These thick and chewy chocolate chip walnut cookies have the perfect balance of sweet and salty! Loaded with melty chocolate and buttery walnuts, this easy cookie recipe is sure to become a family favorite!
Is there anything better than a batch of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies? Probably only if you add a few handfuls of walnuts to your dough! This classic Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies recipe is super simple, no-fuss and one of our all-time favorites!
Recipe ingredients and substitutions
You’ll need just 10 ingredients to make these delicious chocolate chip walnut cookies!
- Butter: Use unsalted room temperature butter.
- Dark brown sugar + granulated sugar: Creamed with the butter, a combination of these two sugars yields perfectly chewy cookies.
- Eggs: Two large eggs provide structure in our cookie dough.
- Vanilla extract: Feel free to add a little more for extra flavor!
- All purpose flour: We strongly recommend weighing your flour to ensure your cookies have the best texture. If using cups, make sure to use the spoon and level method. Lightly spoon flour into the measuring cup until it’s completely full. Then run the back of a knife over the cup to gently scrape off any excess.
- Baking soda: This helps make sure our cookies are soft and chewy.
- Salt: To get the perfect sweet and salty balance!
- Semi-sweet chocolate: I prefer using chopped bar chocolate, but you can opt for chocolate chips if you prefer.
- Chopped walnuts: I prefer to buy whole walnuts or walnut halves and pieces and chop them myself to get bigger chunks. You can also substitute your favorite nut. Pecans, pistachios and peanuts would all make excellent additions.
Step by step instructions
This chocolate chip walnut cookies recipe can be made in five simple steps:
- Cream the softened butter with the granulated and brown sugar.
- Mix in the eggs and vanilla extract.
- Add the dry ingredients.
- Fold in the chocolate pieces and walnuts.
- Chill and then bake!
Expert tips and tricks
While I normally love a thin and crispy cookie, we like our chocolate chip walnut cookies a bit on the thicker side! To ensure your cookies come out thick and chewy, here are a few tips.
- Don’t overmix the butter and sugar. Cream the butter with the sugars just as much as needed. Over-creaming will add too much air to your mixture, which can cause the cookies to spread too much in the oven.
- Make sure you don’t skip chilling the cookie dough. At least one hour is enough for these cookies, but feel free to chill them even longer for thicker cookies. And if you’re short on time make sure to at least pop them in the freezer for 15 minutes!
- Don’t flatten the cookies before they go in the oven. Roll them into balls and they’ll flatten a bit as they cook.
- Avoid over-baking. These chocolate chip walnut cookies only need about 10 minutes in the oven at 375°F (190°C). You’ll want to take them out of the oven when they’re lightly brown. Then just let them sit on the pan for 10 minutes and remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Storage and freezing
The chocolate chip walnut cookie dough can be made several days in advance. The baked cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to five days.
Baked chocolate chip walnut cookies will freeze well for up to three months. If you’d prefer to freeze the cookie dough, I recommend portioning the dough into balls and baking directly from frozen — just add a few minutes extra as needed!
Recipe variations
- Switch out the walnuts for your favorite nut. Almonds, pecans, hazelnuts and cashews would all work well.
- Try using a chocolate bar that already has nuts in it! Instead of buying a chocolate bar and nuts separately, I’ve tested these cookies with Milka chocolate hazelnut bars and they were amazing!
- If you don’t want to bother with chopping chocolate, just use chocolate chips instead! Milk chocolate, dark chocolate and white chocolate chips are all great choices!
Frequently Asked Questions
Don’t skip chilling the cookies in the refrigerator. Also don’t flatten the cookies before baking. Roll them into balls and they’ll flatten as they cook.
Yes! Pecans, cashews, almonds or your favorite nut would work well in this recipe. Just make sure to use about 1.5 cups (or about 170 g) of chopped nuts.
Yes! Baked cookies will keep well in the freezer for about three months. The cookie dough can also be portioned out and frozen for three months. Bake directly from frozen and add a few minutes extra to the cooking time as necessary.
The cookies will be golden brown around the edges, but still appear slightly doughy in the center. They’ll finish baking as they cool on the pan.
If you loved this chocolate chip walnut cookies recipe, make sure to check out these posts for more cookie inspiration:
Print
Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies Recipe
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 24
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Chill Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: dessert
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: american
Ingredients
- 1 cup (230 grams) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup (200 grams) dark brown sugar
- ½ cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ⅔ cups (320 grams) all purpose flour, spooned and leveled*
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 ounces (230 grams) semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 1.5 cups (170 grams) walnuts, chopped
Instructions
- Cream the softened butter with the brown sugar and granulated sugar until smooth.
- Add the eggs and vanilla extract and continue beating until combined.
- In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda and salt.
- Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and mix until combined.
- Fold in the chopped chocolate and walnuts.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to several days.
- Preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C) and line several baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Using a cookie scoop or spoon, portion the dough out into balls (approximately 2-3 tablespoons of dough each) and place them on the prepared baking sheets 2 inches (5 cm) apart. They will flatten as they cook.
- Bake for about 10 minutes or until lightly golden around the edges. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 10 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Measuring Flour: We highly recommend using a kitchen scale to measure flour. If measuring by volume, use the spoon and level method to avoid over-measuring the flour. Lightly spoon flour into the measuring cup until it’s completely full. Then run the back of a knife over the cup to gently scrape off any excess.
Storing: Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Freezing: Baked cookies will keep well in the freezer for up to 3 months. The cookie dough can also be portioned out and frozen for 3 months. Bake directly from frozen and add a few minutes extra to the cooking time as necessary.
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6 comments
Baking it now!!!
I hope you love them! 🙂
yummy in my tummy! gah damn!
Made these this morning. Probably the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made!! Will be making these again and again. Thanks for a great recipe!!!
Hi Rosalva! Thank you so much for letting me know – I’m so happy you liked them! These cookies are my favorite! 🙂