Levain Bakery-esque Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

After seeing Levain Bakery on Food Network's Throwdown with Bobby Flay, I KNEW I had to try and recreate those cookies in my own kitchen. Sorry, but Bobby's cookies were a sad comparison to the giant, chewy, gooey gobs of cookies from Levain Bakery. I did a Google search for "Levain Bakery chocolate chip cookie recipe," and I found a handy little compilation of various copy-cats on Levain's own website. Nice! I settled on a recipe from LisaMichele.wordpress.com. She had already made and RE-made her own copy-cat version of Levain's cookies. The only change I made was to use all light brown sugar because I think that's what the Levain girls said they used in their cookies.The end result was FAB-U-LOUS! Truthfully, I've never had a cookie from the famed Levain Bakery in NY... YET! I say "yet" because Josh and I will be headed to NY in August, and I'm going to try my hardest to get my hands on a world famous cookie! Anywho, these cookies are scrumdiddlyumptious! They've got a thin, crackly crust on the outside, but the inside is gooey and soft. They're not cake-like at all. They've got a nice chew and great flavor. I think I differ from the Levain girls' opinion that vanilla has no place in their CCC. Next time I'll add a teaspoon of the good stuff just because that's what my mouth expects to taste in a choco-chip cookie.All in all, I'm very happy with this recipe. Maybe if I think about it, after I get a REAL Levain Bakery cookie, I'll come back and edit this to see how they compare.

Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies (copy-cat recipe)
I got 21 cookies using a #20 scoop (about 4 tbsp of cookie dough)

2 sticks unsalted butter, cool but slightly softened
2 cups light brown sugar
2 eggs, straight from the fridge
2 3/4 cups AP flour
1 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup walnuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle, mix together butter and sugar on low speed until blended. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat on low speed until incorporated.

Add flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and mix until just combined. Gently fold in chocolate chips and nuts.

Scoop cookie dough onto parchment lined baking sheet 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake 15-20 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the tops are just lightly browned. (For smaller cookies, of course you'll need to watch them because they'll bake much faster.) Cool completely on wire racks. Store airtight until you eat them all!

"The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie" says The Dessert Bible

While browsing through the newest addition to my cookbook library, The Amish Cook's Baking Book ($17.50 w/ free shipping... gotta love Amazon.com), I received a random text from my mom asking for chocolate chip cookies. I'll accept any excuse to bake, but when someone makes a specific request, it really gets me going! To my surprise, there wasn't a CCC recipe in my new book. I turned to a book I've had for a while but never used, The Dessert Bible by Chris Kimball(which I stole for $8.32 from Amazon.com). While I do believe the folks of Cook's Illustrated are sometimes snooty about their recipes, they usually produce really good results.

This recipe is a bit iffy for me. When I baked the cookies exactly as the recipe states, I got mound-shaped cookies with light brown tops and dark bottoms. Before I put my second pan in, I reduced the oven temp to 350, I moved an oven rack to the upper-middle position (to correct the uneven browning issue), and I slightly flattened my scoops of cookie dough with the palm of my hand. This batch took about 3 minutes longer to bake, but the shape and browning both improved. The only other slight change I made was to double the salt because I'm a firm believer that a pinch of salt in a cookie recipe will never suffice!

After making the changes, I am very pleased with how these cookies turned out. I loved biting into a big hunk of chocolate here and there. They still could've used more salt, but that's my preference. They are crisp on the outside, moist and chewy on the inside, and most importantly, Mom was happy! Two thumbs up for The Dessert Bible's "Best Chocolate Chip Cookie."

