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    TaraTeaspoon » Recipes » Cookies

    Cashew Cookies with Brown Butter Frosting

    Published: Nov 1, 2018 · Updated: Mar 17, 2023 by Tara Teaspoon · This page contains affiliate and sponsored links. See my full disclosure

    Jump to Recipe Pin Recipe
    Cashew Oatmeal Cookies with Brown Butter Frosting
    Chewy Cashew Oatmeal Cookies with Frosting

    Cashew Cookies with Brown Butter Frosting are my favorite oatmeal cookie from childhood. Chewy and full of nuts, topped with buttery icing.


    Cashew Cookies with Brown Butter Frosting overhead on a pink plate
    Jump to:
    • The perfect drop cookie:
    • How to make brown butter frosting: 
    • 📖 Recipe
    • 💬 Comments

    I could eat the entire pan of these cashew cookies with brown butter frosting. They are like soft, buttery oatmeal cookies on cashew steroids, plus the bonus of nutty, creamy icing. No wonder they were my favorite cookie growing up. (Don't tell my Chocolate Chip Cookies though. They will always have my heart!)

    I believe these to be the ultimate cashew cookies because they combine the perfect oatmeal cookie with a brown sugar cashew cookie. You may choose to agree with me after making them (and probably eating an entire batch!).

    The perfect drop cookie:

    In the world of drop cookies I have my favorites. Chocolate Chip Cookies of course; but also Pecan Crispies, Black Sesame Chocolate Chip Cookies and my ying yang Monster Cookies.

    Drop cookies are cookies where the dough simply gets dropped on the baking sheet and baked. Usually we use a cookie scoop or a couple of spoons to make nice little mounds, but we aren't rolling out, cutting, or shaping drop cookies.

    Even thought they are oatmeal cookies at heart, the nuts and frosting take these cashew cookies to another level!

    Oatmeal cookies are in a drop cookie category all to themselves. My go to, I have to admit, is the oatmeal cookie recipe off the back of the Quaker Oats package. The Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, with my own adjustments (like leaving out the raisins and cinnamon, and always using butter), are classic and delicious. I throw milk chocolate chips in there sometimes.

    Nothing compares to these Cashew Cookies with Brown Butter Frosting though. Even though they are oatmeal cookies at heart, the cashews and brown butter take them to that other cookie level!

    Cashew Cookies with Brown Butter Frosting on a pink plate close crop

    Like many of my favorite recipes, this one comes from my Great Aunt Ruth. Her 7-Layer Dip is one of my most popular recipes. It's looks like no other 7-layer dip, and is the star of any party table.

    Thank you Aunt Ruth for these cashew cookies, and the addition of browned butter frosting!

    How to make brown butter frosting: 

    Browned butter, or buerre noir is butter that has been melted slowly and allowed to heat until the milk solids have separated from the fat and caramelized to a brown color. The milk solids in butter brown because they have natural sugars just like regular milk.

    I brown butter in one of my stainless steel saucepans rather than one with a nonstick coating. If you use one with dark nonstick coating you can't tell when the milk solids start to turn brown! With the stainless steel pan I can see the color change and can pull the melted, browned butter off the heat before it burns.

    Make brown butter frosting for these cashew cookies as an extra special addition.

    The process takes a while, but at the end, just like when making caramel sauce, things happen quickly! Once the butter has slowly melted in the pan, start to really watch it. It will most likely foam a bit as the milk solids begin to cook. I swirl the pan around so I can watch the browned bits change color. I like to get them almost to chestnut color, remove it from the heat and immediately scrape it into my bowl of confectioners' sugar for the brown butter frosting. Get all the browned bits from the pan, that's where the flavor is!

    Cashew Oatmeal cookies with brown butter frosting on cooling rack

    You can garnish the cookies with extra cashews if you'd like. I did for the pictures, but mom never did. I think they are just as pretty plain and simple.

