Eating Cookie Dough: Double Chocolate Pecan Cookies

If you've read the "About" page at the top of my blog, you know that I've been making cookies since I was a kid, and yes, I have eaten my fair share of cookie dough.  Not too much has changed, really.  I have my favourite "stages" of cookie dough eating.  First, is the best.  The creaming of the butter and sugar together.  If left unattended, or without willpower, I could eat this forever.  With the addition of the egg, I just sneak a taste, seeing as it is a bit gross, knowing that there is raw egg mixed in with the beloved butter and sugar.  (My mom used to tell us that we would get worms if we ate too much cookie dough...or anything else that she didn't want us to eat, like raw potatoes and bread dough.  Not sure why on Earth as kids we'd want to gnaw on raw potato, but it didn't last long when she warned of the worms.  This warning was also used on fingernail biting, and eating anything that fell on the ground.  I can still hear Lorna yelling "Don't eat that!  You are going to get worms!" Oh, Mom.)  Lastly, is the stage when the dough is complete, after the addition of flour, chocolate, nuts, etc.  Magically, the egg is forgotten about, and dough is consumed at a furious pace.

Sugar cravings were at a peak this past weekend, and I wanted a double chocolate cookie.  Something with a chewy, fudgy middle, crisp outside, and with nuts.  The recipe I found on Epicurious also called for dried cherries, and while that would be pretty good, my cherries seemed a little too dry, and I think I'll save them for my Easter bread.  I made the cookie dough, enjoying all of the tasting stages, and must say I was blown away by the final tasting.  Had to consciously put the spoon down, and step away from the bowl, give myself a few minutes to regroup, and then scoop out the cookies onto the bake sheets.  Yes, it was that good.  The end product was right up there in the land of cookie perfection.  Definitely chewy inside, and when the bite contains a piece of melted chocolate and pecan and a smidge of the coarse salt, I'm glad in the end I didn't eat all of the dough.   

Double Chocolate Pecan Cookies

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp coarse salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter (if using salted, omit salt above)
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup milk chocolate pieces
1 cup toasted pecan pieces

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl.  In the bowl of a mixer, beat the butter and sugar until creamy and light, about 3 minutes. Add one egg at a time, scraping down the bowl between additions.  Beat two minutes more. On low speed, add the flour mixture beating just until combined.  Add  the chocolate and nuts.  Drop by two teaspoons, about 2 inches apart.  Flatten slightly with  damp fingertips.  Bake at 350 *F for 10 minutes.  Made almost 3 dozen (if I wouldn't have eaten so much dough, it probably would have been 3 dozen exactly!)  Recipe adapted from Bon Appetit.