These chocolate chip walnut cookies are chewy brown butter cookies with crisp edges, 1 cup of toasted walnuts and 1½ cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips. The dough chills for at least 1 hour, then bakes at 350°F (175°C) for 10 to 12 minutes and makes 20 to 24 cookies.
Two small steps do most of the work. Browning the butter gives the dough a toffee smell and darker edges, and toasting the walnuts first makes them taste nutty instead of soft and flat. These are the cookies I bake for bake sales and the neighbors once the leaves start to turn.
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- Yield: 20 to 24 cookies (3 or 2 tablespoon scoops)
- Time: 20 minutes prep, 1 hour chill, 10 to 12 minutes per tray
- Butter: 1 cup (227 g) unsalted, browned and cooled 10 to 15 minutes
- Flour: 2¾ cups (345 g) all-purpose
- Mix-ins: 1½ cups (270 g) semi-sweet chips, ½ cup (90 g) milk chocolate chips if you like, 1 cup (100 g) toasted walnuts
- Texture: golden, crisp edges and a soft, chewy middle
Browning the Butter Without Burning It
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat and keep stirring. It foams up, crackles, then goes quiet. Watch the bottom of the pan: small bits appear and turn from tan to hazelnut brown, and the kitchen smells like toffee. That takes about 5 to 8 minutes. Pour it straight into the mixing bowl, scraping in every brown bit, because the hot pan keeps cooking it and black bits taste bitter.
Then wait 10 to 15 minutes. The butter should feel warm, not hot. Hot butter melts the sugar and starts to cook the eggs, and the dough turns greasy and spreads. If you would rather skip the browning, melt and cool the butter the same way. The cookies are still good, just less toasty.
For a version without nuts that leans even harder on the browned butter, see my brown butter chocolate chip cookies.
Mixing the Sugars, Eggs and Flour
Whisk the cooled butter with 1 cup (200 g) packed light brown sugar and ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar until smooth. The brown sugar gives chew and a little molasses flavor. The white sugar crisps the edges. Add 2 large eggs and 2 teaspoons of vanilla and whisk until the mixture looks creamy and a shade lighter.
In a second bowl, whisk the flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon baking powder and ¾ teaspoon salt. Weigh the flour at 345 g if you can. Scooping straight from the bag packs in 30 g or more, and those extra grams turn chewy cookies into dry, cakey ones. Stir the dry mix into the wet only until no streaks of flour remain.
Toasting and Chopping the Walnuts
Toast the walnuts in a dry skillet over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes, shaking the pan, until they smell nutty and darken slightly. Let them cool before chopping. Warm walnuts smear and turn oily under the knife. A rough chop with some big pieces and some small ones gives a better bite than evenly minced nuts.
Pecans swap in one for one. Black walnuts are much stronger and a little bitter, so use them only if you already love that flavor. For a sweeter crunch, stir in chopped candied walnuts instead.
Semi-Sweet Only, or Mixed With Milk Chocolate
With semi-sweet chips only, the cookie tastes deeper and a little less sweet, which balances the brown butter and the nuts. That is how I bake them for adults and for gift boxes. Adding the optional ½ cup of milk chocolate chips makes the cookie sweeter and creamier, which kids tend to like.
For chunks instead of chips, my chocolate chunk cookies use bigger pieces that melt into pools. For a deeply chocolatey cookie without nuts, try my best chocolate chip cookies.
Why the Dough Needs an Hour in the Fridge
Fold the chips and walnuts into the dough, cover the bowl and chill it for at least 1 hour, or up to overnight. Browned butter dough is soft and warm when it is mixed. The hour in the fridge firms the fat and lets the flour soak up the liquid, so the cookies spread less and bake up thick with chewy centers.
Dough chilled overnight gets very firm. Leave it on the counter for 10 to 15 minutes before scooping, or the cookies stay as tall domes.
Scoop Size, Spacing and the 10 to 12 Minute Bake
Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment. Scoop 2 or 3 tablespoon portions and set them 2 inches apart. Two tablespoon scoops give about 24 cookies and need 10 to 11 minutes. Three tablespoon scoops give about 20 and need the full 12 minutes.
Pull them when the edges are golden and the centers look just set, even a little underdone. They keep cooking on the hot sheet. Leave them there for 5 minutes, then move them to a wire rack. Move them sooner and they fold in half.
Flat, Cakey or Greasy: What Went Wrong
- Flat and greasy: the browned butter was still hot, or the dough skipped the chill. Cool the butter 10 to 15 minutes and chill the dough a full hour.
- Dry and cakey: too much flour or too long in the oven. Weigh 345 g and pull them while the middles look soft.
- Tall domes that never spread: the dough was scooped straight from an overnight chill. Let it sit 10 to 15 minutes, or press each ball down slightly.