*Taste best when made while listening to Delta Blues tag radio on Last.fm, guaranteed! ;D

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie (from The Dessert Bible by Christopher Kimball)
Makes 20 large cookies (I got 2 dozen cookies using a #30 scoop)

1/4 cup Crisco
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened but still firm
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg white
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (Anyone else surprised by the measurement being given in cups instead of weight? So unlike Mr. Kimball!)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
10 oz. chocolate chunks (I used three different kinds of semi-sweet/dark chocolate. Next time I'll use a mix of milk and semi-sweet chocolate.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees*. In a medium bowl beat the Crisco and butter until fairly smooth. It’s okay if there are some bigger chunks. Add the sugars and stir until well blended. Add the egg, egg white, and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt and mix together until smooth. Add the chocolate and mix until just combined.

For large cookies, place heaping tablespoons of dough on the paper with 1 1/2 inches between the outer edges of the balls of dough. Bake for about 12 minutes, or until tops are lightly browned. Rotate pan front to back halfway through baking; do not overcook. Repeat until all the dough has been baked.
*My recommendation is to preheat the oven to 350 degrees and adjust an oven rack to the upper-middle position. (If you only have 3 positions in your oven, use the middle rack.) When I baked my first pan on the middle rack, the bottoms browned much faster than the tops. I also suggest slightly flattening the scoops of dough before they go into the oven. At 350 degrees, these cookies will bake in 14-15 minutes.

NYMTK: Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies (w/ video)

Thanks to Kat for sending this recipe to Not Your Momma's Test Kitchen. She bookmarked it from Crepes of Wrath, who saw it on Slice of Feist, who got it from the Chicago Sun-Times. Whew, this recipe is a traveller! These cookies are delicious! They're chewy and packed with flavor, but they're not greasy at all. My favorite thing about these is the ratio of chocolate chips and nuts to cookie dough. I don't like chocolate chip cookies that are so packed full of chips it feels like you're eating nothing but a handful of chocolate chips. I like to taste the actual COOKIE part of the cookie!

Oh, btw pals, I made a video to go along with this recipe! I got a haircut yesterday, and everyone I knew was at work. I had to show SOMEONE! Why not the entire world?

I was gonna go back in and add captions on the clips that I had to fast forward in order to make YouTube's rediculously strict 10 minute limit. Who can make chocolate chip cookies in 10 minutes??? Tell me! Who!? Anyway, all you missed during those sped up bits can be found in the recipe. I followed it exactly. I also ate a metric ton of chocolate chips, and I talked about what I was having for lunch and other non-important things that were still witty enough that I wish I didn't have to cut them out. Oh well. I don't donate to YouTube, so I guess I shouldn't complain about their time limit. It's free!
I plugged the recipe and yield (24 cookies) into a calorie counter thingy, and here's what I got:
Calories 186.3, Total Fat 8.3 g, Saturated Fat 2.0 g, Polyunsaturated Fat 2.9 g, Monounsaturated Fat 3.0 g
I'm not claiming those amounts are actually right. Lol, I have no idea what the website does with the info when I type it in, but let's hope it's somewhere in the vicinity!
Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies
MAKES 4 TO 5 DOZEN (Hahaha! I got 2 dozen)

2 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, salt and baking soda.
In a larger mixing bowl, beat eggs. Add olive oil and beat until completely mixed with eggs.
Add sugars, vanilla and mix until combined.
Beat in dry ingredients slowly. (As you can see in the video, the dough is very stiff.) Fold in chocolate chips and nuts, if using.
Drop by rounded teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheets. (I used a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop and got exactly 24 cookies.)
Bake for 9 to 11 minutes until bottom of cookies are golden brown (tops will be a pale blonde color). Let stand for 2 minutes, then place on wire racks to cool.

"Baked" Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've noticed that chocolate chip cookies seem to be one of the most controversial desserts when it comes to finding the "perfect recipe." Some people like them chewy, some people like them crunchy. Some people prefer to use melted butter, some like the creaming method. Some like to use brown sugar, some like to use white sugar. Some say vanilla extract is unnecessary, some say it's a necessity. There are so many issues when it comes to the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe! I'll get this out of the way first: I have not found it. These "Baked" cookies (from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking) are delicious, but I have a few complaints. My first is that there are WAY too many chocolate chips for my liking. I want to be able to taste the caramely flavor of the brown sugar and the vanilla-flavored dough, but instead I get bombarded by chocolate chips in every single bite! My second and last complaint is that the cookies are just too flat. In the picture in the book, the cookies look almost cake-like. While I am extremely pleased that my cookies did not have a cakey texture, I am disappointed by how flat the were. Yes, they were chewy (which I like), but just flat, almost as if they had deflated. I guess it's a weird complaint, but I like my cookies to have a little more volume.

