Here's an easy recipe for classic chocolate chip cookies with pecans and milk chocolate. These cookies are chewy and salty-sweet, and you don't have to chill the cookie dough before baking!
Preheat the oven to 375 °F (190 °C). Line two large half sheet pans with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer, cream together the butter, the granulated sugar, and the brown sugar until it's very light and fluffy.
Add the egg and the vanilla, and mix well until the mixture is light and fluffy again. Make sure to clean down the sides of the bowl as needed with a big spatula.
Dump in the whisked dry ingredients, and incorporate them either with the hand mixer on low, or by hand with a big wooden spoon.
Mix in the chocolate and pecans. The dough should be quite thick.
Scoop approximately 50 gram portions of the dough, rolling them into balls.
Place 7 cookies per cookie sheet, being sure to space them apart and stagger them.
Bake the cookies one sheet pan at a time until the edges just begin to brown (this takes about 12 to 14 minutes). You might want to rotate the pan partway through the baking to make sure the cookies brown evenly.
Let the cookies cool completely on the sheet pan while you bake the second pan.
Store in an airtight container.
Notes
For the milk chocolate, I used Cacao Barry Alunga 41% milk chocolate.
use a cookie scoop to portion out the cookie dough easily. Then roll each scoop into a smooth ball so that it bakes perfectly. Evenly scooped cookies will bake at the same time, whereas if you portion out dough unevenly, they will not.
For a gooey chocolate chip cookie, bake them for less time and serve them freshly baked and still warm. For a chewier cookie, let them cool down. For a crisper cookie, bake them for longer.
If you want your cookies to spread out more, try baking them at a slightly lower temperature, like 325 °F (165 °C) to allow the dough to spread more before setting. For a thicker cookie, bake them at a higher temperature, like 375 °F (190 °C).
If sealed properly, these cookies will last 3 or 4 days in an airtight container. To help them retain moisture, try adding a brown sugar saver or a slice of white bread. A marshmallow will also work!
You can freeze the portioned-out cookie dough or even the baked cookies! Bake frozen scoops of cookie dough the same way, just add a couple of minutes to the baking time. Reheat the frozen baked cookies in a moderate-low oven (250–300 ºF) until warm.