Pistachio Chocolate Chip Cookies
By Jessie
Updated: September 2, 2025
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By: Jessie
Updated: September 2, 2025
Rate This Recipe:
Pistachio is having a real moment right now, and these brown butter Pistachio Chocolate Chip Cookies are the perfect way to enjoy this fabulous ingredient. They’re soft and chewy in the middle, crisp on the edges, and packed with chunks of creamy milk chocolate and crunchy pistachios. To take them up a notch, we top them with a swirl of pistachio cream, extra chopped pistachios and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt, because why not make them a little bit fancy? They’re easy to make, come together in under an hour, and taste like a bakery-style treat straight from your own kitchen.
Your Ingredients List
- Unsalted butter: Browning the butter adds a deeper, nutty flavour that really elevates the cookies, while giving a deliciously soft and chewy result. It’s an extra step worth taking!
- Light brown sugar: Adds moisture and chewiness to the cookies.
- White caster sugar: Gives the cookies a slight crispness around the edges.
- Eggs: The whole egg gives structure, while the extra yolk adds richness and keeps the cookies soft in the middle.
- Vanilla extract: The signature flavour of cookie dough! I use a teaspoon but by all means add more if you fancy.
- Self-raising flour: The built-in raising agent helps the cookies puff slightly as they bake, making them thicker. If you don’t have any, you can swap for plain flour and add a teaspoon of baking powder.
- Cornflour (cornstarch): A secret ingredient for perfectly soft and chewy cookies!
- Salt: Just half a teaspoon, but it’s essential. Salt balances the sweetness and enhances the pistachio and chocolate flavours.
- Milk chocolate: We’re chopping up bars rather than using chips for bigger pockets of creamy, melty chocolate in every bite of these pistachio cookies.
- Pistachios: The star of the show. Chopped pistachios add crunch and nuttiness throughout the cookies.
- Pistachio cream: If you want to go all out, add a teaspoon of pistachio cream on top of each cookie.
- Sea salt flakes: A final sprinkle of sea salt on top makes all the flavours pop.
RECIPE AT A GLANCE
TASTE
A gorgeous balance of sweet, salty, and nutty, wrapped into a buttery vanilla cookie.
TEXTURE
Soft and chewy in the middle, crisp edges, crunchy pistachios and creamy chocolate running throughout.
SKILL
Totally beginner friendly! It’s a simple stir and bake cookie recipe, no mixer required unless you want to speed things up.
SERVES
This recipe makes around 12 cookies.
What Flavours Go Well With Pistachio?
Pistachio has been the flavour of the year, it’s everywhere right now and for good reason! Its naturally nutty, sweet flavour pairs beautifully with so many ingredients – coffee, citrus fruits, spices, honey, berries. One of the ultimate combinations has to be pistachio and chocolate. In these pistachio chocolate chip cookies, I’ve used milk chocolate, which melts into soft, gooey pockets and balances perfectly with the earthy crunch of pistachios. That said, you can easily swap the milk chocolate for white or dark chocolate if you’d like. White chocolate gives a creamy, sweeter contrast, while dark chocolate adds a richer, slightly bitter edge.
If you love pistachio as much as I do, there’s plenty more inspiration on my website, think Pistachio & Lime Loaf Cake, Stuffed Pistachio Croissant Cookies, and Pistachio Coffee Cheesecakes.
How To Make Pistachio Chocolate Chip Cookies
Step 1: Brown the butter
Grab a silver saucepan and start by browning the butter. Melt it over medium heat and give the pan a little swirl as it foams and turns a gorgeous deep-golden amber colour, filling the kitchen with that irresistible nutty smell. Keep a close eye on it, because butter can overbrown really quickly and turn bitter! Those little browned flecks at the bottom? That’s pure flavour gold, so don’t get rid of them. Browning the butter like this adds a rich, toasty depth to your cookies that’s totally worth the extra step. Once it’s done, pour everything (flecks and all) into a mixing bowl and let it cool for about 10 minutes before you carry on.
Step 2: Add the remaining ingredients
Once the browned butter has cooled slightly, whisk in both sugars until combined. Then mix in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Fold through the self-raising flour, cornflour, and salt to form a thick cookie dough. Simple!