I did notice something strange while I was lining my pans with parchment paper. Inside the Reynolds parchment paper box there is a recipe for chocolate chip cookies. It's almost identical to the "Baked" recipe, but it has 1/2 cup more flour and only 12 oz. of chocolate chips. I just thought that was a funny coincidence! :) PS: This recipe is brought to you by my super awesome boyfriend, Josh. I was getting ready to type the recipe into Google Docs, but I got up to get a drink. When I came back, look who was sitting in my seat doing my dirty work for me! He's the greatest! <3Chocolate Chip Cookies (from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking)
Makes 24 cookies (I used a 2-tablespoon scoop and got 33 cookies!)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups (16 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and baking soda together; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter and sugars together until smooth and creamy. Scrape down the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. The mixture will look light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and beat for 5 seconds
Add half of the flour mixture and mix for 15 seconds. Add the remaining flour mixture and beat until just incorporated
Using a spatula or wooden spoon, fold in the chocolate chips.
Cover the bowl tightly and put in the refrigerator for 6 hours.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Use an ice cream scoop with a release mechanism to scoop out dough in 2-tablespoon-size balls. Use your hands to shape the dough into perfect balls and place them on the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, rotating the pans once during the cooking time, until the edges of the cookies are golden brown and the tops just start to darken.
Remove the pan from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Use a spatula to transfer the individual cookies to the rack to cool completely (although they are delicious warm).
The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

HTEAC Does Business: "Over the Hill!" 40th Birthday Cake

I'm gonna start a new grouping of posts for my paid orders. I'm calling it HTEAC Does Business (sticking with the theme from my HTEAC Does Dinner section). One of our loyal wing nighters asked me to do her boyfriend John's 40th birthday cake. She wanted to do the "Over the Hill" theme with lots of black frosting. Thank goodness he likes chocolate because it is SO awful trying to make black vanilla buttercream. She told me he loves Reese's and asked me to do a cake and cupcakes using chocolate and peanut butter as the main flavors. For the cake, I used a peanut butter cake recipe from a book I recently got, Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott, and I added some mini chocolate chips to the batter. For the frosting, I used regular decorator's buttercream for the colors. And for the black frosting I made chocolate peanut butter frosting. I hate decorating cakes, and if I didn't have help from my mom (who took a gazillion Wilton classes back in the day and can decorate character cakes in her sleep) this cake would've looked terrible. We teamed up and did a pretty awesome job, considering my mom hasn't done a cake in over 10 years and I absolutely loathe cake decorating.

And if you suck at making flowers like I do, try this method. Use a small star tip (I think I used #18) and make a swirl from the inside out. It looks sorta like a flower!

Now let me talk a little more about this cake recipe. It uses the mixing method of coating the flour with fat before adding the wet ingredients. This prevents the flour from absorbing the wet ingredients and thus prevents the development of gluten. Meaning, you can stop worrying so much about over-mixing your cake batter. At first, this method always made me nervous because it's pounded into our heads that we should never over-mix the batter after the flour is added. But after a bit of practice, I actually prefer this mixing method. This particular recipe is mixed for over 2 1/2 minutes and the cake comes out perfectly soft and moist! It's like a cake miracle! :D

PS: If you only wanna make 6 or 7 cupcakes, make 1/4 of the recipe. (It works, I tried it!)

