This Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies Recipe makes dangerously wonderful cookies. Just think, 12 gorgeous cookies in under 30 minutes that are stuffed full of chocolate chips and delicious pecans. I think you’re going to love them. Plus, I explain how to make them either as a firmer biscuit-like cookie or as a soft-bake cookie with a more cake-like texture.
Cookies are definitely a thing to make when you feel like baking but aren’t in the mood for making anything fussy that is going to require a lot of attention to detail. This cookie recipe is just like that. It’s not fussy, it’s pretty simple and for all that lack of attention, the cookies are quite delicious.
This Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies Recipe is easy to make and contains just a few everyday ingredients. It won’t make a sink full of washing up and they don’t need to chill before baking. Sound good so far?
Recipe Features
- This is a simple cookie recipe to make, with no complicated cooking techniques. It involves mixing the ingredients together and baking them to perfection.
- Bursting with chocolate chips and pecans which toast as they bake, delicious.
- Versatile recipe that allows you to bake them as a firmer cookie or shorten cooking times for a soft-bake cookie with a more cake-like texture.
- This recipe makes 12 medium sized cookies that will please your cookie jar and anyone who discovers a cookie there.
Ingredients
- chocolate chips – use milk/dairy chocolate chips if you want a fairly sweet cookie. If you want something that may appeal more to adults then use a 70% cocoa chocolate, which gives just the right amount of bitter sweetness. If chocolate chips aren’t available then just chop up a chocolate bar. Not too finely though, otherwise the chocolate chip pecan cookies will become more of a chocolate pecan cookie. This is still good but you won’t have the little pieces of chocolate hiding within the cookie.
- plain or all-purpose flour – this is what provides the structure of the cookie. I use white plain flour for these cookies but they also work very well if you use a mix of half white and half wholemeal flour.
- pecan nuts – a gentle sweet flavoured nut. Substitute with walnuts if you can’t find these. A great combination that goes so well with the chocolate.
- vanilla extract – a flavour enhancer that works really well with these flavours.
- egg – used as a binder and helps everything to rise a little.
- salt & bicarbonate of soda – the bicarbonate helps with the cookie rise and texture. The salt just brings the flavours alive.
- light muscovado sugar – a light brown sugar that has a slightly caramel flavour. It sweetens and flavours the cookies.
- unsalted butter – the fat that holds everything together. Butter also adds great flavour to the cookies but it can easily be substituted for your favourite baking margarine. If you use a salted butter or a baking margarine then you can probably omit the salt in the recipe.
A short note on Chocolate
I’ve already said quite a lot about chocolate chips but it seemed worth repeating that as chocolate has a large part to play in this recipe, use your favourite kind. If you’re making these for children or sweet-toothed adults then use good dairy milk chocolate.
Otherwise, why not treat yourself by using good chocolate such as one containing 70% cocoa this has a nice bitterness that contrasts really well with the sweetness of the dough.
Variations to the homemade Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies Recipe
These are a few ideas that will help you make a few adjustments to the basic cookie recipe should you want to ring the changes. We’ve tried them all at some point.
- substitute a chopped up bar of chocolate for the chocolate chips. That way you get to use your favourite variety of chocolate.
- use white chocolate chips for White Chocolate Pecan Cookies, quitea different look and flavour.
- substitute some of the chocolate chips for raisins.
- substitue the pecans for the same amount of hazelnuts or walnuts. Both of these nuts go really well in these homemade cookies.
- dot a few chocolate chips on the surface of the cookie dough so that the chocolate is clearly visible once they’ve baked to perfection.
Top Tips for Successful Cookie Making
- measure all your ingredients accurately. It makes such a difference. This is why I always use digital scales when I’m baking. It only takes a few extra grams or ounces of an ingredient to cause a recipe to fail so weighing your ingredients accurately will help you be successful.
- use an oven thermometer to ensure that your oven temperature is correct. It’s surprising how they differ and again that can affect how successful your baking is.
- Try to avoid overworking the dough.
- to try and avoid that happening this recipe mixes the butter with the sugar first and then adds the other ingredients just enough to incorporate everything together.
- to avoid disappointing cookies, always try to gently pick out pieces of dough using a cookie scoop or a tablespoon. Don’t compress the dough.
- This recipe requires you to roll dough into a spherical shape using your hands. Try not to compress them, otherwise they’ll stay as lumps of cookie dough when they bake, rather than baking into a nice looking round cookie.
- always read and follow the instructions carefully.
- always allow cookies to cool a litte before moving them off the baking sheet as they’re fragile when they first come out of the oven.
- allow a few minutes to pass before sampling your freshly made cookies (hard to resist I know), as the chocolate will remain molten for a little while after they come out of the oven and may scald you.
Soft-Bake Chocolate Chip and Pecan Cookies
If you prefer a soft-bake cookie with more of a cake-like texture then the trick is to scoop out larger pieces of dough and take a couple of minutes of time off the baking time. For example, this recipe bakes for twelve minutes, for a soft-bake cookie cut this down to 10 minutes. They’re done when the edges and firm, still a little soft in the middle and the cookie has a nice golden colour.
