Chocolate Chunk, Pecan & Oatmeal Cookies

Forgive me. I had intended to post this sooner but things here at Cook No Evil HQ have got interesting. We have a crawler. Wee Man in a matter of weeks has mastered getting himself up onto his knees - cue an emergency drop of his crib to the lower level, then his rocking on his hands and knees turned into crawling and being down on his knees turned into pulling himself up to stand. I am obviously really proud but it has now added a new dimension to life at home. I spend almost all my time running around after him as he shoots around the apartment getting into just about everything he shouldn't and charging at the cats with an excited squeal.
The cats are distinctly unamused but they have realised that he is a new and exciting food source as all sorts of interesting treats fall from his high chair at meal times.
I am not going to advocate a right or wrong way to feed a baby I can only tell you what we are trying, which to be honest is the same fly by the seat of your pants parenting that I think you fall into with everything when you first become a parent. Wee man is trying a mix of purees and solids so not strictly following just purees or baby led weaning. Fruit loaf, spinach and cauliflower cheese are on the list of favourites where as gnocchi, banana and broccoli are on the list of things to try again later. I'm trying not to rely on commercially made baby food but I can't say we haven't tried it. In fact Wee Man loves the Prune Pouch from Ella's Kitchen. I have a stash of homemade fruit and vegetable purees in the freezer which are great to grab and go. My tip is to freeze the purees in ice cube trays. This gives you perfect portion size. When you first start weaning one cube is generally enough but as baby gets bigger you can increase the portion with another cube. Another tip is don't discount the bags of fruit and veg in the frozen isle. The fruit especially. One of our favourite breakfasts is frozen berries (warmed up in the microwave for Wee Man) and Greek yogurt. That is when we, and I mean me, aren't eating leftover cake because we, and I mean him, have kept me up all night. The joys of teething!

It has been interesting trying to bring you this post. I thought I had this recipe down and then before I was going to settle down and write I thought 'Hey I'll try it once more for my Insta Stories...' and the cookies came out totally different from every other time I had baked them. They were good. Don't get me wrong, they got demolished, but these cookies have always come out dense and soft and ever so slightly crumbly and they hold their shape well but this batch just melted on the baking sheet. Goes to show you can make something a dozen times but sometimes something throws a spanner in the works. I think it was a combination of over mixing or mixing differently - I used the mixer to beat in the dry ingredients, because I was feeling a little lazy and I had a cranky baby yelling at me, and the chilling time, not long enough. So lesson learnt there and some advice for when you make the cookies yourself - fold the dry ingredients by hand and trust me, I know you may be impatient and want to dive straight into the baking and eating of the cookies, but letting the cookies chill before you bake them is super important and makes a big difference to the final cookie.
All this meant that I had to have another go at making the cookies (and eating them *SIGH*) just to be sure but I am 99% certain I have it cracked now that I am writing this.

So let me break this cookie down for you. Do you like nutty cookies? Or do you prefer Oatmeal and Raisin? Or are you a straight up Chocolate Chip kinda person? For me this recipe embodies all of the qualities that I love of those cookies into one cookie. They started life as Kitchen Sink Cookies so named for the fact that you throw just about everything and the kitchen sink in them but I refined and tweaked them to be the mash up they are today.
I have subbed the raisins of the oatmeal and raisin for sultanas because in my humble opinion the sultana is far superior in both flavour and texture. They give the cookie a satisfying chewy factor that is toffee like but without being overwhelmingly sweet.
The pecans are nutty but not too crunchy, I'm not a fan of crunch in my soft cakes and cookies if you feel me. Don't forget to toast them before you put them in the cookie mix this is really important for the flavour! To do this just lay them on a baking tray and cook at 180c for about 10 - 15 minutes checking on them every couple of minutes to move them round and make sure they aren't catching. You'll know if they've caught when the flavour has an acrid edge. In which case it is best to start again.
The chocolate needs to be dark and it needs to be in chunks not chips. This way when you hit a piece of chocolate when they are still warm from the oven, which is how I guarantee you will eat most of the first batch you bake, you get a proper treat of oozy, melty chocolate which is just divine. I buy a bar of chocolate and hack it up so I get random sized chunks rather relying on anything shop bought. If you want to be slightly more formal you could cut each square of chocolate into four and you will still have good sized pieces of chocolate scattered within your cookies.

PECAN, OAT AND CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES
Makes 24

Ingredients

225g Unsalted Butter
110g Light Brown Sugar
100g White Sugar
1 Large Egg
2 tsp Vanilla Paste
260g Plain Flour
1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
½ tsp Baking Powder
¼ tsp Salt
100g Oats
120g Sultanas
100g Pecans, toasted and chopped
100g Dark Chocolate, chopped into chunks

• Line a baking tray with parchment paper and set to one side.
• In your food mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, around 4-5 minutes. Scrape down the sides a couple of times with a silicon spatula to ensure its all evenly mixed.
• Add the egg and vanilla paste and beat until incorporated.
• Add the dry ingredients and mix by hand until it is all combined. You should have quite a firm sticky cookie dough.
• Scoop out cookie dough, about 2 tablespoons/a golf ball in size, roll into balls and place on the prepared baking sheet. 

TOP TIP - you can use one of those spring loaded ice cream scoops for this but if you, like me don't have one, use a measuring spoon. It's slightly messier but works just as well.

• Cover with clingfilm and chill in the fridge for at least 5 hours. If you wish you could freeze the balls of cookie dough at this stage and then defrost and bake them when you want.
• TO BAKE - Preheat oven to 180°c
• Prepare another 1-2 trays with parchment paper. 
• Arrange 5-6 balls of cookie dough on a tray and squash them down slightly with the flat of your hand. Then place in the oven for 10 minutes. They will look slightly under done but they continue firm after you remove them from the oven.
• Leave to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before placing on a cooling rack. This is why I find it best to have a couple of trays prepared so you can bake the cookies in rotation.
• Once cool store in an airtight container. These should keep for at least 5 days but I've never had any hang around that long! Serve with some ice cold milk.

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