It’s Day 1 of AK Cookie Week and we’re throwing it back to 2014! Almost 10 years ago when Tony and I were doing long distance, he would ask to make cookies every time I visited. I loved being able to leave him special home-baked treats. Since we were long distance, I always felt like baking showed how much I care. It was like leaving a delicious little treasure behind and I was secretly hoping that every time he enjoyed a cookie, he was thinking about how much I missed him.
One specific time I couldn’t make up my mind about what I wanted to bake him before I left. Tony started throwing off my cookie game with crazy requests. I think he had some sort of belief that I was basically a cookie queen or a baking wizard (by now, maybe I am?) Tony finally mentioned pistachios and I immediately knew that these cookies were going to happen.
These pistachio chocolate chip cookies turned out even better than I could’ve imagined. Crispy on the outside, chewy in the center, and filled with such a fun, unique flavor — imagine my famous brown butter chocolate chip cookie dough packed with pistachios, chocolate chunks, and a little coffee. Truly incredible flavor combination that you won’t see anywhere else.
I hope you get a chance to try out these gems — Tony called them ‘THE MAN COOKIE’. I recommend enjoying them with a latte over the holidays.
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Ingredients in these pistachio chocolate chip cookies
As I mentioned, these cookies are made with brown butter so the cookie dough is extra caramel-like and rich. The dark chocolate forms giant ooey-gooey puddles that I totally want to dive into, and the pistachios add a nice texture and a lovely flavor. Oh, and the coffee? It’s what makes this cookie extraordinary. It isn’t overpowering, but simply divine. Here’s everything you’ll need:
- Butter: you’ll be browning 2 sticks of butter (I like to use salted butter for extra flavor).
- Espresso powder: this is where that luscious coffee flavor comes in. You’ll actually stir the espresso powder right into the brown butter to infuse it. OMG YUM. You can feel free to omit the espresso powder if you want.
- Sugar: we’re using both dark brown sugar and white granulated sugar in this recipe.
- Eggs: you’ll need 2 eggs to help the cookies bake up.
- Flour: all purpose flour gives them the perfect texture.
- Baking staples: gotta have vanilla extract (learn how to make your own here!), baking soda, and salt.
- Mix-ins: we’re adding pistachios and chocolate chunks from a couple of 3-ounce dark chocolate bars. The combo is unreal — promise.
A note on substitutions
- Can I make then gluten free? Unfortunately, no, I cannot recommend a gluten free flour substitute in these pistachio coffee cookies. Feel free to try any of my gluten free cookies here!
- Can I make them dairy free? Feel free to use a dairy free butter substitute, but note that you cannot brown dairy free butter. Be sure to also use dairy free chocolate chips.
- Can I make them vegan? I haven’t tested these cookies using two flax eggs, but let me know in the comments if you do! You’ll also need to use dairy free butter and chocolate chips.
How to brown butter
Brown butter is, of course, key for the amazing flavor in these cookies. Learn exactly how to brown butter with our tutorial here.
Easy pistachio coffee chocolate chip cookies
- Brown your butter. You’ll start by browning your butter until it’s nice and golden and gives off a nutty aroma. Stir the espresso powder right into the brown butter, then set it aside to cool.
- Mix the wet ingredients. Mix the cooled brown butter and sugars using an electric stand mixer until well combined, then mix in the eggs and vanilla.
- Add the dry ingredients. Whisk together the dry ingredients, then slowly add them to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined.
- Add the mix-ins. Fold in the pistachios and chocolate chunks, reserving some chocolate for the tops of the cookies.
- Chill the dough. This is essential to perfect cookies! Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, or in the freezer for 20 minutes.
- Top, bake & devour. Once the dough is chilled, use a cookie scoop to roll 2 tablespoons of dough into a ball, and place it on your baking sheet. If you like slightly thinner cookies, press down slightly on the tops of each dough ball. Top with extra pistachios and chocolate chunks, then bake them up. Once they turn slightly golden on the edges, remove them from the oven, cool, and enjoy!
Make these cookies ahead of time
If you’d like to save a bit of time, feel free to make the pistachio coffee cookie dough the day before! You can refrigerate the dough (well-covered so it doesn’t dry out) for up to 24 hours. Set out dough for 30 minutes at room temp before baking.
Don’t forget these cookie-baking tips
You’ll find all of my best tips & tricks for making perfect cookies in the Ultimate Guide to Cookie Baking e-book! A few key takeaways for these cookies:
- Do not use substitutes. Please be sure to follow the recipe as written unless substitutes are noted in the notes section of the recipe. Changing the flour will greatly affect the texture of these pistachio coffee chocolate chip cookies as will leaving ingredients out.
- Make sure your ingredients are room temp. After you brown your butter you’ll want to make sure that it is cool so that it doesn’t coagulate the other ingredients. Be sure your eggs are at room temperature as well so that it doesn’t coagulate with the butter. Simply run it under warm water for about a minute or place it in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes before adding it to your dough.