- Bitter edge: the butter went past brown to black. Pour it out of the pan as soon as the bits are hazelnut colored.
- Soft, bland walnuts: they went in untoasted. Toast them first, every batch.
Cookie Jar, Lunchbox and Freezer
Keep the cooled cookies in a lidded container at room temperature for 4 to 5 days. For longer, freeze the baked cookies in a single layer, then move them to a freezer bag. Ten seconds in the microwave brings back the soft middle, and a frozen cookie packed in a lunchbox in the morning is soft by midmorning.
To bake ahead, freeze the scooped dough balls on a tray, then bag them. Bake straight from the freezer at 350°F and add 1 to 2 minutes.
They go well with coffee or a cold glass of milk. On a cookie tray, set them next to something plain, like these walnut cookies, so the chewy chocolate ones stand out. For more walnut baking this fall, try walnut brownies, chocolate chip walnut banana bread or maple walnut fudge, and for a peanut version, peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.
Asked About These Cookies
Can I make chocolate chip walnut cookies without browning the butter?
Yes. Melt the butter, cool it for 10 minutes and continue the same way. The cookies taste a little less nutty and bake up slightly paler.
Can I leave out the walnuts?
Yes. Leave them out, or swap in the same 1 cup of toasted pecans. The dough needs no other change.
Can I double the recipe for a big batch?
Yes. A double batch makes 40 to 48 cookies. Brown the butter in two batches or a wide pan so it browns evenly, and chill the dough in two bowls.
Do I have to chill the dough?
For thick cookies, yes, at least 1 hour. Unchilled browned butter dough spreads into thin, flat cookies.
Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies Recipe
These chocolate chip walnut cookies are chewy brown butter cookies made with toasted walnuts, semi-sweet chocolate chips, brown sugar and vanilla. The dough chills for 1 hour, then bakes at 350°F for 10 to 12 minutes into 20 to 24 cookies with golden, crisp edges and soft, chewy centers. The butter is browned and cooled for 10 to 15 minutes first, which gives the dough a toffee flavor, and the cold dough keeps the cookies thick instead of flat. Bake them for bake sales, fall cookie trays, lunchboxes or a holiday cookie box. Pecans swap in for the walnuts, the chocolate walnut cookies keep 4 to 5 days in a container, and baked cookies or scooped dough freeze well.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (227g) unsalted butter
- 1 cup (200g) light brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2¾ cups (345g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1½ cups (270g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ½ cup (90g) milk chocolate chips (optional)
- 1 cup (100g) chopped walnuts, lightly toasted
Instructions
- BROWN THE BUTTER: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and continue cooking, stirring often, until it turns golden brown and develops a nutty aroma. Immediately remove from heat and let cool for 10–15 minutes before using. If you prefer not to brown the butter, simply melt and cool slightly.
- MIX WET INGREDIENTS: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the browned butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until the mixture is smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla extract, and continue whisking until the mixture is creamy and slightly lighter in color.
- COMBINE DRY INGREDIENTS: In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until well combined. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing on low speed or with a spatula just until no streaks of flour remain.
- ADD CHOCOLATE AND WALNUTS: Fold in the semi-sweet chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips (if using), and chopped toasted walnuts. Cover the bowl and chill the dough for at least 1 hour or up to overnight for best results.
- BAKE: Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop dough into 2–3 tablespoon portions and place them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10–12 minutes, or until the edges are golden and the centers are just set.
- COOL AND SERVE: Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack. Serve warm for soft, melty centers or let cool completely for a chewy texture.
Notes
Brown the butter until the foam quiets and the bits on the bottom are hazelnut brown and smell like toffee, about 5 to 8 minutes. Pour it into the bowl at once, scraping in the brown bits.
Cool the browned butter 10 to 15 minutes. Hot butter melts the sugar and makes flat, greasy cookies.
Weigh the flour (345 g) or spoon and level it. Packed flour makes dry, cakey cookies.
Toasting the walnuts before adding enhances their flavor and crunch. Chop them after they cool.
Chilling the dough at least 1 hour keeps the cookies thick. If chilled overnight, let it sit 10 to 15 minutes before scooping.
Use a cookie scoop for even sizing: 2 tablespoon scoops make about 24 cookies (10 to 11 minutes), 3 tablespoon scoops about 20 (12 minutes).
Store baked cookies in a lidded container at room temperature for 4 to 5 days, or freeze them. Scooped dough balls can be frozen and baked from frozen; add 1 to 2 minutes.
Nutrition Information
Yield
24Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 99Total Fat 2gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 1gCholesterol 17mgSodium 140mgCarbohydrates 18gFiber 1gSugar 7gProtein 2g
