GUEST BLOG DAY! Alex's Chocolate Pecan Cookies

Hello there, today Coco Bean has it's first guest blogger. Ian and I are very busy this Tuesday and don't really have the time to cook so Alex has been very kind to share his cookie baking experience. So, without due, here he is...

Alex Goldberg
So I’m supposed to be guest blogging on this strange Coco Bean site. My name’s Alex, and I’ve started to bake cookies like mad, mostly due to Christie’s influence. My latest creations were these pecan chocolate chip cookies, a recipe I can thank Martha Stewart for (Christie always advised me that you can NEVER go wrong with a Martha recipe). I decided to make these because my last batch of cookies, a delicious recipe of white chocolate,dark chocolate, and butterscotch chip mixed with vanilla dough, came out slightly too sugary and overdone. While they looked, in all respects, perfect, their taste was not half of what I was capable of, leaving the horrible taste of failure in my mouth. Such circumstances called for a rebuttal, and I was ready to provide one as soon as possible.

The recipe was a simple one, consisting of mixing lots of creamy butter with a lower than normal amount of sugar, vanilla, egg, and flour. I also made the addition of chopped pecans and chocolate (both dark and white). I had decided that I wouldn’t put the extra whole pecan on top of the cookies, but after much deliberation, I changed my mind and put it on top. Of course, Martha is never wrong, and the extra pecan not only added flavour to the cookie, but also made it look almost professional. And my oh my, these cookies did all but fail! Even prior to tasting, my mouth was watering.

WAIT! While I may have tasted one cookie, I was premature in my assessment of cookie greatness. While the dough is extremely soft and tasty mixed with pecans and chocolate, there are two minor flaws keeping me from cookie perfection:
1. The outside of the cookie is slightly drier than I would have liked and,
2. There are not enough chocolate chips in the dough to make them ultra rich.

Well... this is simply disappointing. I can’t even... no. This is awful. OK, not THAT awful. But it’s not perfect. And that’s unacceptable. If I hadn’t achieved such euphoria watching the Superbowl last night (I’m a rabid Steelers fan since 2004), I’d surely give up on life.


But perhaps I’m being too harsh on myself. The third taste attempt made me realize that they are, indeed, good cookies. And so long as others enjoy eating them, I suppose I should be happy, especially when I can’t possibly eat even more than 4 of any batch of cookies that I bake (my stomach is the size of a peanut).

Soooo.... keep eating, and uhm, if you don’t like them, then file a complaint. Or make your own... but you’ll never make as good a cookie as me or Christie! Well you might... if you do, give them to me, because well, I like cookies.
–the end-

Thanks to Alex for his cookies and writing.


Chocolate Pecan Cookies
adapted from Martha Stewart

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup firmly packed light-brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg, room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
12 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
8 ounces pecans, chopped (2 cups)
6 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped
30 perfect pecan halves

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, with two racks centered. Line two baking sheets with Silpat non-stick baking mats or parchment paper.
In bowl, cream butter and both sugars until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add salt and vanilla, and mix to combine. Add egg, and continue beating until well combined.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking soda. Slowly add dry ingredients to butter mixture. Mix until just combined. Stir in chopped pecans and chocolate.
Using a tablespoon, scoop out dough, and place about six balls on each baking sheet, about 3 inches apart. Flatten each ball slightly, and gently press a pecan half in the center.
Bake 7 minutes, rotate pans between oven shelves, and bake until just brown around the edges, 6 to 8 minutes more. Remove from oven, and let cool slightly before removing cookies from baking sheets to cool on wire racks. Repeat process with remaining dough.