Pistachio Butter Cookies are crisp, chewy, and melt-in-your-mouth! With pistachios both inside the dough and coated on the sides, they’re a pistachio lover’s dream come true!
We’re celebrating with these cookies today because it’s my BIRTHDAY!
I’m shameless about my birthday. I love it.
And I love celebrating for the entire week.
This year was no exception… the birthday weekend was in full force. I was able to spend a night out dancing with friends, a girls’ night out with my mom, and a night with my family. Of course, all with meals at my favorite places, and a ridiculous amount of wine.
I’m so thankful I’ve been able to celebrate with so many people I love this year.
For the past 4 years, FaceTime has brought me and my family together while I open presents and cut the cake over video chat whether I was in Baltimore or North Carolina. Not this year. This year there were real hugs, real laughs, and lots of sharing food and wine together.
I think 28 is going to be pretty good to me.
Especially because these cookies have entered my life. And now yours.
These cookie are a game-changer. They melt in your mouth with a texture that’s hard to describe. They’re slightly crisp, because of the butter to flour ratio, they spread a little creating a perfect “bite”. The middle remains soft and chewy with bits of pistachio througout.
The Ingredients
The key ingredients: butter and pistachios.
There’s also the basics: all-purpose flour, vanilla extract, baking powder, salt, and an egg (yolk only in the dough!).
Remember a few paragarphs back when I mentioned the butter to flour ratio? These aren’t quite shortbread because the ratio is not that which creates that crisp shortbread texture.
The butter to flour ratio is almost equal in these (in weight – are you baking in weight measurements yet?!?) which means that yes, they will spread out some. There is also a higher percentage of sugar, resulting in a moist, chewy texture.
All of it combined also leads to that dreamy melt-in-your-mouth cookie. Not to mention the buttery, rich pistachios that are throughout. Match. Made.
Those pistachios? Try to get unsalted shelled pistachios to make your life easier. If you’re not able to find unsalted but they’re shelled, halve the additional salt from the dough.
Salted in the shell? I don’t find it to be enough salt to make a difference, you’ll just have some shelling work to do.
Key Recipe Steps
Finely chop the pistachios. You will want to get your food processor out for this step for a couple of reasons. One, it will make your life a whole lot easier than if you were to do so by hand. And two, the food processor is able to chop the pistachios much finer than you could (realistically) on your own.
The finer the pistachios are, the more even your cookies will be. Can you hand chop your pistachios? Yes, you can! In fact, I did here (hah, do I say, not as I do, isn’t that how the saying goes?!). As you can (maybe?) see, there are a few larger pistachio chunks resulting in a bumpier texture. It all just depends on your preferences!
Once the dough is mixed, you’ll form it into about a 12 inch log. The dough will be sticky, so try to work quickly, but nothing a lightly floured hand can’t handle.
You can use the plastic wrap to help shape the dough once you have a log shape. Then, wrap it in plastic wrap and chill the dough overnight.
This is going to help everything firm up and will ensure the cookies don’t spread too much (but remember, they will still spread somewhat).
After the cookies have chilled, remove the log from the plastic wrap and brush with the egg white you reserved from the day before.
The egg white is what the sugar and pistachio mixture will stick to, coating the outside of the log.
Then, slice the cookies approximately 1/4 inch thick and space evenly on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. I like to chill them again here since they’re likely to warm up in the process of coating them with the pistachio mixture.
Bake until slightly golden brown on the edges for the perfect texture!
Then, pour yourself a hot cup of tea (or coffee, or hey, they even go well with wine), cozy up, and enjoy one, or two, or three Pistachio Butter Cookies.
Love Pistachios? Try these recipes, too!
- Apricot Pistachio Cookies
- Mini Cranberry Pistachio Cheesecakes
- Savory Potato, Leek, and Rosemary Galette with Pistachio Crust
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a star rating and review in the form below. I appreciate your feedback, and it helps others, too!
Pistachio Butter Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar, plus 2 TBSP (25g) for coating
- 1 unbeaten egg yolk, save the egg white
- 2 Tablespoon heavy cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup unsalted pistachios, divided, finely chopped
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt*
Instructions
- Using either a hand or standing mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together the room temperature butter and sugar. Add the egg yolk, heavy cream, and vanilla extract, beating well until combined. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and 1/2 cup chopped pistachios. Mix thoroughly.
- Place the cookie dough on a large piece of plastic wrap, and lightly flour your (clean) hands to prevent the dough from sticking too much. Shape dough into a log, approximately 12 inches long. Wrap the log of dough in the plastic wrap until covered and chill overnight in the fridge.
- The next day, preheat the oven to 400°F. In a small bowl, stir together the remaining 2 tablespoons granulated sugar with the remaining 1/4 cup finely chopped pistachios; set aside.
- Lightly beat the saved egg white and brush evenly onto the exterior of the dough log, coating it completely. Place the dough log on a baking sheet and pour the sugar-pistachio mixture on top of the log. Then, roll the log in the sugar mixture, pressing it into the dough as needed, until completely coated.
- Use a sharp knife to cut the log into 1/4 inch slices. Place the slices on a baking sheet (I always use parchment-lined baking sheets), leaving approximately 2 inches of space between each cookie. Bake for 7-10 minutes, until slightly golden brown along the edges. Let the cookies rest for 1-2 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack. Once completely cooled, store in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days.