- Use fresh baking soda. Make sure your baking soda is fresh to ensure that these cookies bake up properly.
- Measure your ingredients correctly. Do you know the best way to measure flour without a scale? Get my tips & tricks in this video! Be sure to also pack the brown sugar.
Storing & freezing tips
- To store: store these pistachio coffee chocolate chip cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- To freeze: you can actually freeze the cookie dough OR the freshly baked cookies to enjoy later! Get all of my tips and tricks for freezing cookies here.
More cookie recipes you’ll love
- Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies with Toffee & Crushed Pretzels
- Mint Chocolate Cookies with Mint Frosting
- White Chocolate Macadamia Snickerdoodles
- Salted Brown Butter Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cup S’mores Chocolate Cookies
Get all of my cookie recipes here!
I hope you love these pistachio coffee chocolate chip cookies. If you make them be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked them. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Pistachio, Coffee & Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Ingredients
- Wet ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter
- 1 tablespoon espresso powder
- 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- Dry ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup shelled pistachios, plus more as needed
- 6 ounces chocolate chunks (from two 3-ounce 70% dark chocolate bars)
Instructions
- Brown your butter: add butter to a medium pot or saucepan and place over medium heat. The butter will begin to melt, crackle, and then eventually foam. Make sure you whisk constantly during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to brown and turn a nice golden amber color on the bottom of the saucepan, this usually happens once it foams. Continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma. Immediately transfer the butter to a medium bowl to prevent burning, making sure you scrape all the butter from the pan. Stir coffee granules immediately to the brown butter. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
- Mix together wet ingredients: Add the cooled brown butter, dark brown sugar and granulated sugar to the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix the butter and sugars on medium speed until well combined, 1 minute. Add in the eggs and vanilla and mix again on medium speed for about 1 minute, until well combined and resembles caramel in texture and consistency.
- Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
- Add the dry ingredients: slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low-speed just until combined. Next add in the pistachios and chocolate chunks (reserving about 1/4 cup chocolate chunks for adding on top of cookies) and mix again on low speed until just incorporated.
- Chill the dough: Cover the bowl with the dough with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour or place in freezer for 20 minutes if you are super eager.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Once dough is chilled, measure out 2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball and place on cookie sheet ensuring there is at least 2 inches apart on each cookie. Press down VERY slightly on top of the dough, unless you want thicker cookies, then leave as is. Press a few extra pistachios and chocolate chunks on the top of each cookie to make them look pretty.
- Bake the cookies 10-12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. They will look a bit underdone in the middle, but will continue to cook once out of the oven.
- Cool the cookies on the sheets at least 5 to 10 minutes so the cookies set up. Sprinkle with a little sea salt, if desired. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
I love the flavour of these cookies. They look and sound delicious!
Holy moly, these need to come with a warning label! After five cookies, ‘cos I really, really needed to make sure, I think I’ve found my all time favorite cookie. You are the cookie queen!
I’m so happy you liked the cookies, Nicole! They are quite irresistible!
I don’t usually keep instant coffee around, hate to excess for one recipe, but this sounds so good! Could I substitute my usual ground coffee beans or would they be too overpowering?
Hi Leigh! You can totally skip the coffee. I wouldn’t recommend using coffee beans.
OMG! So good. The brown butter is so worth it, I had to stop myself from eating the dough after 1 taste! I skipped the coffee as I had no instant and used 2 full eggs (as I didn’t see the correction), sprinkled sea salt on top and they turned out spectacularly. Thank you!
Could you use espresso powder in these? Also, are you just supposed to use egg yolks or the whole egg as the ingredients and instructions list this slightly differently? Looking forward to trying these!
These are unbelievably great! Thank you for the recipe.
Does this call for milk, semi-sweet or dark chocolate chunks? Thanks.
Hi Alia – I typically use dark chocolate chunks, but you could use any that you like best!
I made these cookies over the weekend and I can’t stop eating them! The browned butter really makes a difference and definitely worth the extra step! Simply delicious. I did substitute pecans for my taste preference. One part of the recipe that was unclear to me was the addition of the eggs. Was I supposed to add 1 egg+ 1 yolk or 2 whole eggs? I added 2 and it turned out fine.
The browned butter is everything! It makes for such a rich flavor. And pecans work just great in here. Noted on the recipe – 2 eggs are perfect (I will update!)
Hi, how many cookies does this recipe make? Thanks!
Hi! This should make about 24 cookies 🙂
These are awesome
Really great recipe!
Monique your recipes are unique and always successful-thank you!
how are these sooooo good!
Hi! Did you use salted or unsalted pistachios?
Salted, but unsalted will be fine too!
