I used to think hotel cookie recipes were for other people — the ones with marble countertops and a standing mixer that hums while you read the paper.
Then I found the Ritz-Carlton chocolate chunk pecan cookie recipe, made it in my own small kitchen, and my kids finished the batch before I’d even taken a proper photo.
The Ritz-Carlton has shared a few cookie recipes with guests over the years — printed on little cards you could take home. This one is said to come from their Marina del Rey location in California, and I found my copy on Reddit. I can’t confirm the hotel’s version, but I can tell you what I know: it bakes into cookies with chocolate that melts into rich little pools instead of holding its shape, and enough toasted-pecan crunch in every bite that one is never enough.
Why this works: it’s brown sugar and butter doing all the heavy lifting. That combo is what makes the edges set while the centers stay soft and chewy — no fancy technique, just the good kind of simple.
What you’re getting
- Chewy centers that finish setting on the hot tray after they come out of the oven.
- Chocolate chunks, not chips — bigger pockets of melted chocolate in every bite.
- A serious amount of pecans. There are a lot of them, and that’s the point.
- Freezer-friendly: bake them now, freeze the cookies (or even the dough), and you have fresh cookies later.
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups butter (2 ½ sticks) — salted or unsalted, your call
- ¾ cup dark brown sugar
- ¾ cup light brown sugar — brown sugar only is what makes these chewy; the recipe calls for both shades and I’ve made it as written, though I don’t think it’s strictly necessary
- 3 large eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups plus 6 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chunks (or bars cut into chunks)
- 2 cups chopped pecans
On the pecans: I didn’t toast mine, but you can — it deepens the nutty flavor. Just let them cool before they go into the dough, or you’ll melt your chocolate.
How to make them
One more thing before you start: chill the dough. I’ve made this recipe a few times, and 1-2 hours in the fridge is what stops the cookies from spreading into sad flat discs. I imagine the hotel does it too — I just don’t have a note from their kitchen to prove it.
- Cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each, then the vanilla.
- Add the baking soda, salt, and flour. Mix in the chocolate chunks and chopped pecans.
- Portion the dough with a 2 Tbsp. cookie scoop onto a large sheet, then chill the balls for 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Bake 6 cookies at a time on each sheet.
- Bake 13-15 minutes — the centers should still look slightly underdone.
- Leave them on the baking sheet to cool. The soft centers keep setting there, and that’s a good thing.
Notes from my kitchen
If a cookie starts spreading unevenly, don’t panic — a round biscuit cutter or the rim of a bowl, pressed gently while the cookie is still hot, will swirl it back into shape. And if you only have chocolate chips, use them. Chunks give you the bigger melted pools and that bakery look, but chips still make a great cookie.
FAQs
Are these the actual Ritz-Carlton cookies? The recipe is said to come from the Marina del Rey hotel and used to be printed on cards for guests. I don’t have a post from the hotel to cite, so treat the origin as the hotel’s own claim — but the baking results speak for themselves.
Can I freeze these? Yes. Baked cookies keep in the freezer for up to 3 months, and you can also freeze scooped dough and bake straight from frozen.
Why are the centers chewy? Butter, brown sugar, and slightly underbaking. The cookies finish setting on the hot tray instead of drying out in the oven.
Keep them
They make 44 cookies. Store the cooled ones in an airtight container — in my house that’s usually a formality. And yes, I’ve since gone on to try the rest of the hotel’s famous cookie lineup: chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, peanut butter, and this one. This is the pecan one, and it’s the one I keep coming back to.
If you’ve got a Tuesday-night question or a swap you’ve tried that worked, tell me in the comments — that’s how I learn too.
Trade-It Tip: No semisweet bars to chop? Semisweet chocolate chips work — smaller pockets of chocolate, same chewy cookie.
If it doesn’t fit a Tuesday night, it doesn’t get published.