Notes
- If you’re not able to find unsalted pistachios but they’re shelled, halve the additional salt from the dough.
- Salted in the shell pistachios? I don’t find it to be enough salt to make a difference, you’ll just have some shelling work to do.
- 12/2020 Recipe Update: The coating sugar-nut mixture was reduced by half to eliminate excess waste (from 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup pistachios to 2 TBSP sugar and 1/4 cup pistachios).
Nutrition
Disclaimer: The nutritional information provided for this recipe is only an estimate. The accuracy of the facts listed is not and cannot be guaranteed.
This post was originally published in December of 2016; the photos and text were updated for clarity in December of 2020. Recipe changes noted in the recipe card.
Jeanette
These cookies look very nice 🙂
Becca
Thanks, Jeanette!
Carmen
These were easy to make and delicious! Thanks!
Becca
So glad you enjoyed the cookies, Carmen!
MomofGirls
These are good. I used a cookie scoop and rolled my balls of dough in the sugar/pistachio mixture instead of the log. I think I will use self rising flour next time for a chewier texture. Also Incould only find salted pistachios so I gave them a good rinse before incorporating but the cookies are a tad salty, but still very food!
Becca
Interesting! I haven’t tried them in ball form. Thanks for sharing, I’m glad you enjoyed! 🙂
Vidhya
Whats the purpose of heavy cream? Can I leave it out?
Becca
It adds moisture to the cookies – I would substitute it with milk (or a milk substitute) if you choose not to use heavy cream, but I wouldn’t leave out the liquid completely.
Ivy
I switched the heavy cream to coconut cream and added some coconut flakes.. It made wondersss..
Becca
Yum – what a fun twist!
Tarannum Taher
Weirdly enough the texture of the biscuit dough is almost pasty and flattening out as i tried to roll it into the suggested shape. Any recommendations to fix this as i have re-read the recipe several times and ensured I have followed through yet I cant seem to see why the dough isint shaping out as expected?
Becca
Happy to help you troubleshoot! Are you having trouble intitally rolling the dough into a log before refrigerating it? When you say pasty, is it falling apart or just too loose to form? I’m curious to know what your butter was like when you mixed them up, you want to be sure it’s just at room temperature, but not softer (i.e. melted).
Pam Rohde
Loved these cookies. We were lucky enough to have Nate share them with us, and he also was gracious enough to share several others. They were all great, but this cookie was something special. .Thanks Nate for sharing. . And thank you Becca, for sharing this recipe.
Becca
Thank you so so much, Pam! I’m so glad you enjoyed them!! Big thanks to Nate for sharing – that can be hard haha 🙂 Happy holidays!
Nandi
I followed the instructions carefully and my cookies are very crumbly ): … what can i do to fix this? They disintegrate in my hands *
Becca
Hi Nandi – so sorry to hear this! How did you measure the flour?
Mabel Do Ngou
This recipe is definitely a keeper. Even my eldest son loves it(he’s a picky eater!). Mine made 34 cookies. I used 100g sugar only and it was perfect. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, Becca! ❤️
Becca
Thank you so much for commenting, Mabel! I’m so glad you all loved them!
Mabel Do Ngou
My friend just had her cookies this morning. She loves it. Even her colleagues loves it. Her daughter too. They almost left her with nothing haha!
Becca
That is so awesome to hear – made my day! But oh no, haha, we gotta get her more cookies ASAP! 😉 Thanks so much for sharing, Mabel! <3
Ms. G. from CT
Thank you for the recipe !
I made them several times. These cookies are so Yummy ! You can’t just have one. I ate
a lot of them. So good… !
I also shared with friends, my brother and sister-in- law and many other people I know. Now some of these people have given me pistachios ( without the shell ) so I can make more of these cookies.
I give this Pistachio Butter Cookie Recipe a “5”. If I could, I would give it a :”10″ !
June 1st 2021
Becca Mills
Thank you so much, Ms. G! I’m so glad you love them, and that others are now giving you pistachios to make them. That’s the best compliment ever! 🙂 Thank you so much for your review, I really appreciate it!
Sheekha
Hi
Can I do the recipe without eggg ?
Becca Mills
Hi Sheekha! I’m not sure, I haven’t tried it. If you do, I would recommend using an egg replacer like Bob’s Red Mill. Let me know if you give it a try!
Ginny
The dough was extremely soft and hard to handle even with flouring my hands.even after chilling they were difficult to slice. I would either add more flour to dough or try balling the cookies. They are excellent. Thinking about other nut possibilities.
Becca Mills
Hi Ginny, I’m sorry to hear you had trouble with the dough, I’m glad to hear you were still able to enjoy them.
Julie
These are officially added to my keeper file for cookies. Easy recipe to follow. Perfect Instructions. My whole family was shocked by how much they like them as this was our first pistachio cookie.
Becca Mills
I’m so glad to hear that, Julie! Thanks so much for giving them a try and sharing how they turned out!
Annette
Can the logs of cookie dough be frozen for later use. Going to try them anyways.
Becca Mills
Hi Annette, I haven’t tried freezing the whole logs myself. You might want to consider flash-freezing the slices of dough (place them on a baking sheet to freeze before transferring them to a bag so they don’t stick together) to make it easier to just bake. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait to thaw the log to slice, etc. Either way, I’d love to hear how it works out.