Butter Pecan Cookies with Dark Chocolate Pieces

Butter pecan cookies, just baked shown on a cooling rack in rows.

Delicious and festive butter, pecan cookies with dark chocolate pieces - these cookies are the perfect treat to enjoy with coffee or with a cold glass of milk.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Butter pecan cookies, butter pecan cookies with dark chocolate

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 13

Browning butter 10

Total Time 38

Servings servings

Calories 238kcal

Author Sonila

Equipment

1 glass mixing bowl
1 Whisk
1 silicone spatula
1 large baking sheet
parchment paper
1 small sauce pot

Ingredients

1.5 cups pecan halves
2 dark chocolate bars each bar is 2 ozs
2 butter stick 226 grams
2.5 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp vanilla paste

Instructions

Places pecan halves over parchment paper in a baking sheet. Roast for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees F. Shake the tray (use mittens) halfway through to flip some of the pecans so they roast/toast evenly. Set aside to cool off when done!
Chop the chocolate bars on a cutting board with a knife, no need to be precise. You're just trying to create small pieces but they don't have to be symmetrical. Set aside too.
Brown butter for about 8-10 minutes, remove from heat and place pot over a bowl of water and ice. You want to cool off the butter as fast as possible to almost room temperature so when mixed with eggs it doesn't curdle them.
In a bowl mix with a spoon all purpose flour, cornstarch and baking soda. Set aside. I refer to this mix as dry ingredients.
Add eggs to medium glass bowl. Add brown sugar and vanilla paste. Whisk vigorously to create a light creamy mixture. Add brown butter too and continue whisking to incorporate. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix. When it becomes hard to whisk, switch to a spatula.
Add pecans (you can break them into smaller pieces in a mortar pestle or in a ziplock bag by rolling a rolling pin over them) and dark chocolate pieces.
Chill the dough for a short amount of time, usually 15 minutes works for me. You want to chill long enough for dough to be pliable to work with your hands and quickly prepare balls of dough as seen in my pictures. Don't work the dough too much since heat from the hands will soften the butter too much.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 13 minutes. Bake in batches if needed because you don't want the cookies to be too close to each other. Use a spatula to place cookies in a cooling rack to rest for about 15 minutes or so. Enjoy:)).

Video

Notes

Chill the dough for about 15-20 minutes.
Once you make these cookies couple of times and feel more comfortable with the process, you can try to shave some cooking time by toasting the pecans and browning the butter simultaneously.
These cookies disappear within a day or two, but usually I store leftovers in an airtight container for 2-3 days when I bake a double batch.
Salt - you need a pinch of salt in these cookies. I skip adding salt when using salted butter (different brands have different content of salt so try it and see if it works for you). Also watch out for pecans. Most are not salted, but if you buy them already salted watch out so you don't use salted butter too so you don't double up on salt.

Nutrition