Nearly Brownie Cookies

These chocolate cookies live in the gap between a brownie and a cookie. Melted semisweet chocolate and butter form the base instead of cocoa powder, giving you an intensity and fudginess that cocoa alone can’t match. Only a quarter cup of flour goes in, just enough to hold everything together.

The batter mixes like a brownie too. Eggs and sugar get beaten at high speed until thick and pale, then the cooled chocolate stirs in slowly. That aeration from the eggs is what gives these cookies their signature crackly, shiny tops as they bake and deflate slightly.

A full cup of chocolate morsels and generous chopped pecans fold in at the end. Every bite hits you with multiple chocolate textures: the fudgy base, the melted pockets from the morsels, and the toasty crunch of the nuts.

Do not overbake. Pull them at 10 to 12 minutes when they still look slightly underdone in the center. They firm up as they cool.

Kitchen Tips

• Cool the melted chocolate-butter mixture before adding to the beaten eggs. Hot chocolate will cook the eggs and give you scrambled bits in your batter.
• Line baking sheets with parchment. These cookies are sticky and will bond to unlined pans.
• Drop by heaping teaspoons, not tablespoons. Small cookies bake more evenly and develop that crackly top better.
• These freeze well. Bake a batch and stash extras in the freezer for up to three months.

Variations

• Use walnuts or hazelnuts instead of pecans for a different nutty character.
• Add a pinch of flaky sea salt on top before baking for a sweet-salty finish.
• Stir in dried cherries with the chocolate morsels for a fruity, dark chocolate combination.