Pistachio Cream Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies
We took our best brown-butter chocolate chip cookies and stuffed the center full of delicious pistachio cream! You can use store bought or our homemade pistachio cream for filling (both will give you a gorgeous, gooey green center). These are really special.
Servings: 36 cookies
Ingredients
- 430 g homemade or store-bought pistachio cream about 1 1/2 cups total, chilled in the refrigerator. A little extra is nice, if you have it, for topping
- 225 g unsalted butter (1 cup)
- 200 g light brown sugar (1 cup)
- 135 g granulated sugar (⅔ cup)
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla paste or extract
- 360 g all purpose flour (2 ¾ cups + 2 Tbsp)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 200 g semi or bittersweet chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate bar) (1 cup)
- 100 g toasted pistachios chopped (1/2 cup), plus more for sprinkling, if desired
- Flaky sea salt for sprinkling (optional)
Instructions
Prepare the pistachio filling:
- If needed, place the jar of pistachio cream in the refrigerator for an hour or so to make it easier to scoop. Stir well if the oil has separated. Line a cookie sheet with parchment and drop 2-teaspoon (12 grams) dollops of pistachio cream onto sheet. Place in the freezer to harden while you prepare the dough.
Brown the butter:
- Cut butter into tablespoons and add to a small saucepan set over medium heat. Once the butter melts and begins foaming, swirl and scrape the sides and bottom of the pan frequently with a heatproof spatula as the butter bubbles. Once the bubbling slows, the butter will begin to turn golden, smell nutty, and develop little brown specks. Watch it carefully and as soon as the specks are brown (not black), remove from heat quickly and pour immediately into a large, heatproof bowl, scraping to include all the brown bits.
- Allow the butter to cool for 25-30 minutes, until no longer warm to the touch, before proceeding with the recipe. You can refrigerate the bowl to make this step go a little faster.
Prepare the dough:
- Once the browned butter has cooled, add it to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or use a large bowl and a hand-held beater). Add both sugars and beat on medium speed until creamy, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl with a silicone spatula as needed. Add the eggs, one at a time, continuing to beat on medium. Add the vanilla and mix until well combined.
- Add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix on low speed until it’s mostly combined. A few streaks of flour are fine.
- Add in the chocolate and crushed pistachios and continue to mix until evenly distributed and no streaks of flour remain. Chill dough in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, or up to 72 hours*.
Form and bake:
- Preheat the oven to 375°F / 190°C and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Remove cookie dough from refrigerator. The dough will need at least 15 minutes to warm before it can be scooped and formed into balls. You can leave the pistachio cream frozen until the dough is ready to shape.
- Scoop a heaping 1 ½ Tbsp-sized (or around 30g) spoonful of dough and use your palm to flatten the cookie dough ball into a disk, then place a frozen ball of pistachio cream in the center. Fold the overhanging cookie dough on top of the pistachio cream, making sure it is completely concealed inside each cookie.
- Roll into an even ball and place on one of the parchment-lined sheets. Repeat with the rest of the dough and filling. You should be able to fit all the balls onto one tray for this step (chilling the balls). Freeze the entire tray of cookie dough balls for at least 15 minutes.
- Once the balls have chilled, transfer half of the balls to the other lined baking sheet and space each cookie dough ball at least 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies just start to turn golden brown. Sprinkle immediately with flaky sea salt and pistachio crumbs, if desired. Allow cookies to cool for two minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a rack to cool to room temperature. Store in an airtight container.
Notes
If you have the time, we recommend making the cookie dough up to two days ahead. Allowing the dough to rest does a few things: it hydrates the flour which results in a chewier, thicker texture. It solidifies the fats which prevents the dough from spreading. And most importantly, the dough develops richer, more complex flavors. So it's worth it if you have the time. If not, the cookies will still be great.
You can also freeze the filled cookie dough balls before baking, and they will take a couple of minutes extra to bake.
Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or freeze them.
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