HappyCook80's Recipe

Chocolate Chunk Nut Cookies

Category: Recipes

Chocolate Chunk Nut Cookies

2 cups nuts, toasted, walnuts, pecans, almonds or macadamia nuts
1/2 pound butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, at room temperature
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
14 ounces bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped into 1/2 to 1 inch chunks, about 3 cups

Coarsely chop the nuts. Cream the butter with the brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla. If you use an electric mixer, it will take about 1 minute. Stop the mixer once during beating to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula so all the butter gets incorporated.

Add the eggs, one at a time, and continue beating until thoroughly mixed.

Mix together the flour and baking soda and stir into the creamed butter and sugar. Stir in the nuts and chocolate chunks.

Transfer the cookie dough to a lightly floured surface, divide it in four, and use your hands to roll each piece of dough into a log about 9 inches long. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. the dough also can be frozen at this point for up to 2 months.

Using a very sharp knife, cut each log into 3/4 inch slices and place the cookies on parchment-lined baking sheets, 3 inches apart. If any unbaked cookies fall apart, push them back together with your hands. Position oven racks in the center and upper part of the oven.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes, switching racks and rotating the sheets after 5 minutes. If you like chewy cookies, bake just until cookies are very lightly colored in the center and just barely baked.

Remove and cool on a rack. Store in an airtight container.
Yields 50 cookies.