Name: Chunky Chocolate Pecan Cookies (Vegan)
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Ingredients: 125 g (½ cup + 1 teaspoon) vegan block butter (NOT the spreadable kind. I use Naturli Vegan Block) (slightly softened but still cool); 125 g (packed ⅔ cup) light brown soft sugar; 75 g (¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons) caster or granulated sugar; 2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 280 g (2 + ⅓ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour; 20 g (2 packed Tablespoons) cornflour (cornstarch); 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder; 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda); ½ teaspoon salt; 75 ml (5 Tablespoons) unsweetened non-dairy milk; 300 g (10 ½ oz) dark chocolate chips; 150 g (5 oz) chopped pecans

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Chunky chocolate pecan cookies - these delicious vegan cookies are thick, soft with a bit of chew, and packed with chocolate chips and nuts.

They are easy to make with no weird ingredients, totally indulgent and utterly irresistible!

Close up of a chunky chocolate pecan cookie broken in half.

These chunky chocolate pecan cookies are pure indulgence - very generously proportioned vegan cookies packed with chocolate and pecans. They are rich, delicious and extremely satisfying!

They are loosely based on the famous Levain bakery cookies, which is a bakery in New York, known for it's montrously thick and chocolatey cookies.

Having never actually eaten one myself this obviously isn't going to be an exact replica, but my recipe makes incredibly delicious, thick cookies loaded with mix-ins, so if that sounds like your kind of cookie then this is the recipe for you!

A stack of chunky chocolate pecan cookies.

What Do I Need To Make These Cookies?:

Chocolate chips: While I usually prefer chopped chocolate instead of chocolate chips in my cookies, here I think that chips are better as they hold their shape when baked, helping to keep the cookies on the chunky side rather than spreading out.

As there is a high proportion of chocolate in this recipe, make sure that you use good quality dark chocolate chips that aren't too sweet.

Cornflour (cornstarch): the addition of a bit of cornflour helps to bind the cookies and give them structure.

Plain flour: Just regular plain (all-purpose) flour is best here. I haven't tried making these gluten-free.

Vegan butter: Please, for the love of holy baking, use a block butter/margarine to make these cookies, not the spreadable kind in a tub.

The spreadable kind contains too much water and may make your dough too soft and your cookies too cakey.

Sugar: White sugar leads to thin and crisp cookies, and brown sugar leads to tall and moist cookies; using a mix of both gives you the best of both worlds and the best texture.

Either caster or granulated sugar will work and I recommend using light brown soft rather than dark.

Baking powder and bicarb: Baking powder generally makes for taller, cakier cookies, and bicarbonate of soda makes for craggier, denser, browner cookies. As with the sugars I find that a mix of both provides the best texture.

Vanilla extract: Use a good quality vanilla extract for the best flavour. If you have it then vanilla bean paste would be amazing instead.

Nuts: I like pecans but walnuts would also be great. You could also swap some or all of the nuts for raisins or dried cranberries.

Non-dairy milk: Non-dairy milk replaces the moisture that would usually come from egg. You can use any kind you like as long as it is unsweetened (except coconut milk), but I recommend using soy milk if possible. It has the highest protein content so is the closest swap for egg.

Salt: the addition of a bit of salt helps to tame the sweetness and bring out the flavours.

How To Make Chunky Chocolate Pecan Cookies:

(Full measurements and instructions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the page)

Start by creaming together the butter, sugars and vanilla extract with an electric mixer until soft and fluffy.

Sift together the flour, cornflour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture along with the milk and stir to form a stiff dough.

Stir through the chocolate chips and chopped pecans.

Cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight, and up to 4 days.

The following day, divide the dough into 12 even portions (about 95g each) and roll them into balls.

Place the balls of dough well spaced apart on two lined baking sheets and pop them in the freezer for 15 minutes while you preheat the oven.

Step 4, the cookie dough balls before baking.

Bake the chilled cookies for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and the internal temperature registers 80-85°C/175-185°F on a probe thermometer.

Cool the cookies on the tray for 10 minutes then carefully transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

A tray of chunky chocolate pecan cookies with bowls of chocolate chips and pecans.

Top Tips:

All of my recipes are developed using grams, and as with all of my baking recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scale rather than the cup coversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!

Chilling the dough is important to help stop the cookies from spreading too much, and it also develops the flavour, making for tastier cookies.

Cookies may seem like a simple thing to bake but they can actually be quite temperamental and any seemingly minor changes to the recipe or exact ingredients used can have a drastic effect. For this reason you should make the recipe exactly as written.

You can swap the pecans for any kind of nut you like. Walnuts would work particularly well.

As these cookies are quite thick, judging when they are baked can be a bit tricky and I recommend using a probe thermometer. I bake mine until they are 80-85°C/175-185°F in the centre.

If you want chunky cookies, don't flatten the balls of dough at all before baking. If you prefer your cookies thinner, you can flatten the balls of dough before baking, and give the tray a good, hard bash on the counter when you take them out of the oven.

Bake the cookies on a metal baking sheet, not in a glass dish or on a silicone sheet. These do not conduct heat in the same way as metal does so the cookies won't turn out as well.

Storage Instructions:

The cookie dough will keep in the fridge for 4 days or so, so you can just bake a cookie as and when you fancy one.

You can also roll the dough into balls, freeze them spaced apart on a tray until solid then pop them in a freezer bag or container and freeze for up to three months.

They can be baked right from the freezer but may take a couple of minutes extra to bake.

The baked cookies are best eaten on the day they are baked as they go stale more quickly than regular cookies, but they will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.

You can rewarm them briefly in a 180°C/350°F oven before serving if you wish.

More Vegan Cookie Recipes:

Close up of a chunky chocolate pecan cookie.

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5 from 5 votes