These chocolate pecan cookies are little bites of heaven. They are fudgy and moist on the inside and a little crisp and sparkly on the outside. Not too sweet, they are sure to please chocolate lovers everywhere.
1teaspoonespresso powder(you can also grind instant coffee to a powder and use that. That's what I did)
½teaspoonkosher salt
2ozpecanstoasted
1ozall purpose flour
2Tablespoonscocoa powder
8ozbittersweet chocolate
2ozunsalted butter
3ozgood quality mini chocolate chips or semi-sweet chocolate chopped into the same size as mini-chips
a small bowl of granulated sugarfor rolling (about 1/2 cup)
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350F and set two racks as close to the middle of the oven as you can. Line two cookie sheets with Silpat or parchment. Set aside.
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment, whip eggs, sugar,espresso powder and salt until it is very thick, light and fluffy. This will take about 10 minutes.
While the eggs are whipping, whir up the toasted pecans, flour, and cocoa powder in the food processor until the pecans are as finely ground as you can get them. (It will look sort of like coarse cornmeal). Set aside.
Melt the bittersweet chocolate and butter together either over simmering water or on medium power in the microwave. Stir until smooth and then set aside to cool slightly.
Stir the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture until thoroughly combined.
When the eggs have reached ribbon stage, stir one third of the eggs into the chocolate mixture to lighten it. Then thoroughly fold in the rest of the egg mixture until completely combined.
Fold in the chocolate chips/chopped chocolate so they are evenly distributed. Set aside for a couple of minutes--batter will firm up so it's scoopable. If the batter seems a bit soft to you, cover the bowl and refrigerate it for an hour or two.
Measure out the dough in flat tablespoons (not mounded up), dropping each into the bowl of sugar to make sure it's thoroughly coated and then rolling into balls. You can also use a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop.
Place rolled dough onto cookie sheet leaving about 2" between. I was able to get 20 on one sheet and 17 on the other.
Bake for 5 minutes.
Rotate the pans from top to bottom and from front to back and bake another 5 minutes.
Let cookies cool on the sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.
Notes
Gluten-Free Option
Make these cookies gluten free by substituting either 1 oz of fine almond flour or 1 oz of your favorite gluten free flour blend for the 1 oz of all purpose flour called for.