I broke my own rules. I put nuts in cookies.
And I really liked these cookies. Shocking but true.
I’ve said many times that I don’t like nuts in baked goods because they remind me of hard little rocks amidst soft, fluffy, and tender delicacies and just ruin the whole experience.
It’s a picky thing of mine because I do love nuts on their own. I could make a dinner out of a can of mixed nuts and did many nights of the week way back when. Along with chips and dip.
And I wrote a cookbook about peanut butter with 100+ peanut butter recipes and adore peanut butter, which we all know is just pulverized peanuts.
It’s whole nuts in desserts that I’m very iffy and particular about, although sometimes I can deal.
And I dealt very well with nuts in these cookies.
The dough base is my favorite chocolate chip cookie dough, but instead of using chocolate chips, I added butterscotch chips, honey roasted peanuts, and a bit of cinnamon.
I just love honey roasted peanuts and make most of my Homemade Peanut Butter variations with them. Why bother with plain when I can have honey roasted.
They pair wonderfully with butterscotch chips, and in fact, this Honey Roasted Butterscotch White Chocolate Peanut Butter is my favorite peanut butter of all-time.
The cookies are soft and tender, thanks to the cornstarch. It’s magical for helping cookies stay softbatch-style soft, without turning cakey.
I’ve written about it before so many times and swear by it.
The big, crunchy peanuts that are embedded within the soft dough creates such a taste and texture contrast.
The saltiness of the peanuts cuts some of the inherent sweetness of the butterscotch chips, making the cookies the quintessential salty-and-sweet treat.
One of my 2013 baking promises to myself was to bake with butterscotch more often because I just love the flavor. I went through a little spurt with butterscotch, but it had been awhile and these hit the spot.
The cinnamon isn’t overt, and stays in the background, but adds another subtle layer of flavor.
If you like soft with crunchy, salty with sweet, honey roasted peanuts or butterscotch, I have a feeling you won’t be able to keep your hands out of the cookie jar.
They have me recanting, just a bit, about shunning nuts in desserts overall. But I promise that I’ll never put nuts in Carrot Cake or Banana Bread.
But in these cookies, they totally worked.
Pin This Recipe
Soft and Chewy Honey Roasted Peanuts and Butterscotch Chip Cookies
Big, crunchy, honey roasted peanuts that are embedded within soft dough create a taste and texture contrast in these soft cookies. The saltiness of the peanuts cuts some of the sweetness of the butterscotch chips, making the cookies the quintessential salty-and-sweet treat. The dough is adapted from my favorite chocolate chip cookie dough and uses cornstarch, my secret weapon for creating soft, chewy, and tender cookies, every time.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- one 11-ounce bag butterscotch chips, about 1 3/4 cups
- 1 1/2 cups honey roasted peanuts (may substitute dry-roasted salted peanuts, or a favorite nut)
Instructions
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, sugars, egg, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until well-creamed, light and fluffy, about 5 minutes (or use a hand mixer and beat for at least 7 minutes).
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, cinnamon, optional salt, and mix until just combined, about 1 minute.
- Add the butterscotch chips, peanuts and beat momentarily to incorporate, less than 1 minute, or fold in by hand.
- Using a medium 2-inch cookie scoop, form heaping two tablespoon mounds (I made 25). Place mounds on a large plate, flatten mounds slightly with your palm, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 5 days, before baking. Do not bake with warm dough because cookies will spread and bake thinner and flatter.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat, or spray with cooking spray. Place mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet). Bake for 8 to 9 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just beginning to set, even if slightly undercooked, pale and glossy in the center. Do not bake longer than 9 minutes for soft cookies because they firm up as they cool (The cookies shown in the photos were baked with dough that had been chilled overnight, allowed to come to room temp for 15 minutes, and were baked for 8 minutes, with trays rotated at the 4-minute mark. They have chewy edges with soft, gooey centers). Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before removing and transferring to a rack to finish cooling.
