Sweet, crunchy, and drizzled with honey, easy stuffed baklava cookies taste just like the classic dessert.
All the flavors of classic baklava - pistachios, cinnamon, honey and lemon zest - in a buttery, soft cookie. No layering required! It's my favorite way to have a baklava adjacent dessert without the fuss. These are a step up from pistachio pudding cookies and they taste completely different!
I have a few desserts that feature pistachios like baked pistachio pie and pistachio bars, but these are quick, easy, and with no artificial pistachio flavoring.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Taste: Sweet honey, pistachio, and cinnamon filling with a little lemon zest and a soft, chewy, buttery cookie on the outside.
- Ease: Mid level, requires stuffing cookie dough. Not too difficult, just takes a little time.
- Time: About 10 minutes to make the cookie dough, 10 - 15 minutes to stuff the cookies, and 12 minutes to bake the cookies. About 40-45 minutes total.
🛒 Key Ingredients
- Nuts - I prefer to use pistachios for these cookies (lightly salted and roasted) but walnuts are a good substitute.
- Honey - a classic baklava sweetener, a must for the filling.
- Spices - after testing a few combinations, just cinnamon won out. Feel free to add a pinch of cloves if you wish!
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
✏️ Substitutions & Variations
- Pistachios can be switched for walnuts.
- Orange zest is lovely in place of lemon zest.
- Kataifi crispies! They're made from phyllo dough and it's so delicious to put 1-2 Tablespoons in the filling. They're hard to find in stores where I live, so I usually order them online.
- Add a pinch or two of cardamom for a little flavor pop that's AMAZING.
🧑🍳 Instructions
- Step 1. In a mixing bowl, combine softened butter, brown sugar, and white granulated sugar. Cream together 3 minutes on high speed using an electric mixer until fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.
- Step 2. Add in egg and vanilla and mix well for 1 more minute.
- Step 3. Add in flour, salt, and baking soda and mix well on low speed for 1 minute until dough is the texture of play dough and not crumbly. Cover and set aside.
- Step 4. In a blender, combine pistachios, sugar, cinnamon, and lemon zest. Blend for 30 seconds or more until pistachios are the consistency of coarse sand. It's okay if there are some pistachio chunks left, but we want it mostly blended. Add in honey last, and mix until it forms a thick mixture, a couple of pulses should do it.
TIP: You're going to feel like putting in more lemon or orange zest. DON'T. We don't want to put in more than a little or it will completely overpower the filling flavor of the pistachios and honey.
- Step 5. Scoop cookie dough into 3 Tablespoon balls (about 50 grams each) then the pistachio filling into 2 teaspoon balls (about 14 grams) to make sure there is enough filling for every cookie. I like to scoop everything out at once to make sure there's an even number of each. It helps make filling each cookie quicker too!
- Step 6. Hollow out a hole in each cookie dough ball and put pistachio filling into each cookie. Pinch edges together and roll into ball, then flatten slightly into a hockey puck shape.
- Step 7. Place each cookie on a baking sheet prepared with parchment paper, baking spray, or silicon baking mat. I bake 8 to a tray to make sure there's enough rom for them to spread.
- Step 8. Bake the cookies for about 12 minutes, then let cool. Brush/drizzle cookies with honey and sprinkle with crushed pistachios. If you're feeling extra fancy, edible flower petals are beautiful on top too!
📌 Troubleshooting
- Too flat: dough is too wet or baked at too low of a temperature → increase flour slightly and make sure oven is proper temp with oven thermometer.
- Too dry/crumbly: overbaking or too much flour→ reduce time in the oven by 1-2 minutes if overbaked, add a few teaspoons of water if dough is crumbly.
- Honey pooling: drizzle when cookies are cooled so it doesn't melt right off the sides. Just a little is fine, too much honey and they'll seem soggy.
- Burnt edges: reduce oven temp next time or rotate pan.
- Pro Tip: Soft cookies set as they cool; underbake slightly for a tender interior.
❄️ Make Ahead, Store, and Freezing Tips
Bake ahead: up to 3 days and store at room temperature in an airtight container. Honey glaze the day of!
Freeze: without honey glaze for up to 3 months, then thaw at room temperature overnight and glaze when ready to serve.
❓Frequently Asked Questions
You can toast the pistachios before blending them, add phyllo crispies (kataifa) to the filling, and skip drizzling honey over the cookies until just about to serve them.
They have a baklava flavor profile with pistachios (or walnuts), honey, and cinnamon.
🍪 More Amazing Cookie Recipes
Did You Try This Recipe? ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Make sure to leave a star rating and a comment below the recipe card. I love hearing from you, and it is so helpful to other readers! Better yet, share it with family and friends. Thank you!!
📝 Printable Recipe
Baklava Cookies
Ingredients
For the cookie dough:
- 1 cup salted butter, softened 226g
- ¾ cup brown sugar 156g
- ¾ cup white granulated sugar 154g
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 6g
- 3 cups all purpose flour 407g
- ½ teaspoon salt
- baking soda 7g
For the filling:
- 1 cup lightly salted, roasted pistachios 141 g
- 2 Tablespoons white granulated sugar 24 g
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon lemon zest
- ¼ cup honey
- optional: edible flower petals for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉, prepare 2-3 baking sheets with parchment paper, baking spray, or a silicon baking mat.
For the cookie dough:
- In a mixing bowl, combine softened butter, brown sugar, and white granulated sugar. Cream together 3 minutes on high speed using an electric mixer until fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.1 cup salted butter, softened, ¾ cup brown sugar, ¾ cup white granulated sugar
- Add in egg and vanilla and mix well for 1 more minute.1 large egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Add in flour, salt, and baking soda and mix well on low speed for 1 minute until dough is the texture of play dough and not crumbly. Cover and set aside.3 cups all purpose flour, ½ teaspoon salt, baking soda
For the pistachio filling:
- In a blender, combine pistachios, sugar, cinnamon, and lemon zest. Blend for 20-30 seconds or more until pistachios are the consistency of coarse sand. It's okay if there are some pistachio chunks left, but we want it mostly blended. Add in honey last, and mix until it forms a thick mixture, a couple of pulses should do it.1 cup lightly salted, roasted pistachios, 2 Tablespoons white granulated sugar, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon lemon zest, ¼ cup honey
- Scoop cookie dough into balls about 3 Tablespoons (50g) each, then the pistachio filling into 2 teaspoon balls (14g) to make sure there is enough filling for every cookie.
- Hollow out a hold in each cookie dough ball and put 2 teaspoons of pistachio filling into each cookie. Pinch edges together and roll into ball, then flatten slightly into a hockey puck shape.
- Place each cookie on a baking sheet, 8 to a tray to make sure there's room to spread.
- Bake for 11-12 minutes, then let cool. Brush cookies with honey and sprinkle with crushed pistachios. If you're feeling extra fancy, edible flower petals are beautiful on top too!optional: edible flower petals for garnish
Notes
Nutrition
Hi, I'm Sara!
Registered Nurse by day, food blogger by weekend. Perfect dip tester & snack quester. I love short walks on the beach and long naps. Sharing my love for food, one bite at a time.
John says
difficult to stuff the cookies, but worth the effort. Cookies were very filling, great flavor, unique presentation
Sara says
They don't take as long as they would seem. The stuffing process is really easy and they're delicious!