James McNair's Peanut Cake (from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott)
Makes 2 9-inch round layers; or about 28 cupcakes [1/4 recipe in green makes about 7 cupcakes]
4 eggs (1 egg)
1 cup milk (1/4 cup)
1/4 cup peanut oil or vegetable oil (1 Tbsp)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (1/2 tsp)
3 cups all-purpose flour (3/4 cup)
1 tablespoon baking powder (3/4 tsp)
1/2 teaspoon salt (omit)
2 cups sugar (1/2 cup)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened (2 Tbsp)
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (not "natural" peanut butter) (2 Tbsp)
3/4 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips (my own addition) (1/4 cup)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare baking pans. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla and whisk to blend well. Set aside.
Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl of a mixer, and stir with a fork to mix well. Add the sugar and use the mixer at low speed or a fork to mix these dry ingredients together well, about 30 seconds. Add the butter and peanut butter and beat at medium speed until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs, about 45 seconds. Add about 1 1/4 cups of the milk mixture and beat at medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes, and then stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the remaining milk mixture, beat for 30 seconds, stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl, and beat again until creamy smooth, about 30 seconds more. (Fold in the chocolate chips, if using.)
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and smooth the surface with a rubber spatula. Bake for 25-30 minutes (or 15-17 minutes for cupcakes), until the cake springs back when touched gently in the center and a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool the cakes in the pans on wire racks or folded kitchen towel for 5 to 10 minutes. Then turn out the cakes onto the racks to cool completely.

Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins

These muffins were super random. I woke up to find some lovely bananas laying on the kitchen table. Fruit doesn't last long in our house because I always find something to bake with it. As soon as I saw the bananas, I knew I wanted to FINALLY try the banana muffins in Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito that I've heard so much about . My thoughts? All the reviews are true! These muffins are insane! They are packed with flavor. They're very moist, thanks to the bananas. And the coffee really accents the flavor of the chocolate chips. I didn't have espresso powder, so I used extra instant coffee. I think next time I'll add a bit more to make the coffee flavor really stand out. Other than that, these muffins are perfect. They'll definitely get you going in the morning, but don't think you'll be reaching for one as a substitute for a healthy breakfast. They're definitely not in the healthy-muffin category!

Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins (from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking)
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 4 medium)
1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cups whole milk
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon instant espresso
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (6 ounces) semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 12 cup pan muffin with non-stick cooking spray. In a medium bowl stir together the bananas, sugars, butter, milk, and egg. Set aside.
In another medium bowl whisk together the flour, espresso, baking soda, and salt together. Make a well in the center of the flour bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the well and stir until just combined. Fold in the chocolate.
Divide the batter among the muffin pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the muffins in the pan for 15 minutes before removing. Then finishing cooling on a wire rack. Muffins can be kept in an airtight container for 2 days.

Big and Chewy Light Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hey! Did you know it's almost summertime? And it's about to get hot? And you're gonna have to shed some clothing to stay comfortable? And did you know that means it's almost swimsuit season!?!?!! If you're like me, you got really comfortable in your sweatshirts and jeans this winter. And if you're like me, you also got pretty comfortable with cakes, brownies, cookies, pies, and all the other yummies that came and went with the holidays. Okay I know I'm sounding like a New Years' resolution right now, but I'm about to let you in on something incredible so stay with me!!

Hey! Did you know you can eat chocolate chip cookies and STILL look pretty freakin hot in a bathing suit this summer??? Ladies and gentleman, may I introduce you to the "Big and Chewy Light Chocolate Chip Cookie." That's right! It's big (compared to other "diet" cookies), it's chewy, and it's LIGHT! The recipe is from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book. I made their Low-fat Blueberry Muffins a few months ago, and those were perfect. So I definitely had high expectations when I started making the dough for light chocolate chip cookies. How can chocolate chip cookies be low-fat and still be chewy and delicious? DATES! No, I'm not dissing all my single ladies. I'm talking about nature's candy. Dates are naturally chewy, so it makes sense that adding homemade date purée to the cookie dough would make these cookies super chewy! I might even start adding date purée to other cookie recipes (and maybe even brownies) to make them chewier... it's just a thought.

