There are not enough words to describe how delicious these Butterscotch Cookie Cups taste! Shortbread butterscotch cookies are baked in a mini muffin tin then topped with a sweet rum glaze in this easy recipe.
If you like today’s recipe, you’ll love these Pecan Sandies and these Butterscotch Blondies too.
Chewy Butterscotch Cookies
I love cookie cups. They’re a great excuse to add frosting to any kind of cookie. Sometimes I even make them with refrigerated cookie dough, like in these Snickers Cookie Cups.
For today’s Butterscotch Cookie Cups, we made everything from scratch.
- A homemade shortbread cookie dough is packed with butterscotch morsels and crunchy pecans!
- The cookie cup shape is perfect for topping with icing.
- You’ll love the pairing of butterscotch and rum flavors.
- Easy to make–no chilling or rolling dough required!
Ingredient Notes
- Butter – We recommend softened unsalted butter for a rich, delicate shortbread crumb. Use our guide on how to soften butter quickly.
- Powdered sugar – The fine confectioner’s sugar dissolved quickly into the butter for a crisp crumbly cookie consistency.
- Cornstarch – A teaspoon of this added to the other dry ingredients (flour and salt) helps the shortbread dough hold its shape.
- Butterscotch morsels – Here’s where the “butterscotch” part comes in to play! They soften into the dough just a bit as the cookies bake for amazing flavor.
- Chopped pecans – The crunchy nuts add a satisfying contrast of texture and flavor to the flaky shortbread dough.
- Rum flavoring – This highly concentrated rum extract is used to flavor the simple cookie glaze. Once you have a bottle on hand, you can use it in all kinds of other recipes too, including my Eggnog Truffles.
Tips and Tricks
- The dough will be a bit crumbly, like shortbread. Roll the dough into balls with your hands and it will begin to hold together.
- Make a slight indent in the tops of the cookies right after baking, while they’re still soft and warm. You can use a tart shaper or even a bottle cap for this step.
- Drizzle a small amount of rum glaze into the indent of the cooled cookie cups.
- Sprinkle the icing with more chopped pecans before the icing sets.
Recipe FAQs
You can store these butterscotch cookie cups in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week. Or freeze them for up to 3 months.
You can certainly use salted butter if that’s what you have. I prefer to bake with unsalted butter because it makes it easier to control the flavor of the finished cookies.
If you make this recipe with salted butter, reduce the amount of added kosher salt by half.
Yes, you can bake these cookies on a cookie sheet instead of in a mini muffin tin. You may need to adjust the baking time if you make them this way.
Keep an eye on the cookies as they bake. Take them out of the oven when the bottoms just begin to brown.
The rum flavoring is spectacular in this glaze, but if you can’t find any or prefer not to use it, you can use vanilla extract instead. The glaze won’t have the rum element but will still taste good!
More Easy Cookie Recipes
- Butterscotch Shortbread Bars
- Butterscotch Marshmallow Bars
- Thumbprint Cookies
- Oatmeal Scotchies
- Oatmeal Creme Pies
- How to Make Macarons
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Butterscotch Cookie Cups
Ingredients
FOR THE COOKIE:
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 12 ounce package butterscotch morsels
- 1 cup chopped pecans
FOR THE GLAZE:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon rum flavoring
- 3 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- ¼ cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Beat butter, powdered sugar and salt until combined. Add flour and cornstarch. Fold in butterscotch and chopped pecans.
- Roll dough into a 1 inch ball (about 1 Tbsp of dough). Place into a greased mini muffin pan.
- Bake in a 325 degree oven for 15 minutes. Remove and lightly press each top with a tart shaper (a water bottle cap would work too!). Just enough to give a small indent. Allow to cool in pans about 15 minutes. Remove and cool completely on wire rack.
- For the glaze, whisk the sugar with rum flavoring and cream until smooth. Drizzle a small amount into the indent onto each cookie cup. Immediately sprinkle with chopped pecans.
- Allow to set (about 15 minutes). Store in an airtight container for up to one week.
Notes
- The dough will be a bit crumbly, like shortbread. Roll the dough into balls with your hands and it will begin to hold together.
- Make a slight indent in the tops of the cookies right after baking, while they’re still soft and warm. You can use a tart shaper or even a bottle cap for this step.
- Drizzle a small amount of rum glaze into the indent of the cooled cookie cups.
- Sprinkle the glaze with more chopped pecans before the icing sets.
Thank you for share.I like to eat cookies
The rum glaze on top sounds divine!! These are a must try if they are your favorite cookie!! Hope you had a nice Christmas cannot believe its come and gone!
Aimee, when someone with a baking reputation such as yours says these are “hands down my favorite cookie,” I pay attention. Thanks for updating this classic! They sound (and look) wonderful. Happy New Year!
I’m assuming that there is supposed to be an egg in here somewhere? Adding up all the ingredients and all I have is a dry mix in a bowl, definitely not something that can be rolled up! Please let us know, they look great!
No eggs! It is supposed to be dry and crumbly. I take a scoop in my hand and let the warmth of my hand combine it. It’s shortbread dough, so it will end up buttery and flaky!!
Yep, no egg and it was perfect!
Glad to hear it 🙂
Oh these look amazing…. I had said I am not baking anything else this year but THIS is what made me break that promise!! They look super. I am going to try to give the butterscotch morsels a bit of a whirl in the food processor, since the cookies are so small. And I don’t have rum extract; I have a bit of honey bourbon so I’m going to use that instead. Butter is out getting soft now. I can’t wait!!
Why is it that butterscotch never gets the spotlight very much? I actually love it more than other flavors, yet I never bake with it often enough. I need to change that! Love these cute little cookie cups!
These look like the best ever! Butterscotch, pecans, cookie cups – yep, now I’m drooling.
These look amazing! I’m a big fan of butterscotch. Wondering if these would work as a thumbprint style cookie instead of putting it in the mini muffin pan???
I’m seriously drooling! I love butterscotch more than most things. Thanks for the shout out!
Wow! Favorite cookie recipe?! I’m impressed… they must be as delicious as they are gorgeous! Yum. Love the idea!
Butterscotch cookies with rum frosting, and pecans! Can you get more yum! I can see why these are your new favorite cookies, I would watch out for Santa. He might really eat all these.
I want to eat these cookies right now! Great idea to incorporate butterscotch into the sandies.
Good luck on getting all of your gift wrapping done! I don’t have any to do this year. We don’t have any kiddos and we decided to install a patio in our backyard instead of doing gifts for each other this year! Merry Christmas to you, Aimee!
These look fabulous! I’d keep them for myself instead of sharing with Santa. 🙂 Pinned!
These look amazing!! I’m a huge butterscotch lover. These are totally going on my list of things I need to make before the New Year 🙂