Crunchy or chewy? This is the eternal cookie question. Personally I cannot resist a crunchy cookie. I found this delicious recipe which incorporates tart cranberries, chocolate chunks and toasted pecans on the Nook and Pantry blog. Amy adapted her recipe from Cook’s Illustrated and called them the Best Oatmeal Cookies Ever. I agree.
Pecans are terrific dessert nuts and toasting them intensifies their flavor (you can substitute walnuts for the pecans). Dried cranberries add a bit of tartness and chocolate, of course, adds richness to the cookies. I have found that adding a few tablespoons of coconut flakes to certain dessert recipes raises the level of decadence. Such is the case in this recipe.
The recipe calls for bittersweet chocolate but I used these semisweet chunks that I had in my pantry.
I made smaller cookies than the recipe called for and ended up with about 26 cookies that were the perfect size.
Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chunks, Pecans, Dried Cranberries and Sweet Coconut
Adapted from Nook and Pantry
Ingredients
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1 1/4 cup dried cranberries
4 ounces bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate chunks
2 tablespoons sweet coconut flakes
1 1/2 sticks butter at room temperature
1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar, preferably dark
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
If cranberries seem dry, pour 1/2 cup boiling water on them to rehydrate and soften them. Let stand for 10 minutes then drain well.
Toast the pecans in an oven or a toaster oven at 275 – 300 degrees for about 5 minutes. Watch closely so they do not burn. Cool, then chop nuts and set aside.
In one bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, toss the pecans, chocolate chunks, and oats.
In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer beat the butter until fluffy. Add the brown sugar and beat again. Add the egg and vanilla, scrape down the bowl and beat until thoroughly mixed. Add the flour mixture and mix until the dough starts to come together. Then add the oats mixture, cranberries and coconut and continue to mix until everything is evenly distributed.
Using a quarter cup ice-cream/cookie scoop, divide the dough into 16 portions (this is per the original recipe, very large cookies). Roll them into a ball then flatten them until they are about 1/2 inch thick. Stagger the cookies about 3 inches apart. (I made 26 smaller cookies, 9 fit on a cookie sheet).
Bake for about 10 minutes, rotate the sheet and bake for another 5 – 6 minutes (oven temperatures vary so check to see that they are not over baking). This baking time was used for the smaller cookies I made. It may take up to 18 minutes to bake the larger cookies. The cookie edges should be nicely browned. Remove cookie sheet from the oven, let cookies set for two minutes then remove them to a cooling rack.