These gluten-free pecan pie cookies are rich, delicious, and look fantastic on a holiday cookie tray. They're surprisingly easy to make, too!

The wheat version of these Pecan Pie Cookies been one of - and much of the time *THE* - most popular recipes on my Celebration Generation blog, ever since I first posted it.

That version of the recipe started out as a recipe that someone else gave me to use for my cake business, and it just kind of went wild from there - I even have a recipe for Keto Pecan Pie Cookies now!

They were always super popular for holiday cookie tray orders, and whenever I’d cater a dessert table.

When it came time to wrote my first gluten-free cookbook - “Beyond Flour: A Fresh Approach to Gluten-Free Cooking & Baking” - redeveloping the recipe in a gluten-free version was a no-brainer!

Let me tell you - as a gluten-free cookie, these definitely do not disappoint!

The various alternative flours bring a complexity to the base cookie that just isn't there in the all-purpose flour recipe.

That’s one thing I’ve been loving about gluten-free baking, especially with regards to cookies:

When you balance out the flavours and properties of the various alternative flours available, you can come up with cookie dough that tastes WAY better than flour cookies.

All-purpose wheat flour doesn’t have a lot of flavour, after all. Many of the gluten-free flours, on the other hand, do have very distinct flours.

Ingredients

In this recipe, I use:

White rice flour
Sorghum flour
Brown rice flour
Tapioca starch
Xanthan gum

Combined with the other cookie dough ingredients, this forms a very rich dough with a nice, deep flavour.

It’s the perfect base for the “pecan pie” filling that it’s topped with!

A Note on The Photos

If you’re a Celebration Generation reader, you may notice that the photos on this post look familiar.

Yep, they’re from the same shoot as the photos in the full-gluten recipe!

A while back, I was updating the posts on that blog with better photography - bigger images, nicer photos, etc.

I had a set of photos from when we shot these for inclusion in Beyond Flour, and they were a lot nicer than the wheat-version photos we’d had from more than a decade earlier.

As the cookies look exactly the same, whether with the original recipe or this gluten-free version, I just used my gluten-free pecan pie cookie photos in that post!

I’m just too lazy to make and shoot a batch of full-gluten cookies for the photos, especially considering that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy those cookies after making them!

More Gluten-Free Cookie Recipes!

Looking for even more recipes for fantastic gluten free cookies that *everyone* will love? Look no further!

... and there’s even more - be sure to check out our Gluten-Free Cookies and Bars recipe section!

My Gluten-Free Cookbooks!

If you're interested in gluten-free cooking and baking, you should definitely check out my gluten-free cookbooks: Beyond Flour: A Fresh Approach to Gluten Free Cooking & Baking, and the sequel... Beyond Flour 2. You can order them right here on my website, through Amazon, or through any major bookseller.

Share the Love!

Before you chow down, be sure to take some pics of your handiwork! If you post it to Bluesky, be sure to tag us - @CelebrationGen. We're also on Pinterest, so you can save all your favourite recipes to a board!

Also, be sure to subscribe to my free email newsletter, so you never miss out on any of my nonsense.

Well, the published nonsense, anyway!

Several Gluten-Free Pecan Pie cookies on a white plate. They are golden brown, with a pecan and brown sugar topping.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Save Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Gluten-Free Pecan Pie Cookies

These gluten-free pecan pie cookies are rich, delicious, and look fantastic on a holiday cookie tray. They're surprisingly easy to make, too!

Prep Time20

Cook Time14

Chilling Time1

Total Time1 34

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free

Servings: Large Cookies

Calories: 196kcal

Equipment

2 Baking Sheets
Parchment Paper

Ingredients

Cookie Dough:

¾ cup Butter softened
1 cup Light brown sugar packed
1 Large egg
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 cup White rice flour
½ cup Sorghum flour
¼ cup Brown rice flour
¼ cup Corn starch
¼ cup Tapioca Starch/Flour
2 teaspoon Xanthan gum
1 teaspoon Baking powder
½ teaspoon Salt

Filling:

1 cup Chopped pecans
½ cup Light brown sugar packed
¼ cup Heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon Vanilla
Pinch each of ginger, cinnamon, and cloves

Instructions

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add egg and vanilla, continue beating until egg is fully incorporated and mixture is once again smooth and fluffy.
In a large bowl, mix together flours, starches, xanthan gum, baking powder, and salt.
Slowly add this dry mix to the mixer bowl, and carefully mix until well incorporated and smooth.
Wrap dough in plastic film, chill for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a separate mixing bowl, mix pecans, brown sugar and spices. Add in heavy cream and vanilla, mix until well combined.
Roll cookie dough into balls that are about 1.5" in diameter, and place them on cookie sheets – leave about 2" between the cookies.
Gently use your thumb to press down in the middle of each cookie, making an indentation. Roll thumb slightly to stretch the indentation out a little.
Fill each indentation with about a teaspoon of pecan filling
Bake for 12-14 minutes, until lightly browned.
Allow to cool on sheets for 5 minutes or so, before gently transferring to baking rack or counter to finish cooling.

Nutrition

Gluten-Free Pecan Pie Cookies