If you’re looking for a thick, chewy, moist cookie with great flavour and crunch too, you’ve found it! Maple Pecan Oatmeal Cookies are deliciously delightful and a perfect cookie for holiday gift giving!
It’s time to reveal another food-related secret. I love the flavour of maple syrup, but I don’t like the real stuff. In fact, the more expensive the bottle, the more I dislike it.
Blame it on my childhood, if you will. I was not raised on riches by no means, so maple syrup for me came in the form of a plastic bottle with a depiction of a older, black nanny as a part of the logo. Yes, Dear Reader, the Aunt Jemima brand is my go-to brand of maple syrup. And, if it’s the butter flavour, even the more better!
Here’s a little bit of trivia for you: The inspiration for Aunt Jemima was Billy Kersands’ American-style minstrelsy/vaudeville song “Old Aunt Jemima,” written in 1875.
The Aunt Jemima character was prominent in minstrel shows in the late 19th century and was later adopted by commercial interests to represent the Aunt Jemima brand. Bet you didn’t know that, did you? 🙂
When I bake or cook though, and whenever maple syrup is one of the ingredients, I go for the real stuff. The real maple syrup has a thinner consistency and less preservatives and additives. I want to maintain the integrity of the recipe and try to use as many “natural” ingredients as possible.
And, in our fridge, there’s always a bottle of Aunt Jemima syrup and a bottle of Canadian maple syrup. (Just another difference between John.e and me; he prefers the real stuff. I swear, I have no idea how we both cohabitate!)
Either way, I digress! Let’s get back to this very delicious cookie. This recipe, followed closely, will yield 20 regular sized cookies. Since John.e and I are trying to stay away from too much sugar, we thought it would be a good idea for us to split the batch and take them to our respective places of work.
Combined with the other types of cookies made this particular weekend in our Toronto apartment kitchen, we both took four types of cookies to work on the Monday. At both work places, this cookie was eaten first and got the best reviews. How’s that for a clear winner!? 🙂
One of my favourite things about this recipe – besides the taste and the consistency – is the fact that they are perfect for packaging and giving to your friends and family as a part of your Christmas gift exchange. Everyone loves to receive homemade baked goods! And Maple Pecan Oatmeal Cookies are deliciously perfect for such an occasion.
Maple Pecan Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups oatmeal
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1 large egg
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two baking sheets by lining each one with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
- In a bowl, whisk together the oatmeal, flour, 1/2 cup of the pecans, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to blend together the butter and a 1/2 cup of the brown sugar. Add the maple syrup and the egg. Beat until smooth.
- Using a wooden spoon, stir the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until well incorporated.
- With a 1.5 tablespoon-sized ice-cream scoop, place equal amounts of batter onto each baking sheet. Be sure to leave 2-3 inches of space between each mound of batter.
- Gently press the batter with the back of your hand to form a small round shape roughly 1/4-1/2 inch in thickness.
- In a small bowl, toss together the remaining brown sugar and pecans. Sprinkle approximately 1 teaspoon of the mixture onto each flattened cookie.
- Bake each cookie sheet separately for 12 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheets for two minutes after removing them from the oven. Lastly, transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to continue the cooling process.
Brian Jones says
These sound fabulous, I introduced my wife to real Maple Syrup a few weeks ago and she is definitely on your team, she really was not keen at all an prefers a fairly generic sickly sweet imitation 😉 I’m the real stuff all the way!
byronethomas@gmail.com says
Your wife has a great sense of taste! 🙂 John.e is all about the real stuff too, although, he does like to mix the two together.
