Chocolate Pecan Pie Without the Pie Cookies!

Last year I was going to make a chocolate pecan pie. I had my husband go out and get pecans. He came home with Pecan pie flavored pecans and they were not what I needed for that recipe.

I improvised and I went with trying out a new cookie flavor. These cookies are so good and a great fall cookie! This would be a good cookie for thanksgiving, for autumn bonfires and it is less messy to eat than pie! I still have not made the chocolate pecan pie! I am trying to branch outside of cookies but I am not much of a pie person unless it is an ice cream pie!

They taste great heated with a little bit of ice cream on top. They would be great autumn cookie cups!

Chocolate Pecan Pie Without the Pie Cookies! Ingrediants:

8 oz Ghirardelli 70% Cacao extra bittersweet chocolate roughly chopped

10 oz Emerald Glazed Pecans in Pecan Pie flavor (two bags)

2.25 cups of flour

2 sticks of butter

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon of Pure Vanilla Extract

0.75 cups of granulated sugar

0.75 cups of brown sugar

2 eggs

1. Sift together: flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium sized batter bowl . Put aside.
2. Cut up room temperature butter into small pats of butter and place in the mixing bowl. Using the flat blade attachment in mixer cream the butter, vanilla, brown sugar and granulated sugar together.
3. Beat the egg in a small with a fork to break up the egg. Add the Vanilla extract to the eggs.
4. Add the eggs one at a time to the mixture of creamed butter/vanilla/brown sugar/sugar. Make sure in between eggs to beat the mixture well.
5. Add the sifted dry ingredient slowly folding it into the wet mixture. Run until the dough is mixed thoroughly.
6. Stir in the roughly chopped chocolate bar and roughly chopped pecans. Make sure that the stand mixer has the pecans through out the mixture by taking using a flat spatula to scrap down the sides.
7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. It makes 24 large cookies or 2 giant cookies.
   

Giant Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Chips

If you love Nutella and you know it clap your hands

  This cookie is not for the faint of heart. I saw a post on FB about Nutella Stuffed Cookies and I wanted to add it to my amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe. The Nutella Stuffed Cookies was from "Not Your Momma's Cookies" and it was Oatmeal Peanut Butter cookie with a gooey Nutella Center. Let me just say that I probably will be making that another time! I also decided because I did not have a lot of time that I would do it in my Giant Cookie Pan. I imagine that although these cookies that I baked were AMAZING! that if I made small cookies that were wrapped around the Nutella balls that it would have been CRA-CRAY!

You can see the Nutella gooeyness in this cookie slice

 Nutella is pretty amazing but I recommend you always get more than the recipe calls for because it is hard to work with. You need extra Nutella because it always gets on your hands then you taste what is on your hands, then take another spoon for just a taste then you are out of Nutella before you began. Before I saw this recipe I did not know how to make a cookie with a gooey center. Normally I would just add Nutella to the batter but when you do that it loses the Nutella punch. This idea of forming the Nutella into drops and then freezing Nutella to make it into a big chip form is a great idea. It really makes a difference especially if you have worked with Nutella

  I cannot believe I did not grow up eating Nutella since it has been around since 1944 but I fell in love with it when I went abroad to Italy in 1999! But it was not easy to get in the States until 25 years ago when it was introduce here. But I think maybe it was not available because it was always eaten up by those who knew the power of Nutella. I think I should invest in the Nutella Spreader to get all of the Nutella out of the jar!  Here is the History of Nutella.

  Let me first start with what not to do and that the obstacle for this recipe is Nutella.It does not freeze like the recipe on "Not Your Momma's Cookie" says. It also should not be put on saran wrap like I did and then stacked. And if you can freeze the Nutella leave it frozen until right before you are putting it into the cookie. 

This is my failed attempt to freeze Nutella 

it just melted quickly and was on both sides 

of the saran wrap that is a no, no!

   Bless me Julia Child because I have Sinned! What happened was that I took out the Nutella to take pictures and left it out. The Nutella was frozen for at least 12 hours instead of the recommended 20 minutes and I thought it would not melt so fast . When I was ready to add the Nutella to the cookie Nutella was stuck on both sides of the Saran Wrap BUT was not able to come off easily. It was frozen but stuck and yet runny at the same time. It was just a streaky mess and I wasted some of the Nutella. 

  At that moment I wanted to shout out "Nutella! Nutella!" just like Marlon Brando in "A Street Car Named Desire." Except I yelled "Nutella!" instead of "Stella!" It was hard to put up with the Nutella but it tastes so good! 