- Store cookies airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored airtight in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
Dough base adapted from Twix Bar Chocolate Chip Cookies, Soft and Chewy M&Ms Cookies, Soft and Chewy Snickers Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Chocolate Chip and Chunk Cookies
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
25Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 184Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 8mgSodium: 97mgCarbohydrates: 25gFiber: 1gSugar: 17gProtein: 4g
Related Recipes:
Soft and Chewy Spiced Carrot Cake Cookies
Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Scotchies Cookies
Soft and Chewy Cinnamon Chip Snickerdoodle Cookies
Browned Butter Caramel and Butterscotch Bars
Homemade Peanut Butter with Honey Roasted Peanuts
Honey Roasted Butterscotch White Chocolate Peanut Butter (GF) – My favorite flavor
Thanks for the entries in the Peanut Butter Comfort Cookbook and Food Processor Giveaway and the $50 Catching Fireflies Giveaway
Do you like nuts in desserts? Honey roasted peanuts? Butterscotch?
These cookies look scrumptious Averie! Loving the honey roasted peanuts and butterscotch together – perfection!
I love nuts in cookies! These honey roasted peanuts seem like a brilliant choice.
I’m not into nuts in my baked goods either. But if you can deal, I’m game. Besides, these cookies look too delicious to pass up!
Yummmmmy!
I usually don’t like nuts in baked goods either, especially cake, and I abhor nuts in ice cream. Nothing ruins silky, creamy, rich ice cream more than having hard chunks embedded throughout that I need to chew through. I can make an exception for cookies and these ones look fabulous! I’ve never baked with butterscotch before and now I want to make that one of my goals this year too!
Nancy butterscotch chips are some of my most favorite things EVER!!!! You will wonder what you’ve been waiting for. Get on it :)
Butterscotch and honey-roasted peanuts are kind of made for each other, no? I think it was kind of inevitable that you were going to stuff them into a cookie. And end up liking it. Surprises are the best! :)
Totally made for each other! :)
Haha, I saw the title and thought, “Um….What? Can’t be Averie’s blog!”- just goes to show that awesome things can happen when you get a little nutty! ;) I can taste those honey roasted peanuts already…
Mmm, I’m pro nuts in cookies and these look awesome! I looove butterscotch chips :)
Every day I come here and am amazed. These are going to be my new favorite cookie. We all have our weird food things. I can’t stand raisins in anything. :)
You are so sweet to say that – and I can’t believe you don’t like raisins! I knew that though. It’s not like I sit down to handfulls of them, but in baking, I just love them!
You know….maybe I could have some peanuts in cookies too ;)
HA! It wasn’t until I turned 30 that I finally started to like that nut texture in cookies. But, I’m still picky about it. :) However the combination of roasted nuts and butterscotch chips sounds so, so good!
Love honey roasted peanuts so much! These sound delicious!
Such a brilliant idea to put honey roasted peanuts in cookies! I would eat the hell out of these.
This has my name written all over it. I infact love nuts in my cookies and these candied ones would be killer good. I am pinning this for sure..
thanks for pinning!
I’m not a huge fan of nuts in cookies either but sometimes there are definitely exceptions and this has to be one of them! They look delicious!
Nothing beats a soft chewy cookie- and these look Devine xxx
Like almost everyone else commenting, I don’t like nuts in my cookies. But with the butterscotch and soft and chewy dough base, I think I can deal with the peanuts!
I mean, honey roasted peanuts and butterscotch chips in a cookie were bound to happen. You can’t fight fate, Averie!!
I could LIVE off of mixed nuts! nuts, some bread/butter/cheese and fruit…perfect meal in my book. LOVE the cookies
I am not a fan of nuts at all, but my husband is. I know he gets sad when I bake stuff without nuts so maybe I will make these for him!
I agree that whole peanuts aren’t always my favorite in desserts, Averie – but you definitely make a case for them here. I’m sure that crunch is great contrasted against the soft cookies. LOVE the colors of these in the photos!
