Butter? It worked!

I recently commented to Anna at Cookie Madness that I don't like using butter for cookies because they always seem to get flat and crispy. She showed me one of her recipes for some cookies that use butter but don't flatten out. She's right! These are GREAT. I don't know if this will make me use butter more often, but these I will make again.

Her cookies are puffy and tender. One different thing is that the flour is bread flour. Anna said that this probably gives the cookies their tender nature. I also thought it was interesting the difference in the batter when the egg and vanilla were added, the color lightened and the batter immediately smoothed (check out the pictures below). The only thing I changed from her recipe was to use mint chocolate chips in the cookies rather than bittersweet chocolate, and I made Tablespoon sized cookies rather than 1/4 cup large cookies. These cookies do harden a bit (maybe because I made smaller ones) over time but soften quite well with a few seconds in the microwave. Who doesn't like warm cookies anyway? Try these cookies and stop by Anna's sight for more...she always has GREAT recipes!

Anna's Giant Chocolate Chunk Cookies
No mixer required!
1/2 cup pecan pieces

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup unsalted butter -- melted and slightly cooled (about 5 minutes)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups bread flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

1/2 teaspoon salt1 (6 oz) dark or bittersweet chocolate bar, cut into chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread pecan pieces over half of a large cookie sheet. Spread oats over other half of cookie sheet.

Bake pecans and oats for 8-10 minutes or until pecans are aromatic and toasted. Remove from oven and let cool.
In a medium bowl, stir (by hand) melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until smooth. Stir in the egg and vanilla, being careful not to over-beat.
Mix together the bread flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and stir into sugar mixture. Stir toasted oats and pecans. Stir in chocolate chunks.
Using a packed quarter cup measure or tablespoon if making smaller cookies, shape dough into balls and place on a dish. Refrigerate shaped dough balls for at least 3 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment and place thoroughly chilled dough balls about 3 inches apart on cookie sheet. If making smaller cookies they can be placed closer together.
Bake cookies for 15 minutes for large cookies and 10-11 minutes for smaller cookies, or until done. Remove from baking sheets to cool on wire racks. Let cool completely
This recipe yields between 9 an 11 large cookies and 36 smaller cookies.

Now for a 3 things meme:
Three people/things that make me laugh: weird dreams, my mom, The Princess Bride
Three things that scare me: stinkbugs (!), 18-wheelers, taking the Step 1
Three things I love: my family, God's incredible grace, real friends
Three things I hate: bad grammar, smoking, studying
Three things I don’t understand: why I have to memorize hundreds of drugs only to forget them again and use a PDA to look them up when I need to use them, guys, my brother (I guess those could be the same thing)
Three things on my desk: 2 jewelry boxes, a fan, papers I need to find a place for Three things I want to do before I die: Go to New York, go to more Cubs games, win a recipe contest
Three things I can do: cook, sing, perform a medical physical exam and take a history. Three things I would like to learn: sign language, ballroom dancing, golf
Three favorite foods: squash, fruit (all kinds!), Spring rolls
Three beverages I drink regularly: water, lemonade, coffee (I've just started drinking it in the morning since it's cold again)
Three TV shows/Books I watched/read as a kid: Anne of Green Gables, Little House on the Prairie, Ramona

Okay, here are my tags:
VC at Sugar Delirium
Alisha at Cooking, Stamping, and Scrapping
Mandi at Red Dirt Mummy
Anna at Cookie Madness