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Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Pecan Bourbon Cookies

Crazy amount of deliciously deep flavor in a cookie - you can't eat just one!

Ingredients
  

  • 1 and 1/2 cups pecan halves
  • 17 T butter, unsalted divided
  • 2 and 1/3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 t salt
  • 1 t baking soda
  • 1 cup dark brown sugar you can sub light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 t vanilla extract
  • 2 T bourbon
  • 2 large eggs room temperature
  • 12 ounces chocolate chunks or chips, semi-sweet or dark chopped if in chunks

Instructions
 

  • For the pecans: on MEDIUM heat in a large skillet or dutch oven or stainless steel pot (I would recommend one with a light colored bottom) - add just ONE tablespoon of butter. Once melted, add the pecan halves. Coat and toast until they smell nice - about 4 minutes. Remove the buttered pecans. Place a on plate to cool and set aside. Chop all but 24 pecan halves. The chopped pecans will go in the cookies and the halves will sit on top of the cookies.
  • For the brown butter: in the same skillet or pot you used for the pecan, put the remaining 16 Tb (2 sticks) of butter. Keep the heat on medium and melt completely. Then keep stirring until the butter turns brown at the bottom. Watch VERY carefully. Stir and stir - it will lose the yellow color and turn brown in 5-8 minutes. You can't tell it is turning color unless your pot has a light colored bottom which is why this is mentioned in step 1. Once the butter is browned, remove from heat. Allow it to cool a little and then let it sit for several hours until soft but not melted - or place in a heat proof container and place in the fridge until soft (about 1 hour). If the butter gets too hard, just cut it up in small pieces and allow to warm up to room temperature for about 20 minutes.
  • For the cookies: In a great big mixing bowl, add all of the brown butter and sugars. Mix on medium to medium high for 1-2 minutes. Add the bourbon and eggs. Beat until mixed in.
  • In a medium bowl: whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Add this slowly to the wet sugar/butter mixture. Mix until just combined. Fold or stir in the chocolate and chopped pecans.
  • On a large cookie sheet with silicone or parchment: drop cookie dough balls onto the sheet. I used a medium cookie scoop that holds about 2 Tb. of dough. You could use that or a large muffin/quarter cup scoop. Place the reserved pecans halves on top of each cookie (if you kept them. This is optional)
  • At this point you can bake them at 350 degrees right now - make sure they have room to spread. They will bake in 7-9 minutes or when the edges turn golden brown. Or....
  • Or you can freeze the cookie dough balls in the freezer for 1-2 hours. Bake them or store them. Baking them - you want 350 degrees for 8-11 minutes from frozen. The edges will be light brown and the middle will be not liquid looking.
  • Cool and enjoy!

Notes

Recipe was adapted from Ashley Manila