For this year’s Christmas Mini Project, I decided to bake Chocolate Chips Pecan Cookies. I used to bake these Chocolate Chips Pecan Cookies many years ago but had not been baking them. I started to bake these cookies again after Jared ate and likes those bought by Auntie Christina from Kenny Hills Bakers.
This time, I used Anna Olson’s recipe. What I like about this recipe is the adding of corn-starch which made the cookies the balance of crisply outside, chewy inside. However, it was too sweet. For the second bake, I reduced the sugar by 20% and doubled the recipe so that I can use the entire block of butter and have more cookies to share with family and friends. My parents and siblings love them.
Today, Jaden ate them and said “Very nice. What changes did you make?”. Clever boy. He remembered I’ve told him to give me feedback so that I improve on it, keep the good ones and stop baking those that he didn’t like. My sister told me “The cookies go so well with coffee”.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 160 g packed light brown sugar
- 160 g granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 370 g all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp corn-starch
- 1tsp baking soda
- 1tsp salt
- 3 cups (500 g) chocolate chips
- 2 cup (200 g) lightly toasted, coarsely chopped pecans (optional but recommended)
Directions:
- Cream butter with brown sugar and granulated sugar together well.
- Beat in egg and vanilla extract.
- Sift in flour, corn-starch, baking soda and salt to the butter mixture and stir until blended.
- Stir in chocolate chips and pecans (if using).
- Using a small ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, scoop spoonful’s of dough, shape them into a ball and place onto a parchment lined baking tray or a plate.
- Chill the scooped cookies for at least an hour, or once chilled, the cookies can be frozen for baking later.
- Preheat oven to 180 C
- Arrange the chilled scooped cookies onto parchment-lined baking trays, leaving 2 inches between the cookies. If baking cookie dough that has been frozen, arrange the frozen cookies on the baking tray and let them thaw for 20 minutes at room temperature before baking.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes, until browned around the edges.
10. Cool the cookies on the baking tray.
Tips:
- Use room temperature for butter and egg
- Chill the cookies before baking. This ensures they all bake to the same size and don’t spread too much while baking.
- For the balance of crisply outside, chewy inside cookies, add corn-starch which holds in moisture for a soft-centred and tender texture to the cookies.
- Scoop 2 tbsp of dough for big cookies or 1 tbsp for medium size cookies and shape them into a ball.
Crunchy on the outside, chewy inside. Taste of chocolate and crunchy pecans. It goes well with a glass of cold milk or hot cup of coffee.
From my family to yours, may your Christmas be bright and merry!