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Pistachio lovers, I have THE perfect cookie for you!

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pistachio cream stuffed chocolate chip cookies

This cookie is THE cookie for pistachio lovers. If you haven’t heard of pistachio cream before, allow me to be the one to introduce you to this *delicious* ingredient. Pistachio cream is an Italian product. The texture is identical to nutella, but has the flavor of pistachios. It’s rich, creamy, and perfect for getting even more pistachio flavor into these cookies. Aside from being stuffed with pistachio cream, these cookies are soft and chewy with crisp edges, are filled with brown butter flavor, and are loaded with chocolate and pistachios.

small batch pistachio chocolate chip cookies

Like most recipes you’ll find here, these cookies are small batch, yielding just 8 cookies. I love making small batch bakes because they are the perfect size myself and others who don’t have a lot of people to bake for in their home. But don’t worry! If you are in need of more cookies, you can double or triple this recipe as desired. Just be sure you’re using grams to measure for the best result.

expert baking tips

Weigh your ingredients:

My recipes are all written in grams because it is the most accurate way to bake. When you use a kitchen scale, you ensure that your baked goods turn out as close to the written recipe as possible. Plus, the cleanup is way easier when using a scale! I will provide standard cup measurements but please note that I have not tested the recipe using cup measurements and therefore can not guarantee your recipe will come out how mine did. Here is my favorite kitchen scale.

Mix the dough carefully:

When adding in the flour, only fold the mixture just until no flour streaks remain. Over mixing the dough leads to more gluten formation, which can make the cookies thicker and more tough in texture.

chill the cookies prior to baking

I know, I know – it’s frustrating to have to wait! However, because we’re using melted brown butter, we want to give the dough time to firm up. Letting the cookie dough chill just a little bit in the fridge means that the cookies will bake up thicker. This also gives the flavors a little bit of time to meld together.

Under bake for perfect cookies:

Cookies continue baking after they have been taken out of the oven. Once the edges turn slightly golden brown, and the cookies look just a little wet on top still, they are ready to come out. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for an additional 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.

The secret to perfectly round cookies:

Wanna know the secret to perfectly round cookies? It’s cookie scooting! Right when the cookies come out of the oven, take a bowl, cup, or biscuit cutter that is just slightly larger than your cookies and place it over one of the cookies. Gently swirl the bowl around the cookie to make the cookie perfectly round (and slightly thicker). And that’s all there is to it!

A note on oven temperature:

Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature and might not always actually be at the temperature they claim to be at. If you love to bake like I do, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.

ingredients for pistachio chocolate chip cookies:

  • All purpose flour: for structure and chewiness.
  • Baking powder & baking soda: for helping the cookies rise.
  • Salt: to help balance and bring out the sweetness of the cookies
  • Unsalted butter: for tenderness and flavor. You can use salted butter in place of the unsalted, just be sure to omit the extra salt from the cookies. We’ll also be browning the butter for some extra delicious toasty flavor. If you’re looking to make this dairy-free, Miyoko’s Creamery vegan butter has the ability to brown just like regular butter and works like a charm.
  • Granulated sugar & light brown sugar: a combination of both gives us cookies with crispy edges and soft and chewy centers.
  • Egg: for binding and for moisture.
  • Vanilla: for flavor. I use and love this vanilla extract!
  • Semi-sweet chocolate: I recommend semi-sweet or dark chocolate because the pistachio cream itself is quite sweet. Please note that if you use all chocolate chips, the cookies will bake up a little thicker, and if you use all chopped chocolate, they will be a tad thinner.
  • Pistachio cream: truly the star of the show here. We will stuff each cookie with 1 tbsp. of pistachio cream and then swirl a bit on top of each cookie prior to baking. Here is the one I used.

how to make pistachio cream chocolate chip cookies

Here’s a little look into the process of making these pistachio cream stuffed chocolate chip cookies. The full recipe is at the end of this blog post!

Brown the butter.
Then whisk in the sugars, followed by the egg and vanilla.
Fold in the dry ingredients, followed by the chocolate & pistachios
Make sure to freeze the pistachio cream.
Scoop out the cookies, flatten them, and fill them with the pistachio cream.
Chill, top with extra pistachio cream, bake, and enjoy!

pistachio chocolate chip cookies recipe q&a

What is brown butter?

Brown butter is super simple to make so don’t worry! It’s just regular butter that is cooked on the stove until some of the moisture evaporates, allowing the milk solids in the butter to be toasted. The result is this butter with an amber hue and little speckles that has a toasted and slightly nutty aroma.

can I double this recipe?

Definitely – I’ve tested this recipe up to quadrupling it with no problem. Please be sure to use grams for the best results.

can I make these cookies ahead of time?

Definitely – cookie dough really only gets better with time. You can keep the cookie dough tightly covered in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking. For longer term storage, you can also freeze the cookie dough balls. Just be sure to take the dough out of the fridge at least 30 minutes to 1 hour before you want to bake, so that it becomes soft enough to scoop again.

How to store chocolate chip cookies

Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. They will keep for up to 5 days, but will taste the best 1-3 days after baking.

pistachio cream chocolate chip cookies troubleshooting

Measuring error: Typically, the #1 culprit for this is always not measuring the flour properly. If you use cup measurements, you run the risk of adding too much flour to the dough which can make it super dry. If you’re using cup measurements, make sure that you fluff up your flour and then spoon it into your measuring cup, rather than scooping up the flour with the measuring cup. Measuring will also be sure that you end up with the right amount of brown butter and that you cooked it for the proper amount of time.

Overmixing: if you over-mix the dough, you will introduce more gluten into the cookies which will lead to tougher, thicker cookies. Make sure to only fold in the flour just until that last streak of flour disappears into the dough.

