These pistachio chocolate chip cookies are packed full of pistachios, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate. They have crisp edges, perfectly chewy centers and loads of pistachio and chocolate flavor! Brown butter and cardamom adds so much depth and flavor and pair so well with the toasty pistachio flavor. If you love pistachios and thin crispy chewy chocolate chip cookies, these are the perfect cookies for you to make.
If you love brown butter cookies, you need to try my toffee cookies.
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🌰 Why you'll LOVE this recipe
- Easy: These cookies come together in one bowl without an electric mixer. You don't even need a whisk - I just used a rubber spatula.
- Brown butter: So easy to make and adds a rich, nutty flavor. It also makes the most buttery cookie.
- Texture: Buttery crisp edges and soft, chewy middles.
- Flavor: Pistachio, brown butter, and cardamom - combined with gooey milk and dark chocolate create the most comforting toasty and decadent flavor combination.
This edible brown butter chocolate chip cookie dough will satisfy the sweet tooth of anyone who loves cookie dough and brown butter.
📝 Key ingredients
Read through for all the tips you will need for success!
Full steps and ingredients in recipe card below.
- Pistachios: I used lightly roasted and lightly salted shelled pistachios. You can use regular salted pistachios as well - just omit the salt in the cookie dough to compensate.
- Chocolate: I used chopped good quality chocolate for a more gooey texture. You can also use chocolate chips. I find a mix of dark or semisweet, and milk chocolate gives the best flavor! You can use whatever chocolate you prefer in your cookies.
- Butter: Use real unsalted butter for the best flavor. I don’t recommend browning salted butter because I find that it has a metallic flavor. If you don’t want to brown the butter, reduce the amount of butter used by 2 tablespoons and just melt before using.
- Cardamom: This gives the cookie a lovely, warm and spicy flavor. If you don’t like cardamom you can omit it, or reduce the amount.
- Flaky salt: This is optional but gives you lovely crunchy flakes of salt on top. Little pops of salt that balance the sweetness in the cookie.
- All purpose flour: Weigh the flour to get the most accurate results. If you don’t have a scale, measure properly by stirring the bag and spooning gently into a measuring cup. Scrape the excess off the top with the flat edge off a knife without packing it into the cup.
👩🍳 How to make chocolate pistachio cookies
Step 1: Add butter into a medium saucepan and melt on medium heat. Let the butter melt, stirring to prevent it from burning. It will start to foam, then the foam will subside and the butter will simmer. Stir occasionally to prevent burning.
Once it starts foaming again, keep a close eye on it and stir constantly until the specks start to turn golden-brown.
Step 2: Immediately add chopped pistachios (reserve a tablespoon for topping the cookies) into the brown butter and stir. Add cardamom and stir again.
Turn off the heat and very carefully pour the butter and pistachio mixture into a heat-safe bowl.
Step 3: Let the butter mixture cool to room temperature - it will become thicker but still stirrable. You can speed along the process by popping it into the fridge or in an ice bath.
Step 4: Once cooled and slightly thicker, add brown and granulated sugars into the butter mixture. Add salt and mix with a whisk or spatula until it starts to lighten in color and get creamy.
Add one egg and vanilla. Mix with a spatula or whisk until fully combined and the mixture lightens in color.
Step 5: Sift flour and baking soda right into the same bowl. Fold with a spatula until a soft cookie dough forms. Add the chocolate, reserving a few tablespoons for pressing on top of the cookies. Fold the chocolate into the cookie dough with a spatula just until combined.
Step 6: Use a cookie scoop to portion the cookie dough into about 2 ½ tablespoon sized cookie balls. Place onto a parchment lined plate or cookie sheet. Press the reserved pistachios and chocolate on top of the cookie dough balls.
Step 7: Chill in the freezer for 30 minutes or in the fridge for 5 hours. You can keep the cookie dough balls in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking. Preheat the oven to 355°F (180°C) 30 minutes before cookies are ready to bake.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place cookie dough balls onto parchment paper, making sure to leave at least three inches of space between each cookie dough ball.
Step 8: Bake for 10-12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until bottoms and edges are golden brown.
Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet for one minute. Sprinkle with flaky salt and use a spatula to transfer onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Bake the rest of the cookie dough.
✔️ Expert tips
- Brown butter: Don’t forget to stir the butter or it will burn! Keep an eye on it and reduce the heat if needed.
- Get all the brown butter flavor: Make sure to scrape all of the brown specks out of the pan and into the bowl for the cookie dough. That’s where all of the flavor is.
- Cool the brown butter: To get the perfect dough texture, it’s important to let the brown butter cool to room temperature. Speed up the process by popping it into the fridge or putting the bowl with butter into an ice bath and stirring frequently. It will get a little thicker and creamier.
- Don’t skip chilling the dough: The longer you chill the cookies, the thicker and more flavorful they are. Chill them for a minimum of 30 minutes in the freezer or for up to 48 hours in the fridge.
- Cool: The cookies are delicate right out of the oven so let them cool and set for a minute on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack or plate.
🥄 Make ahead and storage
These chocolate chip pistachio cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days.
The cookie dough can be prepared and scooped up to 48 hours ahead of baking. You can freeze the cookie dough balls in an airtight container or bag for up to 3 months. Then you can bake cookies at any time! Add a minute or two to the baking time if baking from frozen.
These peppermint shortbread cookies are also great to make ahead and store in the freezer.