Step 3: Fold in the pistachios and chocolate chunks
Chop the pistachios and milk chocolate into chunks, then fold them into the dough until evenly mixed. You’ll want a nice balance of crunchy pistachios and melty chocolate pools in every bite.
Step 4: Roll and bake
Scoop heaped tablespoons of cookie dough and roll them into tall, slightly narrower balls rather than perfectly round. This helps reduce spreading as they melt down in the oven – we’re basically defying gravity! Arrange the cookies on lined baking trays with plenty of space between each so they can expand without merging.
Bake at 180°C fan / 200°C conventional for 10 mins until the edges are golden but the centres are still slightly soft. Once out of the oven, you can use a large round cookie cutter to gently shape the cookies into circles while they’re still warm. Leave to cool on the tray for at least 20 minutes before adding any toppings.
Optional Topping for your Pistachio Chocolate Chip Cookies
For the finishing touch, spoon a teaspoon of pistachio cream on top of each cookie. Then finish with a sprinkle of chopped pistachios and a pinch of flaky sea salt. This topping adds a creamy, nutty punch, extra pistachio flavour, and a satisfying crunch. Whilst the salt perfectly makes all the flavours pop – trust me it just works 😍
Recipe FAQ’s
I definitely recommend it because it adds so much depth and flavour to the cookies. However, you can skip this part if needed – you’ll just need to slightly decrease the butter measurement to 140g (instead of 160g). This is because browning butter naturally releases liquid through steam, and therefore after it’s been browned the total amount of butter is 140g.
Nope, it’s just a nice little bonus. The cookies are delicious on their own, but pistachio cream adds that extra wow factor.
Absolutely! Dark chocolate gives a richer, slightly bitter edge, while white chocolate makes the cookies extra sweet and creamy.
Chilling the cookie dough for just 15 minutes helps develop the flavours. It also firms up the butter, which makes rolling the cookies easier and reduces how much the cookies spread while baking.
Keep your cookies fresh by storing them in a baking tin for up to 5 days.
Pistachio Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Print Pin Rate this RecipeIngredients
For the pistachio chocolate chip cookies:
- 160 grams Unsalted butter
- 150 grams Light brown sugar
- 100 grams White caster sugar
- 1 medium Egg room temperature
- 1 medium Egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 250 grams Self-raising flour
- 1 tablespoon Cornflour or cornstarch
- 0.5 teaspoon Salt
- 100 grams Milk chocolate chopped into small chunks
- 75 grams Pistachios (shelled) roughly chopped
For the decoration (optional):
- 100 grams Pistachio cream
- 25g Pistachios (shelled) roughly chopped
- Sea salt flakes
Instructions
- Start by browning the butter. Measure the butter into a saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir until melted. Continue to heat for another 5ish minutes, swirling the pan occasionally, until the melted butter is foamy on top, a golden amber colour beneath and has a nutty aroma. There should be brown flecks in the bottom of the saucepan. Pour into a mixing bowl and leave to cool for 10 minutes.160 grams Unsalted butter
- Add both sugars and mix to combine.150 grams Light brown sugar, 100 grams White caster sugar
- Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and mix to combine.1 medium Egg, 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract, 1 medium Egg yolk
- Add the flour, cornflour and salt. Fold to make a thick cookie dough.250 grams Self-raising flour, 0.5 teaspoon Salt, 1 tablespoon Cornflour
- Fold in the milk chocolate chunks and chopped pistachios.100 grams Milk chocolate, 75 grams Pistachios (shelled)
- Cover the bowl with clingfilm and refrigerate for 15 minutes. This allows the flavours to further develop.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C fan / 200°C conventional and line two large baking trays with greaseproof paper.
- Scoop up heaped tablespoons of cookie dough and roll into balls (you should be able to make 12 in total). Arrange 6 balls on each baking tray, leaving space between each so they have room to spread.
- Bake on the middle shelf of your oven for 10 minutes until golden around the edge. The middle should look a little underbaked. Leave to cool on the baking tray for at least 20 minutes.
- For the decoration, top each cookie with a teaspoon of pistachio cream, a scattering of pistachios and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt. Enjoy!100 grams Pistachio cream, 25g Pistachios (shelled), Sea salt flakes