Oven temperature: Like I said before, it’s possible that your oven isn’t at the temperature that it claims to be at – which is, unfortunately, more common than it should be. If your oven is hotter than 350F without your knowledge, you’ll end up with thicker, more dry cookies.

Chilling the dough: The #1 reason for this would be that you didn’t chill the cookie dough. Although it can be frustrating to wait, the cookie dough does need to chill to give time for the butter to firm up and the ingredients to meld together so that they don’t completely spread out in the oven.

Browning the butter: Another reason I recommend measuring your ingredients. When you brown the butter, moisture cooks off of it. So, if it wasn’t cooked for long enough then there would be extra moisture in the dough, which would make the cookies spread out more.

Oven temperature: It could also be that your oven temperature is running lower than it claims to be. For that reason, I recommend always using an oven thermometer. The one I use was ~$6 and is linked under “baking tools” in my amazon storefront below!

tools and ingredients:

You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here!

other recipes you might enjoy:

did you make this recipe?

I’d love to see and know your thoughts! please leave a comment and review below, and tag me on instagram @freshbeanbakery. #freshbeanbakery

Pistachio Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies

5 from 7 votes
Soft and chewy pistachio chocolate chip cookies stuffed and topped with pistachio cream
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time50 minutes
Cook Time12 minutes
Total Time1 hour
Servings8 cookies
Calories439 kcal

Ingredients 

  • 8 tbsp. pistachio cream + extra for topping
  • 113 g unsalted butter (½ c.)
  • 100 g light brown sugar (½ c.)
  • 50 g granulated sugar (¼ c.)
  • 1 egg room temperature
  • ½ tsp. vanilla
  • 160 g all purpose flour (1 ⅓ c.)
  • ½ tsp. baking powder
  • ½ tsp. baking soda
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 100 g chocolate (½ c. + 1 tbsp.)
  • 45 g pistachios crushed (⅓ c.)

Instructions 

  • Prior to starting the cookies, you're going to want to freeze 1 tbsp. balls of the pistachio cream so that it's *much* easier to work with later on. I used a 1 tbsp. cookie scoop and scooped 8 balls of pistachio cream onto a parchment lined sheet.
  • In a small saucepan set over medium heat, brown the butter. Stir the butter occasionally until it turns amber in color and develops little brown specks.
  • Transfer the brown butter to a medium sized mixing bowl and set it in the freezer for 5 minutes to chill. You should be left with at least 90g of brown butter, if you have a little less, just add in some water until you reach 90g.
  • Once the butter has cooled down a bit, whisk in both sugars.
  • Whisk in the egg and vanilla until well combined.
  • Add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Use a rubber spatula to fold the mixture together just until a few flour streaks remain.
  • Add in the chocolate and crushed pistachios and fold the mixture together just until no flour streaks remain. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up.
  • Scoop out heaping 3 tbsp. scoops of the cookie dough. Use your palm to flatten the cookie dough ball down, then place a frozen ball of pistachio cream in the center of the flattened cookie.
  • Fold the overhanging cookie dough on top of the pistachio cream, making sure it is completely trapped inside each cookie
  • Place the filled cookie dough balls back into the fridge for 15 minutes.* Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C.
  • Evenly space out the cookie dough balls on a parchment lined cookie sheet. If desired, melt some extra pistachio cream and use a spoon to top each cookie dough ball off with some of the extra cream.
  • Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start to turn golden brown.
  • Once the cookies come out of the oven, I recommend "scooting" them. This just means take a bowl, cup, or biscuit cutter that is slightly larger than the cookie, place it on top of the cookie, and swirl the bowl around to make the cookie a little more round.
  • Let the cookies sit on the hot baking tray for at least 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool. Serve and enjoy!

Notes

Affiliate links: Kitchen Scale (my favorite) | Kitchen scale (great starter option) | | Oven Thermometer | Cookie Scoops | Cookie Sheet Pan | Milk Pan
*At this point you could transfer the dough balls to an airtight container and keep them in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking, or in the freezer for 1 month.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookieCalories: 439kcalCarbohydrates: 46gProtein: 7gFat: 27gSaturated Fat: 11gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0.5gCholesterol: 51mgSodium: 251mgPotassium: 254mgFiber: 3gSugar: 27gVitamin A: 407IUVitamin C: 0.3mgCalcium: 104mgIron: 2mg

Please note that the nutrition facts are only an estimate and may vary based on different brands of ingredients and any substitutions made.

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Recipe Rating




11 Comments

  1. Hi! I plan to chill the dough balls in the fridge overnight. Can I bake them straight from the fridge? Or do they need to come to room temperature before baking?

    Reply

    1. Hi! You can bake them straight from the fridge but note that they will probably bake up a bit thicker.

      Reply

  5. 5 stars
    Recipe delicious and easy to follow. My cookies turned out great ! However unfortunately they’re 1. Much “fluffier” looking than yours and 2. I think they’re a bit too dry. I imagine this is user error … where do you think I may have went wrong ?

    Reply

    1. Thank you so much! I’m sorry you had some issues – if the cookies are a bit dry and fluffy then it’s likely you accidentally over measured the flour or browned the butter for too long. I always recommend a kitchen scale for the best results & consistency!

      Reply

  6. Hey, I would love to make these cookies this Saturday for my bday brunch. I live in Belgium and saw your video on TikTok. Can I replace the baking soda with something else because I don’t think the baking soda that we have in Belgium is for food (here it is for cleaning).

    Thank you so much!!

    Reply

    1. Hello, thank you so much for wanting to make my recipe! As long as the ingredient on your baking soda is only “sodium bicarbonate” then it is good to use for food. In the US it’s also the same one that’s used for cleaning and is completely safe for baking. I hope this helps!

      Reply