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.
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Soft and Chewy Honey Roasted Peanuts and Butterscotch Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ 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 ½ 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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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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?