Chai White Chocolate Chip Cookies
This is one of the first recipes I ever shared and I’ll be honest, the recipe has been tweaked significantly but the flavor has always stayed because it’s so good! The combination of the brown butter with the brown sugar, the spices and the white chocolate and pecans – it’s fall in cookie form.
White chocolate chip cookies tend to be too sweet but with the addition of the brown butter, spices and pecans we really neutralized it. Of course, don’t you dare skip the flakey sea salt on top!!
I also have a lovely brown butter chocolate chip pecan cookie, if you’re not a fan of the white chocolate chips. Personally, I’m not a huge of fan of cinnamon and chocolate together so I left spices out of that one.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Flour – I used all-purpose flour for these muffins. Flour is the most inaccurately measured ingredient so I highly recommend a digital kitchen scale to measure for all baking recipes.
- Spices – I used a combination of spices, if you love or hate a certain spice you can certainly play around with the ratios a little. You can also use a store bought chai spice mix.
- Butter – I love using European style salted butter for most of my cookies and it is a game changer! I’ve really been enjoying using salted butter for baking in general lately but any butter works fine for this recipe.
- Sugar – I’ve been trying to use minimal ingredients in my recipes so I went from using both granulated and brown sugar for the old recipe but I switched to all light brown sugar. Alternatively, it does work with granulated sugar or light brown sugar as well (will look a bit different though) or a mix of the two.
- White Chocolate – I made these with both white chocolate chips and chopped white chocolate chunks. The chunks get all nice and melty but I like the way Nestle white chocolate chips taste lol.
- Pecans – THIS is the star. These cookies were incredibly sweet because of the white chocolate but adding some chopped up pecans brings the perfect balance. I like to chop them up really small so you get more of the flavor in every bite instead of big chunks randomly. Toasting them would make them even better!!
How To Make Them
- For the Brown Butter: In a small pot, over medium heat, brown the butter for 5-10 minutes, stirring intermittently until it begins to bubble and foam. Stir continuously until you see the milk solids browning and settling on the bottom. Pour into a bowl and allow to cool for a few minutes.
- Place the light brown sugar into a medium-large bowl and add the butter and stir aggressively to cool the butter a little more.
- Add the eggs and vanilla to the butter and sugar mixture and whisk aggressively for 2-3 minutes. You want the batter to lighten in color and get kind of fluffy and ribbon on the whisk when you lift it.
- Add the dry ingredients to the batter and switch to a rubber spatula to fold the flour into the cookie dough just until there are no more streaks of flour.
- If the dough is still warm, chill it for 15 minutes so we don’t melt the white chocolate. Then add the white chocolate chips and pecan and fold just until they’re evenly distributed.
- Freeze cookie dough for at least 15-30 minutes, or refrigerate for a little longer, so that the batter becomes scoop-able and not runny.
- Scoop sixteen 2ish ounce cookies and place at least two inches apart on a cookie sheet (they spread a good amount).
- Refrigerate or freeze after scooping to let the dough firm up a little more, about 15 minutes. This step makes it so the cookies don’t spread too much. If you’re struggling with that, definitely chill longer here.
- Bake one sheet on the middle rack for 8ish minutes. Then remove from the oven for a second, bang the pan on the counter lightly and use a round biscuit cutter to scoot them around so they’re round.
- Return to the oven for another 4ish minutes, just until the edges are starting to brown and repeat the bang and scoot. Allow them to cool on the pan for at least 10 minutes and sprinkle with flakey sea salt!
Tip: The centers may be puffed and not look fully baked yet but that’s fine, they’ll finish baking as they cool.
How to store cookies
I recommend storing them in a ziplock bag or an airtight container at room temperature for a few days. If it’s longer than 3-4 days, I would just freeze them in the bag or container and bring them back to room temperature when serving. Once they’re at room temperature, you can microwave them or bake them for a couple minutes in a 325F oven just to warm them up slightly.
Thanks so much for reading today’s post , if you have any questions just comment down below, i’m happy to answer!
If you love these cookies, I would appreciate if you left a 5-star rating or a review below!
As always, have a blessed day and happy baking!
Love, B
This recipe was updated on September 25th, 2026. If you’re looking for a previous version, comment down below or send me an email 🙂
Can I have the previous version of this recipe please?
Hi, here is the previous version. I do highly recommend the new one though! I tested them side by side and the new one was easier to make and better in my opinion 🙂
Ingredients
227 grams salted European style butter, cold, half gets browned
200 grams dark brown sugar, packed
1 large egg, room temperature
270 grams all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp allspice
255 grams white chocolate chips
75 grams pecan halves, chopped
Method
Preheat the oven to 350F/177C convection and line a cookie sheet.
Place half of the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and set aside.
227 grams salted European style butter cold, half gets browned
In a small saucepan melt the other half of the butter over medium-low heat. Allow it to simmer a few minutes and once it begins to foam, begin stirring it, making sure to scrap the bottom of the pan as well.
Cook until the butter begins to brown and gives off a nutty aroma.
Pour browned butter over the other butter and allow it to sit for a few minutes.
Add the sugar and use the paddle attachment, at medium-high speed, to mix the butter and sugar together. Add the egg and continue beating until the mixture is smooth.
200 grams dark brown sugar packed,1 large egg room temperature
Add the flour, baking powder and spices and mix on low speed just until the flour is almost combined.
270 grams all-purpose flour spooned and leveled,1 Tbsp baking powder,1/2 tsp cinnamon,1/4 tsp nutmeg,1/4 tsp ginger,1/4 tsp cloves,1/4 tsp cardamom,1/4 tsp allspice
Fold in the white chocolate chips and the chopped pecans.
255 grams white chocolate chips,75 grams pecan halves chopped
Use a 2 oz cookie scoop to scoop dough into rounds and bake 6 cookies on a sheet for about 12 minutes, just until the edges begin to brown.
Remove the cookies from the oven, slam the pan onto the counter a couple of times and then let the cookies cool for 5-10 minutes on the pan, or until you can pick them up without falling apart.
These are fantastic! They are the perfect cookie to kick off the fall season! The brown butter really shines through, the spices are perfectly balanced, the texture is amazing… you really can’t go wrong with these. I actually did do a few without the pan-banging and found that I liked them both ways!
What’s supposed to happen when you slam the cookies sheet? Cookies are amazing, another brilliant recipe.
They flatten a little and make the cookie denser/chewier and less cakey 🙂
Hi I have a question. If I have a chai spice mix, how much would you suggest adding to this recipe?
Hi Muriele I would probably do one Tbsp or chai spice 🙂
Thanks!
Hi there. How many tablespoons is your medium ice cream scoop?
Sorry I mean your small ice cream scoop. Lol