    Keep them in a single layer, in an airtight container for 3 or 4 days. Enjoy!

    Cookie Classics To Try:

    • Stovetop Chocolate Chip Cookies
    • Award Winning Chocolate Chip Cookies
    • Coconut Macaroons with Condensed Milk
    • Graham Crackers and Frosting
    • Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies
    • Iced Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

    📖 Recipe

    Cashew Cookies with Brown Butter Frosting on a pink plate

    Cashew Cookies with Brown Butter Frosting

    Tara Teaspoon
    Cashew Cookies with Brown Butter Frosting are my favorite oatmeal cookie from childhood. Chewy and full of nuts, topped with buttery icing.
    5 from 4 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Work Time 30 minutes mins
    Cook Time 30 minutes mins
    Total Time 1 hour hr
    Course Dessert
    Servings 24 cookies

    Ingredients
      

    • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (softened)
    • 1 cup packed brown sugar
    • ¼ cup sour cream
    • 1 large egg
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 1 cup all-purpose flour
    • ¼ teaspoon salt
    • ¾ teaspoon baking powder
    • ½ teaspoon baking soda
    • 1 ½ cups old fashioned rolled oats
    • 1 cup salted cashews (coarsely chopped)

    Brown Butter Frosting

    • 4 cups confectioners' sugar
    • 10 tablespoons unsalted butter
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 5 tablespoons milk or evaporated milk

    Instructions
     

    • Heat oven to 375ºF. In a mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until creamy. Add sour cream, egg and vanilla and beat until lightened, about 1 minute. 
    • Stir together dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, oats and cashews). Add the dry ingredients to the sugar and butter mixture and mix until combined. Scrape bottom and sides of bowl to incorporate everything evenly. 
    • Drop 1 inch domes of dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets and bake until golden around the edges and just barely set in the center, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool. 
    • Make brown butter frosting: Sift the confectioners sugar into a mixing bowl.
    • In a small saucepan, slowly melt butter over medium heat. Cook, swirling pan occasionally, until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Immediately mix butter, vanilla and milk into the confectioners' sugar. Add more milk depending on the consistency you desire.
    • Frost cooled cookies. Top with extra cashews if desired. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days. 

    Notes

    Every oven is different. Adjust cooking time as needed to get golden brown cookies, but don't over bake them. 

    Nutrition

    Calories: 270kcalCarbohydrates: 39gProtein: 3gFat: 12gSaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 33mgSodium: 95mgPotassium: 92mgFiber: 1gSugar: 29gVitamin A: 297IUCalcium: 29mgIron: 1mg
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    Check out more amazing brown butter recipes from my food blogger friends!
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    Tara Teaspoon

    I’ve been in food publishing for over 25 years, creating recipes & food-styling for magazines, books, television, food brands, & advertising. With two cookbooks under my belt and thousands of my recipes at your fingertips, I hope you'll be inspired to spend more time in the kitchen!

    More about Tara

    Recipe by Tara Teaspoon, inspired by Aunt Ruth. Photography and styling Tara Teaspoon & Colette Komm.

    Comments

      5 from 4 votes (1 rating without comment)

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    1. Melinda Caldwell says

      November 12, 2018 at 1:30 pm

      Adding this to my cookie exchange list. Yum!

      Reply
    2. Mary Bench says

      May 18, 2019 at 11:31 am

      Truly one of my all-time favorite cookies!

      Reply
    3. Sandra says

      November 03, 2024 at 4:00 pm

      These are so good, hafted the icing recipe, dipped the cookie tops, left everything else the same, even better the next day. Thanks Tara

      Reply

    Hi, I'm Tara Teaspoon!

    I’ve been sharing my original ideas for years. What began as a passion, turned into a publishing career as Food Editor at Martha Stewart Living and Ladies’ Home Journal magazines.

    Now I write cookbooks, and share delicious recipes and expert cooking tips with you here! Thanks for stopping by Tara Teaspoon!

    More about me →

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