Thanks to a handy recipe calculator, I roughly estimated the nutritional facts of ATK's regular chocolate chip cookies (recipe converted to yield 18 cookies):

PER COOKIE: Cal 191; Fat 9 g; Sat fat 5.5 g; Chol 27.4 mg; Carb 27 g; Protein 1.9 g

Compare that to the facts for the low-fat version:

PER COOKIE: Cal 120; Fat 3 g; Sat fat 2 g; Chol 15 mg; Carb 23 g; Protein 2 g

So fear not, people! It is possible to eat cookies and look HOT! Oh and while I'm at it I wanna mention my new obsession: Organic dark chocolate chips from Woodstock Farms. I found these on sale at a random no-name grocery store a few weeks ago. I figured these "healthy" chocolate chip cookies were a pretty good excuse to use organic chocolate chips. These chips taste about as dark as regular semi-sweet chips. They're creamy, smooth, and they melted perfectly in the cookies. If you ever come across organic chocolate chips, I definitely recommend trying them! Of course, if you live in a fancy city and have access to stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's then you've probably known about organic chocolate chips looong before me! Good for you! ;P

Browned butter and homemade date purée contribute to the great flavor and texture in these cookies! The lean cookie dough is very crumbly.
It's not sticky at all, so don't be afraid to mix with your hands!
Break the dough balls in half and press the side together. The jagged edges on top help these cookies bake with craggly brown edges.
They look perfect, but how do they taste?
FANTASTIC!

I usually prefer my cookies baked on the lighter side (left). However, these cookies are gonna be chewy no matter what! Baking them for about 18 minutes (right) turns them a nice toasty brown and develops some yummy flavor!

BIG AND CHEWY LIGHT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES (from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book)
MAKES about 18 cookies (I got exactly 18! It’s a miracle!)
“Dried dates can be found in the nut and dried fruit section of the supermarket. Be sure to buy dates that are still supple. To chop the dates quickly, try using kitchen shears sprayed with vegetable oil spray.”
1 cup water
1/4 cup (1 1/4 ounces) finely chopped dates
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups (10 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups packed (8 3/4 ounces) light brown sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup (3 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Bring the water and dates to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Simmer until the dates are tender and most of the water has evaporated, about 20 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, work the dates through a fine-mesh strainer into a medium bowl. Scrape the dates remaining in the strainer into the bowl (you should have about 1/4 cup puree). Cook the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until nutty brown, about 4 minutes. Let cool.
3. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat the melted butter, brown sugar, and date puree together with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla until combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl and beaters as needed.
4. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture until combined, about 30 seconds. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the chocolate chips, then mix in the remaining chips until incorporated. (The batter will be very stiff. You can use your hands to mix the chips in because the batter is not sticky at all.)
5. (I refrigerated my dough for several hours before this next step.) Working with 2 tablespoons of dough at a time, roll the dough into balls, tear the balls in half, and press back together with the torn side up. Lay the cookies jagged side up on the pre­pared baking sheets, spaced about 2 inches apart. Press the remaining 2 tablespoons of chips evenly over the cookies.
6. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, until the edges are set and beginning to brown but the centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 20 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through baking. (If the cookies are underbaked, they will have a gummy texture.)
7. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then serve warm or transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

To Make Ahead
The bowl of cookie dough can be wrapped tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 3 days; let soften at room temperature (I didn’t have to soften mine; It was scoopable out of the fridge.), then portion and bake as directed. The dough can also be portioned and shaped into balls on a baking sheet and frozen; when they are frozen solid, transfer them to a large zipper-lock bag. To bake, arrange the frozen cookies (do not thaw) on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake as directed, increasing the baking time to 20 to 25 minutes.