   Also getting the Nutella onto the parchment paper (I am going to pretend like I had a huge freezer so I could put a jelly roll/cookie sheet lined with parchment paper in the freezer)  is a job! It was nice if I was just for some reason just making them for myself then licking the spoon would be okay. However it was not it was messy, I did lick my hands but I made sure to wash my hands and restart. I suggest putting the Nutella in a Ziploc bag and cut a hole to pip it. But I think it was too much of a mess still and I am not sure how to do this without a mess. I also thought about maybe freezing the whole bottle and just spooning it in? I will have to do some further research on this. Luckily I think Nutella is worth it! And if I have to work more with Nutella in the name of baking science I must take the pathway to enlightenment! 

  What I propose is just that Ferrero and Ghirardelli get together to make a Nutella chip and to make them in normal chip size, mini chip size and BIG chip size! I would want the BIg chip size for this recipe. So Ferrerro and Ghirardelli get started on that Italian-San-Francisco-Baby! If they will not Ferrero needs to just make a new recipe for the chips. I actually wrote to them the other day, Please start a campaign and write them here. Just ask them to make sure they make them in normal chip size, mini chips size and BIG chip size. I am serious! I want a Nutella chip for baking! 

  

Ingredients minus the Vanilla Extract

Ingredients with the Vanilla extract

I really like the Pure Vanilla extract from McCormick
there is a difference.

Ingredients:

• 13 oz jar Nutella (that has been divided into teaspoon amount, frozen, and put onto parchment lined cookie sheets in the freezer for 20 minutes).
• 2.25 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder (I used baking powder instead of baking soda)
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 sticks of butter softened (I used with salt so if you use with salt do not add the teaspoon of salt)
• 0.75 cups of granulated sugar
• 0.75 cups of packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 2 eggs 
• 2 bags of Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Sift together: flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium sized batter bowl. Put aside.

• Cut up room temperature butter into small pats of butter and place in the mixing bowl. Using the flat blade attachment in mixer cream the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar together.

• Add the vanilla and then beat the egg mixture with a fork to break up the egg. 

• Alternate between adding in one eggs to the mixture of creamed butter/vanilla/brown sugar/sugar and adding in the dry ingredients. Make sure in between the additions to beat the mixture well.

•  Run until the dough is mixed thoroughly.

• Stir in the chocolate chips into the mixture. Make sure that the stand mixer has the chips through out the mixture by taking using a flat spatula to scrap down the sides.

Tips: If the mixture is uneven: fold the mixture by hand if necessary to mix the bottom part of the dough with the top layer. If you find it necessary run the mixer again.

• Spray the Giant Cookie Pan with Baking Pam

• Add a thin layer of cookie dough to the pan. Not going all the way to the the side

• Add the Nutella frozen "chips" to the cookie.

• Cover the Nutella Chips with cookie dough. Do not go all the way to the end. This cookie is going to be thicker than the cookies I normal bake. Normally one chocolate chip cookie recipe yields two Giant cookies. 

• This cookie yielded one Giant Cookie and one large cookie. 

• I had some extra Nutella left so I swirled some Nutella onto the Giant Cookie.

• You know when it is done with there is a nice golden color to the cookie.The Large cookie was in the oven for around 10-15 minutes to bake and the Giant cookie took 20-23 minutes to bake. 

• Then you cut it up in pie wedges or you could cut them like cookie bars. I like the pie shape if you are going to have a plated dessert with maybe french vanilla ice cream. But if you are having a casual get together cutting them in brownies squares really show off the gooeyness of the cookie. 

  This cookie recipe post is being post dated because I originally made it September 2, 2013. It was I think the beginning of my stuffed cookies and working more professionally with Nutella. It has inspired an idea for a cake for my husband. I have actually only done one other cake which came out well despite a lot of issues making it. But when you have good ingredients and you can bake it might not look good but it will always taste good! I definetly improvised a lot of the cake for my mother in law.

  

  I am thinking of mixing Nutella with a Duncan Hines Frosting to make it easier to apply to a cake. I will also use finely chopped peanut butter cups for the outside coating and inside filling. I was thinking of actually using the Ferrero Rocher chocolates instead but my husband really likes Peanut Butter cups. Ferrero Rocher are expensive and hard to find in a big volume without buying expensive hostess boxes of them. 

  Another way to do this recipe is that I could use Perugina's Baci chocolates as the stuffed part of the cookies as they are Hazelnuts wrapped in chocolate. Maybe they will work better and be easier than the frozen Nutella fiasco. But I am not sure if it will be gooey enough but it would be like a chip. And I do kind of want the Nutella chip because that would be smooth unlike the Baci candy. Not your Momma's cookies recipe has inspired me! So thank you!

What is your favorite Nutella Recipe?

