My Giant Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Last Saturday I went to work. While waiting to have dinner with my partner, I took a stroll at the mall to kill time.

I thought the Christmas decorations were quite nice. Then I spotted a Famous Amos kiosk. Of course I had to go have a look and I saw the Pecan Chocolate Chip and Macadamia Chocolate Chip cookies. These were the big ones that are sold by the piece and not by weight. They were selling at RM4.62 per cookie. Not cheap.

Pecan or macadamia? When indecisive, take both. That's my philosophy when it comes to cookies. So the guy packed each cookie in a plastic bag and I paid for my pre-dinner snack.

I eagerly ate the pecan one first and I'm afraid I was not thrilled as the taste was just......what was it.....ah.....I did not like the smell......not fragrant.....not buttery.

All I can show you is crumbs.

Yes, that's it, not buttery! Then I remembered that Famous Amos cookies are made with shortening and even if they used butter, it is together with shortening, with the ratio of shortening greater than butter (in some copycat recipes I have seen).

The cookie was also very sweet. Then I had the other one and found that the macadamia nuts were stale. Ugh! 

I was very boh kam guan (unsatisfied) and the very next day, I set out to bake my own pecan chocolate chip cookies. Using a recipe that came with the packaging of butter that I bought.

Have you ever tried recipes that come with product packaging? This is my first time. Looking at the recipe, it uses 250g butter to 450g flour and yields 60 pieces (small cookies). I did not want to spend the whole day in the kitchen bake so many, so I decided to halve the recipe.

So that meant 125g butter, 225g flour and so forth. I reduced the brown sugar by a little more than half but guess what? Somewhere along the line, I forgot to halve the pecans. I roasted and added all 125g of chopped pecans and realized too late after I had thrown them into the batter. But that's OK, right? I love pecans, so the more nuts, the better.

Then I got lazy. Why not use the big ice cream scoop and be done with it? Why bother baking tiny cookies? So.

hee...hee....hee..... I got me 10 big scoops of cookie dough instead of 30 or so. I had to bake them in two batches as my pan could not accommodate 10 large cookies.

It took something like 18 minutes or more to bake these large cookies and I got them browned and crispy on the edges and chewy in the center. The additional nuts made a lot of difference as I could enjoy the nutty taste against the chocolate chips and buttery cookie. This cookie is so so good!

Better than Famous Amos' I tell you. I am never a fan of shortening (I am sure it is there for a reason) in cookies as butter is still my fat of choice. 

If you are thinking of baking cookies for Christmas, I highly recommend this recipe. 

Giant Pecan Chocolate Chips Cookies

Recipe source : Adapted from Chef Khairi (as published on SCS Butter packaging)

Note : The recipe below is for half portion. I made large cookies. You can make small ones.

Ingredients :

- 125g butter, softened

- 225g self-raising flour

- 100g brown sugar

- 100g chocolate chips

- 125g roasted pecans, chopped (I used full amount instead half)

- 1 egg

- 1 tsp vanilla extract (not in original recipe)

Method :

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and creamy.

2. Add vanilla extract and egg and continue to beat until well incorporated.

3. Using a spatula (or continue with your mixer) fold in the flour and mix to form a dough.

4. Fold in chocolate chips and chopped pecans.

5. Using an ice cream scoop (I used a big one), scoop dough onto a lined baking tray. Flatten the dough a little using ad fork and bake at 160C for about 18 minutes or more until browned.

6. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.