This is my kind of cookie, Averie! Honey roasted peanuts are my favorite nuts and I love baking with them! They go so well with butterscotch chips in cookies. Truly a favorite combination of mine! I am so happy that you made an exception for NUTS in a cookie! You broke the rules. And I like it!! You must have been thinking of me when you made these. All of the flavors together just work so well. Gorgeous pics too. Loving that mark iii! :)
I actually WAS thinking of you when I made these! I know you love both honey roasted peanuts AND butterscotch and I know you have a cookie on your site that you say is your fave but b/c it has flax, I shy away. I want to say it has peanuts in it? It’s maybe 12-15 mos old at this point and cookies begin to blur, but if memory serves, these sort of remind me of those. Thanks for saying you like the pics. I am loving the Mark III! :)
Yes! My favorite cookies ever. :) http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2012/06/05/honey-roasted-peanut-butter-oatmeal-butterscotch-cookies/
I would admonish you for breaking your own rule, but I do it all the time so I can’t say anything. I am still a devout nuts-in-baked-goods HATER though. It is a texture thing, too. I don’t like the hard bits – not in cookies, muffins, brownies, not even in ice cream. Big chocolate chips in ice cream = bad; swirls of chocolate = hells yes, the more the better.
My dad loves peanuts, but hates pb. I love pb, but hate nuts. Weird, huh?
Averie, I really like your blog. Your photos are beautiful and inviting. I’ll be making the flourless peanut butter cookies tonight. I know they’ll be delish! I already made the peaches and cream cake which was great.
Thanks for the compliments and for trying that cake and enjoy the cookies! Please LMK how they go! I have 2 similar recipes for flourless PB cookies – one with a mix of sugars, one with just all brown sugar and chocolate included.
https://www.averiecooks.com/2011/07/flourless-peanut-butter-cookies.html
https://www.averiecooks.com/2013/01/peanut-butter-chocolate-chunk-cookies.html
I ma definitely going to make butterscotch chip cookies. I feel in love with butterschotch chocolates few years ago, it is an amazing taste. In cookies it must be delicious as well.
I’m usually anti-nuts in my cookies too, but these look so good – must be the honey roasted peanuts!
I have to say I’m a nut lover when it comes to cookies, so these are right up my alley! And I absolutely love honey roasted peanuts…I can eat all day long. Perfect cookies!
I love nuts in cookies! I usually store my CCC’s in the fridge so the chocolate chips are just as hard as nuts anyways. :) (I like to get the solid texture of the chocolate when I chew them.) Now I have another CCC on my list that I need to make!
I actually store some cookies in the freezer for this very reason! I go from the extremes of totally warm, fresh, soft and melty to hard and solid!
I feel the exact same way about nuts in soft cookies. However, these cookies have made me want to give it another shot!
These cookies are right up my alley!!! Soft, chewy, AND stuffed with peanuts?! Yes… yes, please!
These look absolutely divine Averie! I could almost taste them as I read this post ;) I have a long list of your recipes to catch up on and I can’t wait till I’m off this juice cleanse so I can finally make some of them!
Honey roasted peanuts are a whole league onto their own. They are nothing like traditional peanuts which is why they are allowed in my cookie dough.
I’m really into the idea of using roasted peanuts in cookies, would love that crunch.. (I love a good crunch in desserts!). Thanks Averie!
Whenever I see a recipe on your blog, I think, “It doesn’t get any better than that…” But then it does! Love this one — definitely trying it out.
These look AMAZING! I can’t wait to try them… and your photos are just gorgeous.
thank you!
I normally shy away from using nuts as well in my desserts, but I may have to make an exception!
I normally prefer not to have nuts in my cookies, either. I like to use crunchy peanut butter in cookie recipes to get a subtle bit of crunch, but that’s typically it. I really have to be in the mood! It looks completely appropriate to add them here — I do love peanuts especially, and these honey roasted ones sound great. Rules are made to be broken, right?!
I love to break the rules!
I’m the same way with nuts in my cookies…but for some odd reason, I love honey roasted nuts in everything I usually won’t eat with nuts. (i.e. ice cream, etc.) I can’t wait to try these with the taste of the butterscotch chips…Yum!
