Chocolate-Pecan Bangers AKA Crispy Chocolate-Pecan Cookies

Last fall, as we moved from our home of 7 years stayed with my mother in law, then moved into a short-term rental, and then, finally, into our new home in a new town and new state. Through out that turmoil we survived on three things: takeout hamburgers, Garlicy-Lemon Grilled Chicken (I'll post that recipe when it's warm) and Chocolate-Pecan Bangers.

I hesitated about sharing a cookie recipe that contains eggs, especially when I have posted a beautiful soft and chewy vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe on this site, but I'm doing it anyway because if you have even just 1 egg, these are the cookies to make. You won't regret it.

These cookies are crispy heaven with just a hint of gooeyness in the middle. They're not nut-heavy, but they're subtly nutty. They're based on Sarah Kieffer's world-changing chocolate cookie recipe where she introduced us all to pan-banging. (If you don't know what that is, check out Sarah's website or see my explanation below.) I've tweaked Sarah's recipe a bit since I don't love giant, super salty cookies and really like the addition of chopped pecans. So, if salty giant cookies are your thing, check out Sarah's recipe, or, if not, try mine. Or maybe live a little and try both. :)

NOTE FOR PAN-BANGING VIRGINS

Pan-banging is a way to get flat, crispy and chewy cookies. All you need to do to achieve this perfect cookie is to pull your pan out of the oven at three intervals and smack your tray three times on a heat safe/bang proof counter or stove top. The goal is to get the cookies flat and crinkly.

NOTE ABOUT CHOCOLATE

My absolute favorite chocolate for this recipe is Guittard Semi-Sweet baking wafers. These are pricey (about $10.00 a bag when I wrote this), but you don't need a ton and they definitely elevate the cookie. You can certainly use a different semi-sweet or bitter sweet chocolate wafer or chunk or just chop your own chocolate. However, you should not use regular chocolate chips as they will not give you the lush chocolate puddles that make this recipe perfect.

NOTE ABOUT BUTTER

I like these with either European style butter (like Kerry Gold) or American (like Land o' Lakes) style butter. You'll get a slight variation in texture with a slightly thinner cookie with the European style, but both work well.

NOTE ABOUT SALT

My family perfers these cookies without flaked fluer de sel on top. If you'd like to salt your cookies, then cut back on the amount of kosher salt in the cookies to 1 teaspoon instead of 1 and 1/2 teaspoons. Flaked salt should be sprinkled over cookies as soon as they're done baking.

Chocolate-Pecan Bangers

Makes about 30 (2 tablespoon) cookies. It takes 10 minutes to make the batter, 10-20 minutes to chill the dough, and then 12-30 minutes to bake all the cookies.

Adapted from Sarah Kieffer's Pan-Banging Chocolate Chip Cookies in "Vanilla Bean Blog"

Ingredients

2 sticks unsalted butter ideally at "cool" room temperature

1 and 1/2 cups granulated white sugar (300 grams)

1/4 cup lightly packed light brown or dark brown sugar (50 grams)

1 egg from the fridge is fine

1 and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract

2 tablespoons tap water

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour (scooped or use a scale and measure 280 grams)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (OR 1 teaspoon kosher salt and fleur de sel to finish)

1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans (2 ounces or 60 grams)

6oz or 1 and 1/4 cups bittersweet or semi sweet wafers or chopped chocolate

STEP ONE

Chop your pecans into 1/4 inch pieces. Preheat a large pan on medium low on the stove. Add pecans to preheated pan and toast for about 3-5 minutes making sure to stir so that your nuts don't begin to burn. You want them to start smelling and just begin to take on color. Once they start to take on color, remove from heat immediately and set them aside to cool while you start to make your cookies.

STEP TWO

Using a stand mixer or a hand mixer cream butter for about 1 minute. Add 1 and 1/2 cups white sugar and 1/4 cup packed brown sugar to the butter and beat again on medium until fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add egg, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla, and 2 tablespoons water to butter-sugar mixture and beat until combined. Next, sprinkle the 2 cups plue 2 tablespoons of flour over top of the wet ingredients, then sprinkle the 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of salt and the 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda over top of the flour. Mix on low until combined. Lastly, add 6 ounces of chocolate wafers, chocolate morsels, or chopped chocolate and 1/2 cup of chopped toasted pecans. Mix just to combine.

STEP THREE

While your oven preheats to 350 (about 10-15 minutes) you're going to portion out your cookies. If you're baking two pans of cookies at a time, then portion dough into sixteen 2 tablespoon sized balls (a number 40 cookie scoop is ideal for this) and place cookie dough balls on a tray in the freezer.  If you're doing just one tray at a time, portion eight cookies and chill in the freezer.

STEP FOUR The rest of your dough can rest in the fridge in the mixing bowl or it can be portioned out as well and stored in the fridge until you're ready to use it.The goal is just to chill your dough, I use the freezer for the first round of cookies so that they're ready faster. If you don't want to mess with the freezer, then you could also just refridgerate your dough for 20-30 minutes.

STEP THREE

Once your oven is preheated, space out your chilled cookie dough balls on a parchment lined cookie sheet. You should be able to fit 8 cookies on a pan with about 2-3 inches between each cookie. I highly recommend using a rimmed sheet pan for this so you don't have the parchment paper sliding around so much when you bang your cookies.

STEP FOUR

You're going to bake your cookies for about 10-13 minutes, but you've got to break up the baking time with your pan banging. Each pan-banging requires 3 smart smacks on a safe surface. You're going to want to bang your cookies 3-4 times in total. The easiest way to do this is to set a timer for 5 minutes, bang your pan(s). then 3 minutes, bang your pan, and 3 more minutes or when you remove them from the oven. The edges should look crisp and have taken on color but the center is still gooey.

Allow cookies to cool. Once cooled cookies keep 4-5 days stored on the counter top in an airtight storage container. I've mailed these cookies cross country and they travel very well.