Is there any scent that’s more homey, delicious, and comforting than a batch of freshly baked cookies?
Everyone loves a cookie or two, and no matter who you are or what you do, a plate of cookies and a cold glass of milk can make a bad day just a little bit better.
In the USA, the most popular type of cookie is chocolate chip! Whether it’s plain, chocolate chip with peanut butter, or chocolate chip pecan cookies, people just can’t get enough.
In fact, people love chocolate chip cookies so much that there are even heated debates about what makes the perfect chocolate chip cookie.
Chewy vs. crunchy?
Chocolate chips vs. chocolate chunks?
Here at CookingChew, we love our plain chocolate chip cookies, but we also love pairing the cookies with nuts because of the exciting texture and additional flavor.
You can bet that whenever a cookie craving comes upon us, we’re whipping up a batch of these delicious chocolate chip pecan cookies.
Check out these articles:
- How to Soften Butter: 4 Quick and Easy Ways
- How to Make Walnut Butter: The Ultimate Recipe
- How to Make Buttermilk – Best Recipes You Should Try in Your Kitchen
How do you keep chocolate chip cookies soft?
There are two easy ways to keep chocolate chip cookies soft after baking.
First, make sure to store the cookies in an airtight container. Sure, a traditional cookie jar might look cute but if you’re going to use a cookie jar, make sure to use one with an airtight seal.
Exposing chocolate chip cookies to air will make them dry out faster, resulting in dry, hard, and unappetizing cookies.
Second, make sure to place a slice of bread with your cookies before storing them. The cookies will absorb the moisture in the bread and keep soft and chewy.
Next time you open them up, you’ll have soft cookies, but you’ll notice that the bread has become hard and stale!
However, there are also a couple of things that you need to keep in mind when using the “bread method” to keep your cookies soft.
First, make sure that you use a neutral-tasting bread such as white bread to store with your cookies. Otherwise, you might accidentally transfer the taste of your bread to your cookies.
Second, don’t go overboard with the bread! If you add too many slices, you could put too much moisture inside your cookie container and your cookies will become soggy.
Why use ground oatmeal in chocolate chip cookies?
Oatmeal has several functions when it is added to chocolate chip cookies. First, they add texture so that you get that nice, chewy consistency in your cookies. Second, they add fiber, which helps retain moisture and prevents the cookies from drying out.
Finally, oatmeal adds a mild, nutty flavor to the cookies. For chocolate chip pecan cookies, you might not notice it immediately because of the stronger flavors of chocolate and pecan, but there’s an undertone of nuttiness to the cookies themselves that is separate from the nuttiness of the pecans.
Our CookingChew Cooking Tips:
If you love soft and chewy cookies with just a little bit of crispness around the edges (which, we think, are the perfect cookie), here are some tips that you can use:
1. Chill your dough
If you want plump cookies, chill your dough for around 15 minutes. After chilling, let it rest at room temperature for around 10 minutes.
Chilling the dough lets the sugars melt a little bit more and prevents the dough from overspreading while they bake.
Letting the dough rest allows you to work with the dough by loosening it up slightly without losing the benefits of chilling the dough.
2. Follow the recipe
Have you ever noticed how cookie recipes seem to be so exact? Some recipes call for softening the butter, while others call for melted butter. The consistency of the butter will affect the final consistency of your cookies.
In this recipe, the softened butter allows air pockets to get trapped while you cream the butter with sugar, resulting in lighter cookies.
3. Salt your dough
Salt brings out the flavor of your cookies, especially if you’re using chocolate and pecans. Don’t be afraid to be a little bit heavy-handed with the salt; ½ t. might seem like a lot but it’ll help cut through the richness of the chocolate and pecans to give you a more balanced flavor in your cookies.
4. Invest in non-stick baking mats
If you love baking cookies regularly, you should consider investing in non-stick baking mats unless you want to keep on spending on endless rolls of parchment paper.
5. Experiment with chunks or discs
While chocolate chips are all well and good, you can upgrade your recipe by using chopped chocolate chunks or even chocolate discs! These will melt into larger pockets of chocolate so that you get more of that gooey, melted chocolate with each bite.
6. Get a cooling rack
After your cookies are done baking, remove them from the baking trays as soon as they are cool enough to move. Leaving them on the trays will result in burnt cookie bottoms! Using a spatula, transfer the cookies to a cooling rack. This allows the proper air flow around and under the cookies so that they cool properly to produce soft, moist, and chewy cookies. Get cooling racks that have tight wire grids rather than wide bars.
Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies
We love the basic chocolate chip cookie here at CookingChew, but whenever we want a little bit more crunch or oomph, we make a batch of these delicious chocolate chip pecan cookies! The toasted pecans have a nutty and buttery taste that works so well with the sweet chocolate chips, and the addition of oatmeal in the cookie dough results in soft, moist cookies.
Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies
Toasted pecans add such flavor and works so well with the sweet chocolate chips, and the addition of oatmeal in the cookie dough results in soft, moist cookies.
Ingredients
- 2 c. all-purpose flour
- 1 c. whole rolled oatmeal
- 2 eggs
- 1 c. softened butter
- 1 c. of white sugar
- 1 c. of packed brown sugar
- 2 t. vanilla extract
- 1 t. baking powder
- 1 t. baking soda
- ½ t. salt
- 2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 c. of toasted pecans
Instructions
- Toast pecans. Set aside.
- Using a food processor, pulse oatmeal until finely ground.
- Preheat oven to 325⁰F.
- In a large bowl, cream together softened butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until well combined.
- Beat in eggs one at a time, and stir in vanilla extract.
- In separate bowl, mix together flour, oats, salt, baking powder, and baking soda until well combined.
- Stir dry ingredients into creamed butter and sugar mixture and mix until just combined.
- Stir in chocolate chips and toasted pecans.
- Drop by rounded teaspoons on greased cookie sheets or non-stick baking mats.
- Bake for 10 minutes per batch.
- Remove cookies from trays after 2-3 minutes and place on cooling racks before serving warm.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 25 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 269Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 34mgSodium: 185mgCarbohydrates: 33gFiber: 2gSugar: 23gProtein: 3g
Bake in batches!
Another important secret to making good cookies is making sure that they cook properly in the right temperatures. If you’re making large batches of cookies, take the time to bake them in batches. Don’t overcrowd the baking sheets!
Spice it up
Adding a bit of spice on top of your cookies gives them a little bit more flavor! Sprinkle some cinnamon on top of the cookies as they’re cooling on the rack to give them a hint of spiciness.
Chocolate chip cookies are delicious on their own, but adding some toasted pecans and a dusting of cinnamon on top? OUT. OF. THIS. WORLD. Try this recipe today!