I’m not surprised you’re a honey roasted nut fan – we think alike on so many things :)
I think you and I are cookie soul mates. I love soft and chewy, but I’m really picky about nuts, usually I would rather not, but I totally trust your cookie wisdom! (p.s. that needs to be your new book: Cookie Wisdom by Averie: How to Make The Best Cookies Ever)
LOL in my current cookbook – there’s a blurb called The Cookie Commandments! Ten top tips for creating the perfect cookies! I kept saying the same things over and over at the start of every recipe, so did a mini-chapter on that very topic!
How could you possibly go wrong here? I love nuts in desserts for the added texture and crunch. Plus, they can balance out the sweetness as well. Perfecto!
oooh i think i’d be totally fine with these cookies too … honey roasted peanuts, yes please!
Just one more reason to miss TJ’s: their nut selection. I miss it so bad! I love these cookies (you probably knew I would!) The honey roasted nuts + butterscotch chips is RIGHT up my alley!!
Oh girl they are SO YOU! And plenty of brown sugar with cinnamon undertones. Total Cassie cookie :)
And about 6 weeks ago I had run out of TJs honey roasted peanuts and there were closed and had to pick up nuts from the reg groc store and I will say, those honey roasted peanuts were NOT AT ALL the same as TJs. But just think…you have a beautiful house with a photography room I’d kill for!
I am with you nuts in baked goods. I like them in pecan pie and banana bread though. Thinking I would still devour these cookies, especially if you are telling me they are awesome. I trust your opinion like no other! Plus, honey roasted peanuts have got to be on of my favorites. They are addicting!
Oh and I guess our mind are thinking a like today! I did peanut butter and butterscotch today too! LOL
Pinning!
I know you did! I commented on your post and pinned it! I was your 1st commenter :)
If you were going to break your “nut” rule, you couldn’t have picked a better cookie! I’m a sucker for anything salty-sweet, and I definitely need more butterscotch in my life too. Thanks for helping me out :-)
Another fantastic looking cookie! I don’t mind nuts in baked goods but I always leave them big so I can pick them out and eat them first. Like a pre-dessert snack :)
a pre-dessert snack <-- love it :)
Mmm I bet those peanuts really make these cookies amazing!! These look lovely Averie!
I’m with you. I’m not big on putting nuts in everything. My dad, on the other hand, totally is. I made him a batch of my best brownies and he was insistent on adding walnuts. Of course it didn’t taste horrible but I don’t like anything distracting me from the ooey gooey perfection of baked goodness and it totally did! I’ll have to redeem those brownies soon.
I’m fine with nuts in cookies and brownies, but I prefer them chopped up a little. As for cake, I have had nuts in the frosting and like that pretty well (German chocolate and Texas sheet cake). I think these sound great–yummy flavors and stuffed with goodies!!
I could JUST eat German choc frosting. I don’t even need the cake part :)
I’ve never been into nuts in my baked goods either. Even white chocolate and macadamia cookies, they tastes great, but I just don’t want that big ol’ hard nut interfering with my sweet and chewy dough and chocolate. But if YOU say these are a must try, well, then I guess I’ll just have to try them anyway ;)
just don’t want that big ol’ hard nut interfering with my sweet and chewy dough <--- that is exactly how I feel, 99% of the time! I never want mac nuts in white choc cookies either! But these peanut cookies get a hall pass :)
Averie, I am one of those nutty people…love nuts anywhere and everywhere, LOL! I just love how you find all sorts of ways to use Honey Roasted Peanuts. I could eat them by the pound…just like these cookies! Mmm! Fabulous cookie recipe, girl! Pinning! xo
Thanks for pinning and glad to hear you’re a big honey roasted peanut fan too!
Generally I feel like nuts don’t belong in desserts (the exception being the nut topping on the brownie a Houston’s-but that is ON the brownie, not in). However, seeing as the two of us have almost identical food likes and dislikes I’m inclined to take your word on the goodness of these cookies;)
I’ve never heard of that brownie but now I want to try it!
Time for a trip to houston’s! One of the few chains I can get with…