Chewy, soft-baked, gluten free brown sugar cookies with sweet butterscotch chips and pecan pieces are the perfect treat to fill up your cookie jar for the start of the cookie holiday season. 
We are in the second week of November, which means it’s officially time to start talking holidays and celebrations. So, let’s kick this week off with the first cookie recipe of the season. Girls and boys, this one is a winner. My parents accidentally gave me the leftovers of these cookies to take home and then realised their mistake and made a special trip to our house to pick them up the next day! I’m not complaining though, my Dad has been hard at work on Christmas decorations all year in preparation for his grand December installment – I’m happy to keep the Chief Elf fuelled with cookies!
I love a chewy brown sugar cookie and this recipe delivers! It uses all brown sugar for that deep molasses-sweetness and moist, chewy crumb. I adapted my base dough from a recipe by the fabulous Fresh April Flours and then it was time to have fun with my mix-ins! Butterscotch chips are always a winner at this time of year and toasted pecans add a decadent buttery touch. Lynn suggests baking them until they are just browned and I agree: soft-baked cookies are my favourites to have in the cookie jar!
These cookies are dangerously easy to make, and the dough doesn’t require any chilling before baking, which means when a cookie craving hits you can eat these fresh from the oven in less than 30 minutes! Dangerous knowledge. Every bite is filled with lightly spiced brown sugar dough, the slight crunch of toasted pecans, and the toffee-fudge sweetness of butterscotch chips. These chewy gluten free cookies are the perfect place to start your holiday baking. 
You know that I love cookies at any time of the year, but there’s something about Christmas and the holiday season that has me reaching for cookie recipes more than any other baked good. It’s tied up with memories of making my Mum’s Spice Cookies and decorating each one with frosting and sprinkles, or whipping up a batch of melting moments with my Dad for afternoon tea on a hot summer day. I think everyone probably has their own cookie memories, and we all get a little nostalgic at the end of the year. Summon those holiday feelings, or create some new memories, and make yourself a batch of these soft and chewy cookies today. 
Pecan Butterscotch Cookies
Gluten Free | Makes about 15 cookies | Preparation time: 15 minutes | Cooking time: 10-12 minutes
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 4 days.
Adapted from here.
Ingredients
- 60 grams brown rice flour
- 60 grams white rice flour
- 50 grams sorghum flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 65 grams butter, softened
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) brown sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup pecan pieces + 15 extra whole pecan nuts for decorating
- 1/2 cup butterscotch baking chips
Method
- Preheat your oven to 160C (350F) and line two baking sheets with baking paper. Place pecan pieces on one of the trays and place in the warming oven for 10 minutes. Remove and allow to cool while you are preparing the cookie dough.
- In a small bowl whisk together brown rice flour, white rice flour, sorghum flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon until well combined.
- In the bowl of a standmixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using a large bowl and a handmixer, beat together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add egg and vanilla extract and beat until well incorporated and smooth.
- Turn mixer speed to low and add flour mixture. Beat until just combined.
- Use a wooden spoon to mix in the cooled pecan pieces and butterscotch chips.
- Drop tablespoonfuls of dough onto the prepared baking sheets (you can re-use the one that you toasted the pecans on) and press a whole pecan into the top of each cookie.
- Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes. Switch the position of the trays at 5 minutes. Check the cookies at 10 minutes and remove from the oven when they have just started to brown.
- Remove cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