🐿️ How to get the most pistachio flavor in your cookies
To get the most natural pistachio flavor into these chocolate chip cookies, I recruited the help of the brown butter.
As soon as the butter starts to get lovely golden brown flecks, add the pistachios and cardamom right in! This will toast the pistachios and allow them to release their lovely flavor into the butter.
If you have pistachio extract on hand, you can also add it in! Or even a ¼ teaspoon of almond extract to amplify the pistachio flavor will work.
This recipe also has cardamom, which adds a lovely toasty, warm flavor that helps amplify the pistachio flavor. It also helps it taste almost like baklava!
🍫 Chocolate chips vs chopped chocolate for cookies
Depending on your preferences, you can use either chopped chocolate or chocolate chips in your cookies. Or even both! Here are the differences between the two:
- Chocolate chips: Hold their shape and are less messy. They give a very even chocolate distribution inside the cookies because they're the same size. You're typically limited in flavor because there's less variety in the world of chocolate chips.
- Chopped chocolate: More messy and don't hold their shape as well giving you a more gooey bite. Distribution is uneven with large pools and small slivers of chocolate. Chocolate bars are used for this, and there exists almost an unlimited selection of chocolate bar flavors. Typically chocolate bars are of better quality than chocolate chips. But of course, exceptions exist.
📖 Recipe FAQs
I highly recommend browning the butter - it just adds so much incredible flavor! If you don’t want to brown the butter, reduce the amount of butter used by 2 tablespoons. Melt the butter before using - make sure it's not hot.
Yes - this is a very important step! As the dough chills, the butter will resolidify causing it to spread less in the oven. If you chill the dough for longer (overnight) then the sugar crystals will dissolve better and the flour will be more hydrated - creating a more flavorful cookie.
Your cookies might be uneven because of the chocolate melting unevenly. Or because the cookie dough balls were not scooped/rolled evenly. If this happens to you, you can gently nudge them into shape with a spoon as soon as they come out of the oven.
I used shelled, lightly salted, and lightly roasted pistachios. You can use whatever you can find. If you use regular salted cashews, I recommend omitting the salt from the cookie dough so that the pistachio chocolate chip cookies don't become too salty.
🍪 More related recipes
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📖 Recipe
Pistachio Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- large cookie sheet
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- ⅔ cup pistachios shelled, toasted, and chopped
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom (can reduce or omit if you don't like cardamom)
- ¾ cup brown sugar packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ⅔ cup all purpose flour 200 g
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate I use a mix of milk and dark chopped chocolate
- 1 teaspoon flaky salt for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Add butter into a medium saucepan and melt on medium heat. Stir to prevent from burning. It will start to foam, then the foam will subside. Stir occasionally to prevent burning. Once it starts foaming again, stir until the specks start to turn golden-brown - this will happen quickly.1 cup unsalted butter
- Immediately add chopped pistachios (reserve a tablespoon for topping the cookies) into the brown butter and stir. Add cardamom and stir. Turn off the heat and very carefully pour the butter and pistachio mixture into a heat-safe bowl.⅔ cup pistachios, ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- Let the butter mixture cool to room temperature - it will become thicker but still stirrable. You can speed along the process by popping it into the fridge or in an ice bath.
- Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, and salt into the butter mixture. Mix with a spatula or whisk until lightened in color and thick.¾ cup brown sugar, ½ cup granulated sugar, ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- Add one egg and vanilla. Mix with a spatula or whisk until fully combined and the mixture lightens in color.1 large egg, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Sift flour and baking soda right into the same bowl. Fold with a spatula until a soft cookie dough forms. Add the chocolate, reserving a few tablespoons for pressing on top of the cookies. Fold the chocolate into the cookie dough with a spatula just until combined.1 ⅔ cup all purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda, 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
- Use a cookie scoop to portion the cookie dough into about 2 ½ tablespoon sized cookie balls. Place onto a parchment lined plate or cookie sheet. Press the reserved pistachios and chocolate on top of the cookie dough balls so that they stick.
- Chill in the freezer for 30 minutes or in the fridge for 5 hours. You can keep the cookie dough balls in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking. Preheat the oven to 355°F (180°C) 30 minutes before the cookies are ready to bake.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place cookie dough balls onto the parchment paper, making sure to leave at least three inches of space between each cookie dough ball - they will spread.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until bottoms and edges are golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet for one minute. Sprinkle with flaky salt and use a spatula to transfer onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Bake the rest of the cookie dough.1 teaspoon flaky salt
Video
Notes
- Keep stirring the brown butter and keep an eye on it to prevent burning.
- Scrape all of the brown butter bits into the cookie dough because that's where the flavor is.
- Cool the brown butter to room temperature to get the perfect cookie consistency.
- Chill cookie dough for at least 30 minutes in the freezer or up to 48 hours in the fridge.
- Let baked cookies rest on baking sheet for a minute before transferring them onto a cooling plate or rack.
Manjula
I made choco-pistacchio cookies following your recipie and I have to say they taste absolutely delicious. Thanks a lot for sharing. xxx
Kelly
These are now my new favorite cookie! My husband and I are obsessed. I HAD to share with my BFF to get some of them out of the house!
Maria Esteba
Hi Mary,
I made these beautiful cookies today and they are amazing! They are so flavoursome, thank you so much!
Maria
Liz
Made these today. Awesome cookie!