PER COOKIE: Cal 120; Fat 3 g; Sat fat 2 g; Chol 15 mg; Carb 23 g; Protein 2 g; Fiber 0 g; Sodium 55 mg

“Using our classic chocolate chip cookie recipe as a base, we created a great-tasting low-fat chocolate chip cookie. But there was a problem: Since most of the butter had been taken out, within an hour of coming out of the oven, our tender and chewy cookies turned into rocks. The solution? Homemade date puree, made by cooking and mashing dried dates. We replaced three-quarters of the butter in our favorite full-fat recipe with date puree. Then we pumped up the butter flavor by melting and browning the remaining butter. adding just enough richness to mask any hints of date flavor.”--THE AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN FAMILY BAKING BOOK

Roasted Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Are you looking for the perfect chewy chocolate chip cookie? Does the perfect chocolate chip cookie contain pecans, in your opinion? If so, this is the recipe you've been looking for! It has MASSIVE pecan flavor, because it has ground and chopped pecans mixed in. The best part is, they stay chewy loooong after they've cooled. I love them. Dad hates them. The saga of chewy vs. crunchy continues... (But thanks to these cookies, I say Team Chewy is up by one!) Remember, it's VERY important to chill your cookie dough for at least a few hours before you bake your cookies. It gives all the ingredients plenty of time to get to know each other, and I promise it makes them taste so so SO much yummier!

Start out with 3, yes THREE, cups of pecans! Then 2 cups of chocolate chips!
Mmmm, ground roasted nuts!
Hey dough, let's hang out in the fridge for a few days...
After chilling for at least 12 hours...
GO TEAM CHEWY!

Roasted Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies (from BakeWise by Sherry O. Corriher)
Makes about 6 dozen (I got 41 using a #30 disher)

3 cups (10.5 oz/297 g) pecans
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (9 oz/255 g), unsalted butter, divided
1 teaspoon (6 g) salt, divided
2 1/4 cups (10 oz/287 g) spooned and leveled un-bleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon (5 g) baking soda
1 1/2 cups (10.5 oz/298 g) sugar
1 teaspoon (5 ml) unsulfured molasses
1 tablespoon (15 ml) pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs (3.5 oz/99 g)
2 cups (12 oz/340 g) semisweet chocolate chips
Nonstick cooking spray, optional

1. Arrange a shelf in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F/177°C.
2. Spread out the pecans on a baking sheet and roast until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. While they are hot, toss the nuts with 2 tablespoons of the butter (1 oz/28 g) and 1/4 teaspoon (1.5 g) salt.
3. When the nuts have cooled, place 1 1/2 cups (5.25 oz/149 g) of the pecans in a food processor with the steel blade and process with quick on/offs until very finely chopped to a coarse meal. The nuts will chop unevenly, so do not try to get every nut finely chopped, but watch the overall batch carefully; do not go to pecan butter.
4. In a bowl, beat together the pecan meal, flour, baking soda, and the remaining 3/4 teaspoon (4.5 g) salt. Set aside.
5. In a mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the remaining 1 cup butter (8 oz/226 g) with the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the molasses and vanilla. On the lowest speed, beat in the eggs. Beat in the flour-pecan meal mixture in several batches.
6. Coarsely chop the remaining 1 1/2 cups (5.25 oz/149 g) pecans. Stir the pecans and chocolate chips into the dough. Work in with your hands, if necessary. Shape into several logs about 1 1/2 inches (4 cm) in diameter, wrap well in plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 36 hours if desired (I put my dough in a airtight container, and chilled it for 36 hours).
7. Turn up the oven to 375°F/191°C. Line a baking sheet with Release foil, nonstick side up, or parchment sprayed with nonstick cooking spray (I used parchment with no spray). Slice the dough into 1/2-inch (1.3-cm) slices (I used a #30 disher). Keep unbaked dough refrigerated. Place on the baking sheet about 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart. Bake until the edges just begin to color, 9 to 11 minutes (The centers will be very soft, but as long as they don't look shiney and "doughy" in the center, THEY'RE READY!).