WhitBit's Indian Kitchen says
These are beautiful, Byron! They look like they are fresh from a bakery! Almost too pretty to eat 🙂
byronethomas@gmail.com says
Thanks, Whitney! I wanted to make the photos look like the cookies were for a gift. I guess it worked! 🙂
Hillary Reeves says
You don’t like maple syrup!? Aren’t you in Canada? I thought that was law! Anyway, love the way you packed these up. Such a fun hostess gift idea.
byronethomas@gmail.com says
Yes, I’m in Canada! Hahaha – I hope it’s not the law, because if so, I’ve been breaking the law my whole life. 🙂
Mary (The Godmother @ Goodie Godmother) says
Crunchy, chewy, likely not too sweet… no wonder they got rave reviews! I grew up with the fake stuff too, but we only buy the real stuff now. The fake stuff has an aftertaste to me. Even as a kid, I couldn’t do butter flavor though – real butter all the way! #teambutter
byronethomas@gmail.com says
I’m a real butter type of guy, none of that I can’t believe it’s not butter crap! But, with maple syrup, even though I’m Canadian, it’s got to be the fake stuff. So much yummier. 🙂
Laura says
Silly question but when you call for oatmeal are you referring to old fashioned oats, uncooked/dry form?
byronethomas@gmail.com says
That’s not a silly question at all! 🙂 Yes, dry uncooked old fashioned oats.
Amy Moore says
Aunt Jemima’s is NOT maple syrup. They call it pancake syrup for a reason. You might prefer Vermont maple syrup to Canadian because, by law, Vermont syrup is a significantly higher maple sugar content and thicker than what Canada sets as a standard for syrup. The reason you don’t like the expensive stuff is because it’s usually really light in color and flavor. This is the early stuff from trees and made through highly technical processes like reverse osmosis and boiling with oil or gas rather than wood. When maple syrup has a lot of temperature fluctuations as it evaporates, it gets more flavor and color. For whatever reason, the industry puts a higher price on the light, less flavorful stuff. Most people who use the stuff prefer the darker “cheaper” version. I make maple syrup every year from my sugar bush and boil it down with hardwood in a small evaporator. Looking forward to trying your recipe today with stuff from my trees.
byronethomas@gmail.com says
Thank you, Amy! You’re right, Aunt Jemima is not syrup, but I love it nonetheless. Interesting information about the real maple syrup in Canada being of a lighter colour and flavour. I think you should send me some of your homemade syrup to try. What do you think? 🙂 Thank you for taking the time to comment. All the best!
Jeanne says
I’ve made these twice now and they are delicious!! Also very easy to make. I used 100% real maple syrup so I don’t know how they would taste if using a blended maple syrup. Probably just as good. I’ve also used both light and dark brown sugar and they came out equally delicious. They are really crunchy on the outside and softer in the middle which gives them a great consistency.
byronethomas@gmail.com says
Thank you, Jeanne. 🙂
Yvette Azoulay says
I made these cookies tonight, they are so delicious. I wish I could post a picture of mine. I
Love every single recipe you make.
Holly Ashley says
Cookies are awesome! Made them 3 times this month as many others love them too! I will make again however mine are ugly. Lol. They spread out super thin when baked and are crispy. Not sure what i could be doing wrong as I follow directions carefully. Nonetheless they are good even if mine arent pretty like yours haha
Kathy says
I know your post is 4 1/2yrs old; but on this cold, wet, windy Australian winter day I have just found it.
Thank you.
I had all the ingredients in my pantry. The smell from the oven has brought all the men in my house to the kitchen.
PS Aunt Jemima doesn’t come to Australia, only 100% Canadian for us.
byronethomas@gmail.com says
I hope you enjoyed them too – not just the men. 🙂
Ron says
I just finished making my first batch. I’m not sure what happened, but when they came out some of the brown sugar melted and some did not. My cookies look like they had too much liquid because they are flatter. I’m always conflicted when the recipe states soft butter. What does that mean? I took mine out of the fridge, sliced it so it would soften faster. Later, I picked one up and bent it and to me it was soft…
I also had about half of the brown sugar pecan mixture left over and I did use teaspoon for measurement. Since you can only put one pan in at a time halfway through, I decided to add some mini chocolate chips. Can’t wait to taste them.