About a month ago my niece asked me to help her enter a baking contest in her hometown. How could anyone say no to that? She wanted to make something really chocolaty but also salty. I like this girl's taste. After trying a couple of different recipes we ended up making these brownie-like cookies that are full of roasted, salted pecans. I couldn't believe how good they ended up being.
In the end, she and I were happy getting second place but her mother thought we would have taken first place if the judges would have had some actual baking skills.
4 cups coarsely chopped pecans
3 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
11/2 teaspoons kosher salt
6 (1-ounce) bittersweet chocolate, chopped*
1/4 cup dark cocoa powder
1/3 cup dairy-free margarine*
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips*
Combine first 3 ingredients and spread onto a baking sheet pan. Bake at 325° for 10 minutes or until fragrant and lightly toasted. Remove and let cool.
In a heavy saucepan, combine bittersweet chocolate and margarine; cook over low heat until chocolate melts, stirring often. Remove from heat and stir in cocoa powder. Let mixture cool about 10 minutes.
Beat eggs and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth; add chocolate mixture and continue beating until it’s well combined, about 1 minute.
Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt and add to chocolate mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in chocolate chips and cooled pecans. Let batter stand for 10 minutes to allow it to firm up a little bit.
Spoon batter by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto lightly greased baking sheets. Bake at 325° for 12 to 14 minutes or until cookies are set. Let cookies cool on baking pan for 1 minute before transferring them to wire racks to cool completely.
*Note: For testing purposes only, we used Baker’s Bittersweet Baking Chocolate Squares, Fleischmanns Unsalted Margarine and Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Baking Chips.
Wrapping It Up
For an extra special touch to try and impress the judges, we wrapped the bottom of each cookie in white butcher paper and tied it with a string to create a little pouch.
But now that all the fun of making them is over, how come our little baker is no where to be found, leaving the cleanup to mom? |
Rosie, you did a terrific job and I can't wait to try your recipe.
Posted by: Marcia Whitney | 04/08/2025 at 08:37 PM