, for sprinkling on top of warm cookies, if desired

How to Make these Delicious Pecan Toffee Cookies with Caramel and Sea Salt

This easy cookie recipe came together so easily. I baked up a full tray and scooped the rest to be flash-frozen then bagged in the freezer for later use. (I do this a lot with cookies so I always have dough balls on hand when people stop by.) 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Combine flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. 

Whisk dry ingredients together. Set aside. 

If you want to toast your pecans you can put them in the oven for a few minutes on a cookie sheet or toast them in a skillet on the stove. I opted to skip the step. 

Now it’s time to add your wet ingredients, starting with the butter. Make sure your butter is room temperature. If it’s not put it into the microwave for about 15 seconds or so. 

In a (separate) large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter until light and fluffy. 

Add vanilla extract and brown sugar. 

Mix on medium speed until light and creamy. 

Add the egg and mix well. 

Now work in the flour mixture. Add half of it and mix, then add the rest and mix at low speed until it’s fully incorporated. 

It’s time to add the toffee chips and the chopped pecans. Mix well. 

Use a cookie scoop to place balls of cookie dough onto the parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. 

Press down slightly on each one with your palm. 

Place in preheated 350 degree oven for 13 minutes or until golden brown. 

Remove from oven and place tray on a wire rack to cool. 

Place caramel into a piping bag (or baggie). Clip the end. 

Drizzle caramel onto the cookie. 

Now sprinkle with sea salt (or kosher salt).

Serve and enjoy! 

Store cookies at room temperature in single layer. They should stay fresh for 3 – 4 days if placed in an airtight container. 

What to Expect from These Cookies

This is one of those new recipes that’s hot off the press, y’all! In fact, it’s one of those cookie recipes I’ll probably turn to again and again, now that I know how easy and delicious it is.

And guess what?! I think this might be my new favorite cookie! I’m so glad I thought to drizzle the caramel on top of these chewy cookies. It really sent the flavors off the charts!

The crunch of the heath toffee bits, the crunch of the pecans, the deep (almost molasses-like) flavor of the brown sugar, all merged with salted caramel? Well, let’s just say we have a winner. A big, big winner. 

I can’t wait to serve these to my family and friends. As I mentioned above, I put the dough balls into the freezer to use later. When the time comes I can put them into the oven directly (frozen) and bake a little longer at a lower temperature (say, 325) or I can let them thaw and bake at 350 for 13 minutes. 

Variations on this Easy Cookie Recipe

These are delicious cookies but there are always ways to change things up. Here are some ideas that come to mind for next time:

Maple Extract: I think it would be great to add maple as well as vanilla extract to deepen the fall flavor even more. 

Toasted pecans: Toasting them would add depth of flavor as well as a stronger crunch element. 

Coconut: I think toasted coconut would be delicious in these cookies. It might be fun to also sprinkle a little toasted coconut on top of the caramel drizzle. (Beautiful!) 

Caramel bits: You can use a handful of caramel bits I the dough if you like. You can also melt down caramel bits to make your quick homemade caramel sauce.

Other Brown Sugar Favorites from Out of the Box Baking

If you love the brown sugar in these sweet cookies you’re sure to love the following recipes: 

Brown Sugar Pecan Cookies with Mayonnaise: This is a simple but tasty recipe for dark brown sugar cookies with pecans. It calls for no butter or shortening. Instead, this recipe calls for something you’ve likely got in your pantry right now. . .mayonnaise.

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies with Brown Butter: Every baker needs an amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe, one that causes people to stop in their tracks and say, “Oh my goodness, this is the best cookie I’ve ever eaten!”

That’s it for this post, friends! I hope you enjoyed this delicious recipe. These are the best cookies I’ve had in ages!

If you make this recipe and love it, don’t forget to leave a review and a comment below. And while you’re at it, go ahead and pin some photos to your Pinterest boards!

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See this recipe at

Full Plate Thursday 

Weekend Potluck

The Lazy Gastronome

Busy Monday 

Learn more about doctored cake mixes, the theme of this blog. 

For the master list of all doctored cake mix recipes on this site, visit Doctored Cake Mix Recipes, Master List. 

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About the Author

Janice Thompson is an author, baker, and all-around mischief maker! She has overcome a host of baking catastrophes, including a toppled wedding cake, to learn more about the baking process. Janice has published over 150 books for the Christian market but particularly enjoys writing recipes and baking devotions. To learn more about Janice or to drop her a note, visit her About the Author page.