VANILLA RICH WHITE CHOCOLATE CHUNK-COCONUT-PECAN COOKIES

This recipe, from McCormick, was supposed to use semi-sweet chocolate chips and walnuts.  But since it was a vanilla-rich cookie, it seemed to me that white chocolate would be a better choice.  I passed up the chemical-tasting white chocolate chips that don’t contain any cocoa butter at all and opted, instead, to use Ghiradelli white chocolate bars, cut into chunks. 



Ghiradelli’s white chocolate baking bar contains cocoa butter and no partially hydrogenated fats.  The flavor is rich, the texture is smooth.  These worked well in this cookie with the coconut, pecans and extra vanilla.  Everyone loves this cookie, including me.



After the cookies cool, the chocolate chunks are soft and almost gooey, and the outside edges of the cookie are crisp.  The insides are soft and almost chewy.  The cookies start to soften quickly and lose their crispy edges, but it doesn’t matter.  These are so good, no one cares about crispy edges.  These are just plain good.

Vanilla Rich White Chocolate Chunk-Coconut-Pecan Cookies Adapted from McCormick’s Vanilla Rich Chocolate Chip Cookies Rating:  9.5 out of 10 Click for PRINTABLE PAGE

INGREDIENTS:  3-1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1 tsp. baking soda 3/4 tsp. sea salt or kosher salt 1-1/3 cups (2 sticks + 5-1/3 Tbsp.)butter, softened 1-1/4 cup granulated sugar (I used 1/2 cup sugar + 3 Tbsp. NuNaturals Stevia) 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 2 large eggs 4 tsp. pure vanilla extract (I used homemade) 1 (4 oz.) bar Ghiradelli white chocolate, cut into  chunks (almost 1 cup) 1 cup sweetened dried coconut 1 cup toasted broken pecans Heat oven to 375F.  Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt in medium bowl; set aside. Beat butter and sugars in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and vanilla; mix well.  Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed.  Stir in chocolate, coconut and pecans. Drop onto baking sheets lined with parchment  by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart.  (I used my small ice cream scoop.)     Bake 9-11 minutes, or till lightly browned.  Cool on baking sheets 1 minute, then transfer to  wire rack to finish cooling.  Yield:  about 28 (3-1/2”) sturdy cookies.