White Chocolate Chunk and Pecan Cookies

Hi everybody! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and your waistband is still the same size. My holiday was fantastic because I got to see my brother, who lives in San Francisco, and my older son, who lives in Davis, California. They came to our feast with their wives and it was so much fun. I hadn’t seen my brother for two years, so it was very special for me.

I made these White Chocolate Chunk and Pecan Cookies to set out on a plate with the other hors d’oeuvres in case someone wanted something sweet. I also made the Kalamata Olive and Sun-Dried Tomato Toasts, and little garlic butter crostini topped with Boursin cheese for our appetizers. Alas, there were no leftovers.

The first time I made these cookies was about a month ago. I woke up one morning craving the original Chocolate Chip Cookies. I came home from work, after thinking about them all day, ready to mix and bake, only to discover I had no chocolate chips! Darn! Not to be deterred, I checked my pantry and discovered I had some Callebaut white chocolate. Ah ha! The project continued on. I threw in the pecans for textural interest. Actually, they don’t look like much, but all the little crumbs of white chocolate get mixed in and melt into the dough, making them so rich, you cannot eat just one. Truly.

My Cookie Monster sons, Brian and David

My original intent was to freeze those cookies and keep them for Thanksgiving. I made the mistake of leaving them in a container on the kitchen counter and not telling my younger son, Brian, not to eat them. So he did, plus he has friends. I ended up with five cookies, which I fully intended to photograph. I even put a note on them saying “Do Not Eat!” A couple of days later there were three cookies. I just threw up my hands and said to myself, forget it. So I made another batch a couple of days before Thanksgiving and hid them. And I hid the last dozen in order to take these photos. They are so good. Buttery. Nutty. Chocolate-y. Melt in your mouth. You get the idea.

 

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White Chocolate Chunk and Pecan Cookies

Makes about 6 dozen

1 cup butter (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon table salt
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
8 ounces white chocolate, chopped, pieces no larger than 1 inch, excellent quality, such as Callebaut
1 cup pecans, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, mix the butter and sugars with a fork until creamy.

3. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until thoroughly incorporated.

4. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the dough mixture. Add half the flour and incorporate, then mix in the rest of the flour. Stir in the chopped white chocolate and pecans.

5. Drop 14 rounded tablespoons onto an ungreased baking sheet. I use a 1 1/4-inch diameter ice cream scoop.

6. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from sheet immediately to rack or paper.