a.k.a. Crack Cookies.

Why? Because you can't stop after one or two, or three... four... five... eight... .

Trust me, if you're on any sort of diet, don't treat yourself with one of these, you'll be joining the dark side. I have turned hardcore chocolate chip cookie diehards into pecan caramel cookie loving pussycats. Purrrrr!

What makes them so good? I don't really know. It could be the way the pecans roast while baking. It could be the fudge turning into crispy toffee as it escapes out the sides. It could be the little flecks of salt that you bite into on occasion making the sweet even sweeter. It could be the chewy centre or crispy edges. Possibly the buttery goodness or hints of caramel from the sticky brown sugar. Maybe it's just the perfect combination of all these things coming together to make a biscuit you'll not soon forget, you may even lie awake at night thinking about them.

I'm not normally this theatrical about food, but seriously, the amount of people who came back with "Those were amazing!" "Can I get the recipe?" "Make me more NOW!" (the last being my hubby ;) ) I just felt the need to let you know what you're in for.

The recipe is actually an adaptation of the chocolate chip cookie recipe that took the foodie blogging world by storm a while back, the infamous CCC recipe from the New York Times.

The caramel part came about by accident. I'd decided to give the NYT choc chip cookie recipe a try, and seeing how many cookies it made, I thought I'd do half choc chip, half something else. Pecan something else.

While out shopping for supplies and perusing the baking aisle, I came across these fudge pieces from Dr Oetker. I grabbed a few packets and thought, yeah, pecan and fudge, that would be tasty.

Only after baking them did I realise that the fudge pieces weren't bake stable. No chunks of fudge inside the cookies like I had envisioned, instead they'd melted into the cookie, and in some places, tried to escape making crispy caramel feet out the sides of the cookies as the sugar in the fudge melted with heat. Oops!

Turns out, best cookie ever! The cookies had a lovely rich caramel flavour to them, and the best part was nibbling off the crispy crunchy caramel feet. Yay for mistakes!

Normally I try not to use what could be country/region specific ingredients, but I figure they're just little chunks of vanilla fudge so it shouldn't be too hard to replace. Just buy your favourite vanilla fudge and dice into little pieces about the size of chocolate chips. Hopefully this gives you the same result!

Get your glass of milk ready and make these biscuits! And if you've broken your diet with not just one or two... or three... four... five... eight of these and you're cursing me right now, you can't say I didn't warn you ;)

Ingredients

Makes +- 1 1/2 dozen cookies

3 2/3 cups Plain Flour

1 1/4 tsp Bicarb of Soda

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1 1/2 tsp Salt Flakes / Fleur de Sel (crushed smaller if flakes are quite large)

280g Unsalted Butter (2 1/2 sticks)

1 1/4 cups Light Brown Sugar

1 cup Granulated White Sugar

2 large Eggs

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

300g Vanilla Fudge Pieces (diced to the size of choc chips)

300g (Raw) Pecan Nuts, roughly chopped

Sea salt for sprinkling

Method

Sift together flour, bicarb and baking soda and stir in salt flakes with a whisk
In a large bowl or bowl of stand mixer cream butter and sugar together
Beat in eggs one at a time until thoroughly mixed with butter and sugar
Stir in vanilla
Add dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined
Add chopped pecans and fudge pieces, mix on low until evenly distributed
Press plastic wrap against the surface of the dough and refrigerate overnight

Once chilled and ready to bake, preheat oven to 180°C (160°C Fan Assisted) / 350°F
Line baking trays with parchment
Scoop mounds of dough just a bit smaller than a golf ball and arrange on baking sheets far apart to allow them to spread while baking (around 6 mounds per baking tray)
Tip: I use a small ice-cream scoop which gives about the same amount of cookie dough each time
Sprinkle each cookie very lightly with a small amount of sea salt
Bake until golden brown, about 15 - 18mins (the edges will be set but the middle still soft if lightly pressed)
Remove from oven and cool on baking trays for about 10 mins
Remove cookies from baking tray and cool completely on wire racks
Repeat with remaining dough or freeze dough as directed in "Other Tips" further down
Enjoy!

Adapted from the New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies which was adapted from Jacques Torres

Other Tips:

Recipe can be halved

Alternatively you can freeze any leftover dough

Scoop mounds as in the recipe
Place dough balls on a freezer safe tray or dish, cover in clingfilm and freeze until firm
Once firm, place dough balls in freezer safe sealable bag
Return to freezer in the sealed bag laid flat
Can be frozen for up to 3 months