Want more biscuit-like Chocolate Chip and Pecan Cookies
To achieve a crisper more biscuit-like cookie, the trick is to scoop smaller amounts of dough, around 30g worth of dough) out onto the baking sheet and add a couple of minutes extra to the baking time. So, for firm baked cookies, that take about twelve minutes to bake, add two minutes more to the baking time. They’re done when they’ve firm edges and are golden brown in colour.
How to get evenly sized cookies
Apologies if this is completely obvious to you but if you want evenly sized cookies that are pretty uniform in size and thickness, then you need to pay attention to the amount of dough that you scoop out onto the baking tray.
What I like to do is to use a square piece of baking parchment which I place on my digital scales. I can zero this to make sure that the paper doesn’t affect the weight of anything I place on it. I then use my cookie scoop or a tablespoon and use it to scoop out amounts of dough and place them on this piece of parchment.
Each amount should weigh roughly the same. For this recipe I aimed for 55g/2 ounces of the dough, gently made a spherical ball with the dough, placed it on the baking sheet and gently depressed it but only by a little. I did this to all the balls of dough.
Once baked they’ll all be roughly the same size. Beautifully uniform and quite delicious.
Storing your Homemade Cookies
Now you’ve made the best Chocolate Chip Pecan cookies you’ve ever tasted, you are going to need to store them somewhere. They’re best stored in an airtight container for up to 4 days. (I bet they don’t last that long!)
Soft-bake chocolate chip cookies are not great keepers, however wonderful they are. I mean who can resist? So, be prepared and know that like all soft-baked cookies they will become a little softer as time passes. These can be rescued and returned to their previous glory by warming in an oven for around 5 minutes at 340F/190C/170C Fan.
You may store the dough in the fridge for up to 4 days. Bake it as you would the freshly made dough. You may need to allow a minute or two extra minutes for baking, just ensure that the edges are set and the centres are still a little bit soft.
If you like this cookie recipe then you may like these…
- Soft and Chewy Oat and Raisin Cookies
- Lemon Cookies
- Oat and Coconut Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cookies and Chocolate Chips
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Shortbread Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Easy Ginger Cookies
Follow us … We’d love to meet you
If you like what you’ve read here, why not follow us on on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram
Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies Recipe
Equipment
- baking tray
- mixing bowl
- mixing spoons
- cookie scoop
- baking parchment
Ingredients
- 5/8 cup butter unsalted butter, softened or baking margarine
- 3/4 cup muscovado sugar
- 1 egg medium
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda baking soda
- 2 cups plain flour white, all-purpose
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips substitute a chopped up bar of chocolate if you prefer.
- 1 cup pecans
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- You may make these cookies using a mixer or by hand, using a trusty wooden spoon. Line a baking tray with baking parchment or grease thoroughly.
- Preheat the oven to 340F/190C/170C Fan
- Weigh the softened butter into a large mixing bowl and add the muscovado sugar. Mix thoroughly until the butter and sugar are well combined and creamy.
- Add the egg and the vanilla extract and mix to combine. You don't need to beat the egg into the butter/sugar mix as we're not trying to add air.
- Add in the flour, the salt and the bicarbonate of soda. Mix once more until everything is well combined and there is no flour hanging around the sides of the bowl.
- Add in the chocolate chips and stir once more to distribute them through the dough. Add in the pecans and repeat.
- Scoop two tablespoon amounts of dough per cookie out onto the baking tray. Mould them into a roughly circular shape with your fingers but don't compress them. Depress the top slightly to give a circular cookie. Space them out on the baking tray to give them room to spread a little whilst they cook.
- Cook for approximately 12 minutes until the edges are slightly golden and the tops are still a little soft. They'll firm up as they cool. (Bake for 10 minutes for a soft-bake cookie and 14 minutes for a firmer more biscuit-like cookie.) They're done when they are golden brown in colour.
- Leave them on the baking tray for a few minutes before moving them onto a cooling rack and allow them to cool. They're a little fragile straight out of the oven. Resist munching them straight away as the chocolate will be quite hot from the oven.
Notes
Variations to the main recipe
- substitute some of the chocolate chips for raisins.
- add 50g of chopped hazelnuts or walnuts (1/3 cup) with the chocolate chips. This is quite amazing.
- dot a few chocolate chips on the surface of the cookie dough so that the chocolate is clearly visible once they’ve baked to perfection.
Storing the Cookies:
These cookies will store for up to 4 days in an airtight container. You may store the dough in the fridge for up to 4 days. Cook as you would the fresh dough. You may need to allow a minute or two extra for baking, just ensure that the edges are set and the centres are still a little bit soft.Nutrition
Why not Pin Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies recipe to use later?
Chocolate chip and pecan are the perfect combination! These cookies are wonderful to make ice cream sandwiches with!
The recipe is so easy to follow and I’m loving this cookie flavour combo! You can never go wrong with choc and nuts 🙂
Pleased you liked it, Deb 🙂