Chocolate Walnut (or Pecan) Cookies

Ingredients

• Chocolate: use your favorite dark semisweet chocolate for this recipe. I love using Callebaut 54% dark chocolate callets, Ghirardelli Chocolate Dark Bar 60%,  Green & Black's dark chocolate 70%, and Ghirardelli 72% intense dark chocolate. The higher the percentage of cocoa, the less sweet the chocolate is.
• Chocolate chips: use your favorite semisweet chip. I love Ghirardelli premium baking chocolate chips and Nestle toll house semisweet chips. 
• Nuts: I use walnuts or pecans, and you can use a mix. It is essential that you use them. Otherwise, the cookies won't hold.
• Sugar: regular, white granulated sugar is what you need.
• All-purpose flour.
• Baking powder: make sure it's not expired.
• Salt: I like to use kosher salt when baking. But regular table salt works just fine.
• Eggs: fresh, large eggs.
• Vanilla: I use pure vanilla extract or pure vanilla paste when available, but a good vanilla essence (artificially flavored) also works and is infinitely cheaper. 
• Coffee: it's optional, but it's an ingredient that brings out the chocolate flavor and deepens it. The cookies will not taste like coffee. Use either coffee extract or instant coffee powder. Don't use espresso powder, as it will not dissolve.

Easy steps

Make the recipe as instructed. It does work. Because when you've finally mixed everything you'll be certain there is a mistake. Like I forgot to put the whole amount of flour. But no, it's fine and the cookies will be phenomenal.

This is like an old-fashioned brownie in cookie form. The way most brownies used to be, with walnuts. You'll need two large bows, an electric mixer, and a spatula. The process is very simple.

• Beat eggs with sugar for a few minutes until thick, pale yellow color, and foamy. This part will create that shiny, crackly coat the cookies have. Images 1 and 2
• Add melted chocolate and butter, and flavorings. Mixed until integrated. Image 3
• Add dry ingredients (also called the flour mixture), the flavorings, the nuts, and the walnuts. Or pecans. It works with both. Images 4 and 5
• Mix with a spatula until everything is coated with the chocolate batter. The final mixture is shiny and thick but will feel runny for a cookie. This is fine. Image 6

Should you chill the dough?

Cookie dough varies when it's chilled. The ingredients have time to meld together, the dry ingredients absorb more liquid, and things like that.

• Chilled: the cookies will not expand as much and will hold their shape more. But they will brown more on the outside by the time the center is done (fudgy but baked).
• No chilling: the cookies are baked right after the dough is mixed. The cookies expand more and the shapes will be irregular.

Both work, and the flavor is amazing whether you chill the dough or not. I bake them directly, no doubt. They're still fudgy in the center but the skin is shinier and lighter in color.

Kitchen notes

• Organization: read the recipe first and ensure you have ingredients at the correct temperature, equipment, and enough workspace. This will make the process so much easier.
• Baking time: keep in mind that all ovens and pans are different, even if they look the same or very similar. The baking time in my recipes is as accurate as it can be, but it might take you more or less time. You can use a thermometer(like the OXO oven thermometer) to check that your oven is at the right temperature. I recommend you keep track of how your oven works and what tiny details you might need to adjust. 
• Chocolate chips: use your favorite type, the semisweet ones you use for traditional chocolate chip cookies. But know that you could use half milk chocolate chips (a good brand) for a sweeter cookie.
• Flavorings: vanilla extract is a must. And, though coffee is listed as optional, I always add it. It's amazing paired with chocolate because it amps its flavor, it makes it richer. You won't taste coffee, you'll simply love the intensity of the chocolate. A third extract that goes very well with the other two is pure almond. Just a few drops. I use all three in the Best Easy Fudgy Brownies recipe.

Storing

An airtight container is recommended. I like to use metal tins, but cookie jars work just fine. 

After a few days of storing these double chocolate cookies, they harden, lose their fudgy center, and turn somewhat powdery when you bite them. Quite different from the first day, but incredibly good. A client at the cafe said he liked them more that way.

I could go on forever about these, but I really think you should give them a try.