Pecan Chews

Pecan Chews - made dough October 14, 2018 from A Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

I’m rereading Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swensen mysteries again and tried out this recipe from the first in the series, The ChocolateChip Cookie Murder. Mostly because I still had the pecans from my cousin and wanted to put them to good use. 

This once again breaks my no-nuts-in-my-cookies rule because, like the Pecan Sandies, it’s virtually impossible to make “Pecan Chews” without pecans. But, unlike the sandies, this had a more typical cookie texture in that it was on the chewy end of the cookie spectrum, not the shortbread-texture end of the cookie continuum.

A cautionary note: the dough is really soft on this one when it's first mixed. I advise chilling it in the fridge for 30 minutes or so, at least until it's first enough to scoop into dough balls. Otherwise your cookies might spread too thin.

One thing surprised me about this cookie. The taste and texture were actually quite good and were even good enough for me not to mind nuts in this cookie. However, I happened to use a spicy pecan mix from the stash my cousin gave me and it turns out I don’t like spicy pecans. So that was somewhat of a drawback.

But apparently I’m in the minority on this one. This recipe made several dozen cookies so I ended up bringing two platefuls to work and they disappeared faster than most desserts I bring in. One of my coworkers even asked me for the recipe, the most sincere compliment someone can pay. So there you go; we’ve all got different taste buds and this one suited more people than I expected.

1 cup butter
3 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups finely chopped pecans
4 cups flour

1. Melt butter and add brown sugar. Mix well and let cool. Add eggs and beat to combine. Add salt, baking soda, vanilla and pecans; mix well. Add flour and mix until just combined.
2. Portion dough into golf-ball-size dough balls (chill first if too soft to make into balls), flatten slightly into thick discs, cover and chill or freeze for several hours or overnight.
3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Evenly space dough discs on baking sheets and bake 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheets for several minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.