Description
These salted caramel pecan chocolate chip cookies are perhaps the best cookies I've ever eaten! They are thick, gooey and chewy on the inside, crispy around the edges, oozing with puddles of chocolate, and filled with toasted salted caramel pecans.
Ingredients
- 10 tbsp unsalted butter (140g)
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar (150g)
- ¼ cup white sugar (55g)
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk
- ¾ tsp salt (you can reduce to ½ teaspoon if you don't like your cookies to be too salty)
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 1 ⅓ cup all purpose flour (170g)
- 3 oz dark chocolate (113g), chopped
- 3 oz milk chocolate (113g), chopped
Caramel pecans:
- 12 soft caramels (I use Werther's)
- 2 tbsp cream
- 3/4 cups pecan halves & pieces (about 100g), roasted
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Toast the pecans at 350F for 5-7 minutes until they are fragrant and don't taste raw anymore
- Place the butter in a non-stick pan and melt it on medium-low heat. Keep stirring for a few minutes until the butter starts to look brown and develops a caramel-y nutty aroma
- Turn the heat all the way to the lowest setting, and add the sugars. Whisk on the lowest setting for 1-2 minutes to start dissolving the sugars
- Remove from heat and cool the mixture for ~5 minutes. It should be warm, but not hot anymore
- Add the egg and yolk, and quickly whisk to incorporate. Whisk for 1-2 minutes until the mixture becomes light and smooth
- Add the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt) and fold with a rubber spatula until the flour is almost mixed in. The dough will be runny, don't worry - place in the fridge for 10 minutes while you work on the salted caramel pecans
- Place the soft caramels and cream in a nonstick sauce pan and cook and stir on low heat until they form a caramel sauce. Add a little salt to taste. Remove from the heat and add the pecans, getting them thoroughly coated
- Remove the cookie dough from the fridge and fold in the chopped chocolate and pecans (save some of both for the top of the cookies). Stop folding as soon as you don't see any unmixed flour and the chocolate and pecans are evenly dispersed
- Use a 2" scoop to divide the dough into ~10 balls. If the dough feels too soft, you can refrigerate for a bit longer. Don't apply pressure onto the balls, just gently pull them together. Press chocolate chunks and pecans on top of the cookie balls
- Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, but ideally 2 hours or longer
- Pre-heat oven to 375F (conventional) and prepare a large cookie sheet with parchment paper
- Transfer the balls to the sheet, keeping at least 3" between the balls
- Bake for 10-12 minutes depending on how soft and gooey you want the cookies to be
Notes
- Make sure you don't mix the butter and sugar on high heat or for too long as this will cause the mixture to crystallize. If in doubt, remove the butter from heat and then whisk in the sugars
- Instead of using dark and milk chocolate, you can use all semi-sweet
- You can freeze the cookie dough balls in an airtight container, and bake directly from frozen when needed! Just increase the baking time by ~2-4 minutes depending on how well done you want them
- Prep Time: 30 min
- Cook Time: 12 min
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American