Chocolate Pecan Puddle Cookies

More often than not, it's a recipe from Julie that ends up bookmarked in my elite Firefox folder titled "Foods to make ASAP".

It's not just any recipe that I tuck away in there, it has to be something that looks and sounds jaw-droppingly delicious - and come from a reliable source. There are currently only five recipes in the 'Make ASAP' folder; these shrimp are one of them, as is this vanilla bean dulce de leche. They are both slotted for testing very soon.

Julie's Chocolate Walnut Puddle Cookies have been there since the day she posted the recipe back during Olympic fever and I've made them several, *ahem*, many times. While most recipes are made once and then moved over for the next, this puddle cookie recipe just stayed.

I guess more than a few times this spring have I felt the need to make these cookies As Soon As Possible. They are that good.


I so enjoy the reaction when I bring them here or there, or serve them up to guests, that I have almost been hesitant to share the recipe, and thus the glory. But so many of you have asked for the recipe, that I can't keep it a secret any longer!

Here it is, courtesy of Julie, who is, in a way, my cookie mentor, whether she knows it or not. It seems every decent cookie I make these days comes from her little corner, starting with this one, where I first discovered her blog, to me working my way through her cookie cookbook. Yes, that's right, her best-selling cookie cookbook. (psst, get yours now!)



I make my puddle cookies with pecans, which are well on their way to being my favorite nut and I always have around. I imagine the hazelnut version would be pretty spectacular, too.

Chocolate Pecan Puddle Cookies
adapted from 101 Cookbooks, via Dinner with Julie

3 cups pecans (or hazelnuts or walnuts)
4 cups icing sugar
2/3 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp. fine sea salt
4 large egg whites
1 Tbsp. good vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F.

Toast your pecans, cool them and roughly chop them.

In a large bowl, stir together the icing sugar, cocoa and salt. Add the nuts, then stir in the egg whites and vanilla. Stir until well combined.

Line a baking sheet with parchment and drop the batter in small mounds (about 1 tablespoon each) spacing them well away from each other.

Bake for 9-11 minutes – they will spread, puff, crack on top, get glossy and then turn matte. Slide the cookies on the parchment off the sheet onto a cooling rack and let them cool.

Makes three dozen 2-inch cookies.