Recipe mentions adding egg, yolk,… but the ingredient list mentioned 2 eggs. Do the whites and yolks need to be added separately? Thanks !
So sorry about that! Add 2 eggs.
These cookies are a great combination of flavor! It is like a mocha with caramel or brulee touch. I actually substituted flour with homemade oat flour, also coconut sugar for brown sugar. They came out great.
Amazing! SO glad these turned out great for you with your subs, Denise! Thanks so much for sharing!
Is there anyway to substitute the espresso powder for an actual shot of espresso? I love this recipe 🙂
Hi! Unfortunately, I wouldn’t recommend adding actual espresso to the batter as the extra liquid will really change the texture in these cookies.
Amazing cookies! They turned out perfectly gooey and delicious. Def will add these to my rotation!
So happy to hear that!
Amazing. Best cookies I’ve ever made. I’m not sure that I can taste it much, but instead of coffee powder I used a little bit of cold brew. Just delicious!
I’m glad that worked out well! Such a great treat!
These cookies are amazing! I added a tablespoon of the ground, flavored coffee I had on hand since I did not have espresso powder and it worked fine.
Perfect! Glad you loved them!
Wow. This recipe really hits all the spots. Sweet salty chewy crunchy gooey. Loved it. I felt like the butter and the espresso powder step was a major power move. Great recipe
Made this recipe for our annual Christmas cookie exchange. It did not disappoint! This cookie has a more elevated flavor profile, I love the combination of pistachios + chocolate. It may or may not be the most kid-friendly, but all of the grownups agreed it was delicious.
I didn’t see that the recipe called for salted butter so used unsalted and added sea salt flakes on top. Sooooo good!!
I’m all about flaky sea salt on top 🙂 glad you loved these!
These were DELICIOUS! I just used semi-sweet chips and instant coffee because I already had them. I can’t imagine how good they would be with the espresso. Next time!
Perfect! Glad you loved them!
Just made these for a cookie exchange party. So delicious and the espresso powder is a must. The cookies will not taste like coffee, but the coffee powder definitely enhances the chocolate and brown butter. Everyone loved these!
YES it really brings out all of those rich flavors! So glad they were a hit 🙂
Amazing! I made this following the recipe and they were delicious. One of the best cookie recipes out there. Question- any recommendations on storage to extend the shelf life?
So glad you loved them! They should stay good in an airtight container at room temp for up to 5 days, otherwise you can freeze them for later!
Love these cookies, made them twice but both times my instant coffee never disintegrates.. I’m guessing this is wrong?
So strange! It should disintegrate when it’s mixed with the hot brown butter (as it would with any hot liquid). It might be the brand that you’re using?
I’ve only made these cookies twice but I think about them ALL THE TIME!! They are SO incredibly good and a huge crowd pleaser. The flavors work so well together and the coffee and brown butter elevates things so much. Ambitious Kitchen does not miss! 🙂
I’ve only made these cookies twice but I think about them ALL THE TIME!! They are SO incredibly good and a huge crowd pleaser. The flavors work so well together and the coffee and brown butter elevates things so much. Ambitious Kitchen does not miss! 🙂
Love that!! One of my favs, too 🙂
These are incredible—chewy, sweet and savory. The perfect cookie.
Love these!!
These cookies sound absolutely fantastic. YUUUUMMM
Wondering if this is a crunchy cookie?
I usually do not like cookies that are soft
These are meant to be crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle 🙂
want to make these vegan. you didn’t address the browning the butter. you cant do that with vegan butter. its the milk solids that brown.. i have read that you can add cashew butter… any suggestions?
Hi! You’ll simply use melted butter instead of browning it.
WOW!!! This recipe is incredible. Gooey, crunchy and salty. I did have to use Gf 1:1 flour and Violife df butter. It turned out perfect following your directions and measurements. This is a new fav for sure. Thank you!
Perfect! I’m glad those swaps worked out well 🙂
Can you mix these by hand? Dont have an electric mixer
Yes!
Okay so I know you said don’t make them gluten free but I couldn’t pass up trying the recipe. Granted I have never had these with regular flour, they turned out fantastic with Bobs Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 flour. Absolutely incredible!
Perfect! I’m glad that worked out well!
This is a foolproof recipe! Well explained and easy to follow- and absolutely delicious every time! I’ve been asked for the recipe several times.
So glad it’s a favorite!!
Hi there! I made these vegan and you actually can brown non dairy butter using certain brands some brand don’t brown. I used non-dairy country crock butter and its browns nicely with that good nutty scent and everything just like butters with dairy. Also substituting two eggs with the flax eggs mixture works perfectly, I used 2 tablespoons of ground flax seed with 6 tablespoons of water, whisk it, let it set for about 10 minutes. and of course I substitute regular chocolate chips with vegan chocolate chips I like to use the brand enjoy life.
Perfect! I’m glad that works out well! Love enjoy life, too 🙂