So yesterday Jim said he was craving something sweet so I decided to make this cookie recipe. I don’t normally bake, with the exception of when we’re hosting a dinner party and who would serve cookies at a dinner party? Not me! So questions and statements are all clues to how many times in my life have I baked cookies. Yesterday after baking these cookies, my lifetime total is now two.
I first found the bones of this recipe from Serious Eats but went on to make major modifications. The cookies are to die for, but make no mistake, this recipe is a lot of work and it’s not for the faint of heart. Browning butter is a lengthy process. I also toast the pecans and let them cool. I don’t have a Stand Mixer but I do avail myself of my husband’s strong arms. To say the dough is stiff is a misleading understatement. I also cool my dough in the refrigerator for about an hour. This keeps the cookie from pooling when baked. And after all that, I have two cookie sheets and the baking time was 68 minutes for 32 cookies. So in conclusion to this “tail of woe” is I created a monster.
On top of all of this, the recipe I wrote was terrible. In the list of ingredients I doubled the butter to five sticks, that’s 1 pound and & 8 ounces!!! I didn’t list the chocolate or the quantity. But I instructed everyone on the exact time the method of introducing the pieces into the batter. Pecans also got lost somewhere along the way. Needless to say complete recipe rewrite.
So three cautionary remarks:
- Buy the best chocolate you can find, I highly recommend Guittard, Super Cookie Chips, Semisweet Chocolate. Don’t waste all your time and energy to throw it all away on inferior products.
- Don’t underestimate the difficulty of mixing the dough. My father was a Bricklayer and his concrete wasn’t as stiff as this dough.
- These cookies are meant for sophisticated and educated taste buds. They’re wasted on kids. Look at it this way, you’ve just spent two-thirds of a day in the kitchen making 32 cookies, two kids will have them disappeared in on hour. Well, for that matter, two adults will have them gone in an hour, so what the hell!
So the recipe is rewritten and if you have a Stand Mixer or are totally buff, give this a try. I have no doubt you will be over the moon with the results. These are the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever eaten. They freeze well and are delicious when you warm them up in the microwave.
Guittard Super Cookie Baking Chip – 283g
KitchenAid KSM150PSAQ Artisan Series 5-Qt. Stand Mixer with Pouring Shield – Aqua Sky
Ingredients:
10 ounces unsalted butter, 2 1/2 sticks
1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
10 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, gently packed
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
2 large eggs, beaten
Method:
1. Over medium heat, in a sauce pan, melt butter and stir occasionally until butter browns. Set aside to cool.
2. Over medium heat in a non-stick frying pan, toast pecans until lightly browned and fragrant.
3. Make the Dough: In a medium bowl add chocolate chips. Sift flour on top and toss together. Combine browned butter, white sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and nutmeg in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low to moisten, then increase to medium and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With mixer running, add eggs and continue beating only until smooth. Reduce speed to low, add flour,chocolate and pecans all at once. Mix to form a stiff dough.
4. Refrigerate dough for 1 hour, covered lightly with plastic wrap.
5. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 350°F (180°C).
6. Portion the Dough: Divide in 2-tablespoon portions (about 1 1/2 ounces) and round each one into a smooth ball.
7. To Bake: Arrange portions on a parchment-lined half sheet pan, leaving 2 inches between cookies to account for spread, approximately 8 per sheet. Bake until puffed and pale gold around the edges but steamy in the middle, about 15 minutes. For crunchy cookies, continue baking until golden, 3 to 5 minutes more. Cool directly on baking sheet until crumb is set, about 5 minutes.
