Salted Caramel + Dark Chocolate Walnut Pecan Cookies
Is there a better combination than sweet and salty?
A rhetorical question, of course!
These are my new favourite cookie, by far! They started as me wanting to do salted caramel and walnut cookies and then I wanted to do salted dark chocolate and pecan cookies so then I thought what about all of the above. I thought it might be a bit too much and it probably is but it is also absolutely unreal and utterly irresistible!
I made 100 of these bad boys over the last week to make sure I was happy with this recipe. I tried chilling the dough in the fridge for 2 hours and over night and I really didn’t see a massive difference in the spread and/or the outcome. I tried baking the cookies from a perfect ball and from a cylinder shape and again, not a massive difference, so I guess these choices come down to personal preference and how much time you have on your hands.
I usually prefer to roll my cookies into cylinders before baking them but I think because of the volume of caramel some of them are just going to spread a little funny and/or more than others regardless of the shape of the dough and also regardless of the chilling time. You could always put in less caramel or omit it if the shape is a massive priority for you by I most definitely would rather have that delicious caramel and sticky bits than a perfectly round cookie!!
I also tried them with less chocolate and less nuts and I just don’t see the point. I think this ratio is perfect but don’t take my word for it. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding or in this case, the cookie! (At least I make myself laugh!)
Bácáil Sona!! 👩🏻🍳
Salted Caramel + Dark Chocolate Walnut Pecan Cookies
Recipe
⏲ PREP TIME: 45 minutes
⏲ BAKE TIME: 10 minutes
⏲ REST TIME: 10 minutes
🍪 SERVING: 38 cookies
Equipment
stand mixer/hand mixer
large mixing bowl
microwave safe bowl
measuring spoons
weighing scale
heavy based saucepan
spatula
whisk
baking tray
silicon baking mats
INGREDIENTS
Salted Caramel
100g granulated sugar
5g light corn syrup
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp/ 14g unsalted butter
45ml heavy cream
1/2 tsp/ 2.5g vanilla extract
1g sea salt
Salted Dark Chocolate
90g dark chocolate chips
1 tsp/ 5g vegetable oil
2g sea salt
Cookies
175g all purpose flour
5g baking soda
2.5g baking powder
4g cornstarch
2g salt
50g granulated sugar
75g light brown sugar
25g dark brown sugar
112g/ 1 stick unsalted butter
1 egg
1 egg yolk
5g vanilla extract
1.25g almond extract
45g chopped walnuts
45g chopped pecans
Salted dark chocolate
90g super dark chocolate chips
5g vegetable oil
1-2g sea salt
SALTED CARAMEL
100g granulated sugar
5g light glucose syrup
2 tbsp water
14g unsalted butter
45ml heavy cream
2.5g vanilla extract
1g sea salt
Instructions
Salted Caramel
1.
Line a dish with parchment and set aside.
Add your water and corn syrup to a heavy based saucepan and heat on medium just until the corn syrup has melted and they are combined, about 30 seconds.
Now add your granulated sugar and swirl the pan lightly to coat all of the sugar.
2.
Keep the heat on medium and let the sugar fully melt. Once it has and it looks like it’s starting to crystallize add your butter and stir vigorously with a whisk.
3.
The mixture will start to turn an amber colour. Keep mixing it so it doesn’t stick, let it get a little darker (to your liking) I only leave about 2 minutes.
4.
Take it off the heat and slowly pour in the heavy cream while whisking it, keep whisking until it’s fully incorporated, it will start to bubble as soon as the cream hits the caramel.
5.
Add your vanilla and salt and mix it though. Pour the caramel mix into your lined dish and let it cool to room temperature before putting it into the fridge to fully set.
Check it after about an hour and if it’s set enough you can chop it into small cubes and put it back into the fridge until you need it. If it’s still too soft leave it in the fridge for another while.
Salted Dark Chocolate
1.
Line a shallow rectangle baking tin/container with parchment.
2.
Weigh your dark chocolate chips and vegetable oil into a microwave safe bowl and melt, mixing on 15 second intervals to make sure it doesn’t burn or seize. Mine takes 60-90 seconds max.
I like to use the Hersheys special dark chocolate chips.
3.
Mix until completely smooth and pour into the lined dish using a spatula to get it all in. Spread it thinly and sprinkle 1-2g, to taste, of sea salt evenly over the top.
4.
Once it’s cooled you can put it into the fridge until it’s set completely. It should be fine within 30 minutes and then you can chop it finely and put it back into the fridge until you’re using it.
Cookies
1.
Weigh and sieve out your dry ingredients into a large bowl, whisk together and set aside.
2.
Cream room temperature butter and sugar in your stand mixer on medium until pale and creamy.
3.
Add your egg and yolk and vanilla and almond extracts and mix through until smooth.
4.
Add the flour mix 1/3 at a time mixing on low and then medium until fully combined.
5.
Now for the fun part, add your chopped salted caramel, dark chocolate, walnuts and pecans!
I bought my walnuts and pecans already chopped but if yours are whole just chop them to your preferred size here.
6.
Mix through for about 30-60 seconds until everything is combined and roughly dispersed.
Cover your delicious cookie dough and leave in the fridge for at least 2 hours and up to over night before baking.
7.
At least 30 minutes before you plan on baking your cookies preheat your oven to 350°F, 180°C.
Line a baking tray with a silicon baking mat.
8.
Using a tablespoon scoop, scoop and level your cookie dough, roll into a ball or shape into a cylinder and place on your mat.
Place the dough about 2 inches apart on the mat and bake in the oven for 10 minutes until the edges are beginning to brown. They’ll continue to set on the mat.
When you take them out some of them will have glorious caramel seeping from the edges, you can leave this or use a butter knife to push it into the corners of the cookies, this is what I did. Don’t worry they’ll still be all shapes and sizes of crazy beautiful!
9.
After 10 minutes you can transfer them to a cooling rack.
Try not to eat them all on your own!!
