Brown Butter Oatmeal Pine Nut Cookies
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on Apr 30, 2021, Updated Mar 25, 2025
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Soft and chewy cookies made with nutty brown butter, classic oats, and buttery toasted piñons for a flavorful Southwest cookie. If you’ve been searching for a new twist on your tried and true cookie recipes, these Brown Butter Oatmeal Pine Nut Cookies are for you!
Table of Contents
- What are Brown Butter Oatmeal Pine Nut Cookies?
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Ingredients & Substitutions
- How to Make Brown Butter Oatmeal Pine Nut Cookies
- Serving & Topping Suggestions
- Brown Butter Oatmeal Pine Nut Cookies – Expert Tips & Tricks
- Storage Instructions
- Frequently Asked Questions
- More Recipes
- Brown Butter Oatmeal Pine Nut Cookies Recipe
There’s something special about the flavor of toasted piñons — buttery, slightly sweet, and deeply nutty. Every time I bake with them, I’m transported back to El Paso, where I grew up. Piñon trees are native to the Southwest, especially New Mexico, our sister state just across the border. It’s no wonder these cookies taste like home.
What are Brown Butter Oatmeal Pine Nut Cookies?
These cookies are the perfect mashup of Italian pignoli cookies and Tex-Mex cowboy cookies. Made with brown butter, hearty oats, and toasted piñons (pine nuts), they’re sweet and salty, crunchy and chewy, and downright irresistible.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Rich, nutty flavor from browned butter
Delightfully chewy texture from hearty oats
Easy to freeze and bake on demand
Full of nostalgic Southwest flavor
Ingredients & Substitutions
This cookie recipe is made mostly from pantry staples:
- Butter: Use unsalted butter to control salt levels. If using salted butter, reduce added salt by half.
- Oats: Old fashioned rolled oats provide the best chewy texture. Quick oats can be used in a pinch, but avoid instant or steel-cut oats. Quaker Old Fashioned Oats are my go-to. It has been our family’s oatmeal brand of choice for years. I grew up eating Avena (Old-Fashioned Mexican Oatmeal), and Quaker was always in my mom and grandma’s cabinets.
- Flour: All-purpose works great. For gluten-free, use a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend and gluten free oats.
- Brown sugar & granulated sugar: The combo gives chewiness and depth.
- Eggs & vanilla extract: For structure and flavor.
- Baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt: Your classic baking essentials.
- Piñons (pine nuts): Toasted for max flavor. Sub with chopped cashews or macadamia nuts if needed.
See the printable recipe card below for full ingredient amounts and instructions.
How to Make Brown Butter Oatmeal Pine Nut Cookies
Step 1: Toast the pine nuts. Place in a dry skillet over medium-low heat. Stir often until golden and fragrant. Transfer to a plate to cool.
Step 2: Brown the butter. In a light-colored pan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir as it foams, then turns golden and smells nutty. Pour into a heatproof bowl to stop cooking. Let cool. TIP: Browned butter can be made up to a week in advance and stored in the refrigerator.
Step 3: Make the dough. Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Cream browned butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Slowly mix in dry ingredients, then fold in oats and toasted piñons.
Step 4: Scoop. Use a 2-TBSP scoop to form dough balls. Place 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Step 5: Bake. Bake at 350°F for 11-13 minutes or until golden. Cool on wire racks.
Serving & Topping Suggestions
- Enjoy warm with a glass of milk, café de olla, or Mexican hot chocolate
- Sprinkle with flaky sea salt before baking for a sweet-savory twist
- Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for a dessert-style treat
Brown Butter Oatmeal Pine Nut Cookies – Expert Tips & Tricks
Don’t skip browning the butter—it adds unmatched depth.
Toast nuts and brown butter ahead of time to streamline baking.
Make-ahead: Freeze dough balls and bake straight from frozen. Just add 2–3 minutes to baking time. Tip: You can make the dough ahead of time and scoop out individual cookie portions. Set them on a parchment-lined tray or plate, freeze until solid, then toss into a zip-top bag. That way, you can have fresh, home-baked cookies on demand!
Cream butter and sugar well to get light, chewy cookies.
Storage Instructions
- Store cooled cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- Freeze baked cookies for up to 2 months.
- Freeze unbaked cookie dough balls up to 3 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
Piñon nuts come from piñon trees native to the American Southwest, especially New Mexico. Pine nuts can come from many varieties of pine trees across the world. Piñons are typically smaller, sweeter, and have a buttery flavor.
Oatmeal cookies can be a bit healthier than other cookies because oats add fiber and whole grains. However, they still contain sugar and butter, so moderation is key.
Overmixing the dough, under-creaming the butter and sugar, or using the wrong type of oats can affect texture. Also, skipping the chilling step (if a recipe calls for it) can lead to flat cookies.
Old fashioned rolled oats (like Quaker Old Fashioned Oats) provide the best chewy texture. Quick oats can work in a pinch but will result in a softer, less hearty cookie.
More Recipes
If you tried this Brown Butter Oatmeal Pine Nut Cookies recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below!
Brown Butter Oatmeal Pine Nut Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
- 4.5 ounces piñon (pine nuts)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
Instructions
- Place pine nuts in a dry (don’t add oil) frying pan large enough to hold them in a single layer.
- Turn heat to medium-low and cook until fragrant and golden brown, keeping them moving (stir frequently or constantly).
- When they’re golden brown, immediately transfer them to a plate to stop the cooking and prevent burning.
- Melt and brown butter then bring back to room temperature.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt and set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
- Slowly add dry ingredients to creamed mixture and beat.
- With a spoon, fold in oatmeal and the toasted pine nuts.
- Use a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop the cookie dough out into balls, placing them 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake at 350°F about 11 to 13 minutes or until browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.
Notes
- Make-ahead: Freeze dough balls and bake straight from frozen. Just add 2–3 minutes to baking time. Tip: You can make the dough ahead of time and scoop out individual cookie portions. Set them on a parchment-lined tray or plate, freeze until solid, then toss into a zip-top bag. That way, you can have fresh, home-baked cookies on demand!
- Store cooled cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- Freeze baked cookies for up to 2 months.
- Freeze unbaked cookie dough balls up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Photography by Raemi Vermiglio
I live in Santa Fe. Would this recipe work as is or do I need to adjust for high altitude? I know you live in Colorado, so maybe it’ll work just fine here
Hola Kathy! This cookie recipe has worked for me in Colorado and my mom in El Paso, Texas, so I’m guessing your cookies will bake beautifully in Santa Fe. Please keep me posted.
I never have old fashioned oats on hand, can I use quick oats instead?
Both old-fashioned and quick-cook oats can make delicious cookies. However, because quick oats absorb more water, they make cookies that spread less than those made with old-fashioned oats.
I made this with Bob’s Red Mill gluten free flour for a work party and it was a hit! I was a little scant on the sugar measures since my office has a lot of people that don’t like super sweet things, but I probably could have left it as is and it would have been just fine.
I love oatmeal cookies but have never used brown butter. I was a little afraid of this recipe because of that brown butter but I had some pine nuts that had to be used so I gave it a go. I watched the video and even referred to it as I made the brown butter. It smelled so yummy as I was mixing the dough. The cookies are delicious. Thank you for making these cookies so easy to make.
Ready to make these delicous cookies, I tasted them when u made them. I loved them, had one every morning with coffee, it was hard to not have more, but I wanted to save them, so they would last.
Yum, these look so delitous, something different. Im sure to try these cookies for my Christmas collection of cookies. Thank you mija.
Thank you for sharing this recipe! Oatmeal cookies are my favorite!