PEANUT BETTER COOKIES: A NEW TAKE ON PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

     I want to upfront make sure to make clear that these peanut butter cookies are not better for you but rather a better tasting peanut butter cookies. Actually one could suggest that these cookies are less better for you than regular peanut butter cookies.

     I was inspired for this idea by Cardwell's birthday and with the fact that "King Sized" Reese Peanut Butter cups were on sale. Due to a heat wave and work I had to instead send the How Grand! Marnier Cookies instead which were in my freezer. And sadly enough these cookies came back to me because she has been traveling and they did not get to her before she left NYC. But I am sure I will be sending more experimental cookies her way soon.

     I have updated the recipe to reflect what I think would be better tasting than what I produced. Don't get me wrong the cookies I made taste fantastic but this is updated to reflect a tweaking of the recipe. First off all it has been a very hot couple of days before I did the cookie mix. So when I went to pulverize the Reese peanut butter cups they sort of created a Reese Peanut butter cup spread. I think it would be better and it would be more homogeneous to roughly chop the Reese peanut butter cups instead. Another way is to use a new Reese Peanut Butter cup product  the mini Reese Peanut butter cups that are now without liners (They would have to however be the same weight as 32 regular sized peanut butter cups). I imagine if you were going to use these mini cups not to be confused with the miniature cups which have liners and are bigger. I also would have added more chocolate and peanut butter chips.

Ingredients:

4.5 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoon of baking powder
2 teaspoon of salt

4 sticks of butter softened

1.5 cups of granulated sugar

1.5 cups of packed brown sugar

2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

4 eggs

4 cups Nestle Toll House milk Chocolate/peanut butter Morsels (or 2 cups chocolate and 2 cups of peanut butter chips any brand of choice).

2 cups Nestle Toll House semi-sweet chocolate chunks (or 2 cups of roughly chopped chocolate bar of choice).

3 cups of Lightly salted peanuts (which are then pulverized in the food processor).
8 king size package of Reese peanut butter cups (32 Reese Peanut Butter cups) roughly chopped

Instructions:

1.) Sift together: flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium sized batter bowl. Put aside.

Brown sugar and the granulated sugar

Granulated sugar, Brown Sugar, and 4 sticks of butter

2.) Cut up room temperature butter into small pats of butter and place in the mixing bowl. Using the flat blade attachment in mixer cream the butter, vanilla, brown sugar and granulated sugar together.

3.)  Beat the egg in a small with a fork to break up the egg. Add the Vanilla extract to the eggs.

Eggs that were beaten with a fork with vanilla extract added,
pulverized lightly salted peanuts, shifted: flour/baking powder/salt,
and container of: Chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, chocolate
 chunks and Reese Peanut Butter cups

4.) Add the eggs one at a time to the mixture of creamed butter/vanilla/brown sugar/sugar. Make sure in between eggs to beat the mixture well.

5.) Add the sifted dry ingredient slowly folding it into the wet mixture. Run until the dough is mixed thoroughly.



Lightly Salted peanuts:Planter container, already pulverized

peanuts and a cup of whole lightly salted peanuts

Nestle chocolate chunks, Peanut Butter chips, Milk Chocolate
 chips, Reese's Peanut Butter cups all in one glass bowl.

6.) Stir in the chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, semi-sweet chocolate chunks, the roughly chopped Reese Peanut Butter cups and the peanuts mixture. Make sure that the stand mixer has the chips through out the mixture by taking using a flat spatula to scrap down the sides.

Tips: If the mixture is uneven: fold the mixture by hand if necessary to mix the bottom part of the dough with the top layer. If necessary then run the mixer again.

7.)Cover the chocolate chip cookie dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate the cookie dough in the mixing bowl for about 20 minutes.

8.) After 20 minutes preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake 8 to 15 minutes based on size of the cookies if you are baking "normal "to large sized cookies.

9.) See my blog on Giant cookies  on how to using the Wilton Giant Cookie pan except use baking pan spray instead of vegetable spray for the pan. Still however use the vegetable spray for your hands.

Tip: This cookie batch makes about 5 dozen cookies if you slice/bake or 4 dozen pan cookies. You should not use all of the batter and there should be enough for about a dozen large cookies. Make sure that the cookies do not go all the way towards the edge and that it is a thin layer of cookie dough that does not go more than 0.75 of the depth of the cookie pan. Too much dough the cookie will burn slightly at the edges and will not be as enjoyable.

10.)The cookies should bake 15-20 minutes or until golden. Let pan cool 5 minutes on cooling rack.

12.) Wait until cookie is cooled. Then cut the round cookie into at about 12-24 wedge pieces.