Spiced Chocolate Pecan Cookies
These cookies came from one of my absolute favorite sort of baking experiences. At this point in my baking life, I very rarely enter my kitchen thinking “I want cookies and I’m going to make them right now with no plan and no idea of what ingredients I have.” But on a recent Saturday evening, I was home alone watching TV, I had a hankering for cookies, and did just that.
I thankfully had enough of the basic ingredients - flour, sugars, butter, and 1 solitary egg. And I had a smattering of potential mix in ingredients - the sad last few disks of dark chocolate (which would never be enough to use on its own), a container of white chocolate, and the last bit of leftover toasted pecans from pecan pie testing.
My final obstacle was that I knew I couldn’t just use one of my previously existing brown butter cookie recipes. Because those make thinner, chewier cookies, the dough is a bit on the loose side and needs, at minimum, a couple hours of chill time in order to bake without spreading too much. This was an “I need cookies immediately” situation, so it was time for some baking by intuition as I played around with the ratios and added more of ingredients as I saw fit.
Usually, the above process doesn’t work out so well on the first try. It’ll work out, but always needs tweaking. Somehow, these little science experiment cookies turned out better than I could have imagined. They turned out so good, that I cannot possibly express the amount of pride in myself I felt for not only measuring ingredients but also writing them down. Something, somewhere in me knew that it would be worth the extra time to properly measure and jot down the numbers.
The cookies are a bit softer and cakier than I am usually inclined to make, but for some reason I find them so addictive. It is precisely because I find them so alluring that I scaled up the recipe quite a bit. But if you aren’t in need of 24 cookies, the recipe can easily be divided into a 1/3 or 2/3s size batch. I just recommend going by weight for best results.
And while I love these cookies as is, if you have different chocolate, nuts, and/or spices on hand that you’d rather use, feel free to follow in the freewheeling footsteps of their inception.
Makes: 24 cookies
Active time: 30 minutes
Total time: 45 minutes
Ingredients
255g (2 sticks + 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter
237g (1 cup + 2 tablespoons) brown sugar, packed
53g (1/4 cup) granulated sugar
3 eggs, large
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract or paste
405g (3 cups) all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoons ground cardamom
120g (1 cup) pecans, unsalted, toasted, roughly chopped
85g (3oz) dark chocolate, roughly chopped
85g (3oz) white chocolate, roughly chopped
flaky salt
Method
Preheat oven to 375F. Line 3 large sheet pans with parchment and set aside. If you only have 1 or 2 pans, that’s fine, you’ll just have to bake in batches (see note).
In a small pan, brown 255g (2 sticks + 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter over low heat. This should take about 5-10 minutes, but keep an eye on it and give it a stir every so often. The bubbles will be loud and furious at first, but as the water evaporates and the milk solid sink to the bottom and brown, they will become quiet and less frequent. When the milk solids are a dark golden brown, pour the melted butter (and all the brown bits!) in a large heat proof bowl. Set it aside to cool while you prep the other ingredients.
While the oven is still heating up, toast 120g (1 cup) pecans on a small sheet pan for about 10-15 minutes. When they are done they should smell toasty and the inside should be lightly golden. Set them aside to cool as well.
While the butter and nuts cool, get all of the dry ingredients together. In a medium bowl add 405g (3 cups) flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 1/2 teaspoons ginger, and 1 teaspoons cardamom and whisk. Set aside.
Roughly chop 85g (3oz) dark chocolate, 85g (3oz) white chocolate, and pecans, place in a small bowl, and set aside.
At this point, the brown butter should be cool enough to work with. It’s okay if its still a but warm, but it shouldn’t be hot. Add 237g (1 cup + 2 tablespoons) brown sugar and 53g (1/4 cup) granulated sugar and whisk.
Add 3 eggs, one at a time, fully mixing before adding the next. The mixture should thicken, lighten in color, and look more homogenous.
Add 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract or paste. Whisk.
Switching to a rubber spatula, mix in the previously combined dry ingredients. Once they are about halfway mixed in, still lots of dry patches, add in the chopped chocolates and pecans. Continue mixing just until there are not more dry spots and the chunks are well dispersed.
Using a 3 tablespoon cookie scoop, arrange 8 scoops per tray (spaced about 2” apart). Sprinkle each mound of cookie dough with a little bit of flaky salt, such as Maldon.
Bake 2 pans at a time for 12-14 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, just until the edges are a little golden and the cookies are set.
Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Cookies will last in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days. Unbaked cookies dough can be frozen and baked directly from frozen, just add a couple more minutes to the bake time.
Notes
When baking cookies (or anything really) in batches it’s really important to not bake the subsequent batches on hot bakeware. The dough will start to melt before it even gets into the oven which will lead to a flatter and unevenly baked cookie. With that being said, I usually don’t have the patience to just wait for the trays to cool down for use again at their own speed. When the first round of cookies come out, let them cool on the pan for 5-10 minutes and then transfer them to a cooling rack. At the point, the tray shouldn’t be screaming hot, but most likely too hot to touch with your bare hand. If it is screaming hot still, you’ve got to let it sit a bit longer. Otherwise, remove the parchment and set it aside (it can be reused!) and while holding one end of the tray with a thick kitchen towel or oven mitt, run the tray under some cool water for a few seconds. The pan doesn’t need to be cold, just room temperature. Once it has cooled off enough, give it a quick dry, re-add the parchment, and start scooping the next batch.