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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Related Recipes:
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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?
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. :) https://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
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!