Pistachio Pudding Cookies

Name: Pistachio Pudding Cookies
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1.5 cups (3 sticks) salted butter; 1 cup white granulated sugar; 1 cup brown sugar; 2 eggs; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1 teaspoon almond extract; 1.5 teaspoons salt; 2 teaspoons baking soda; 1 (3.4)oz package instant pistachio pudding mix; 4 to 4-1/4 cups all purpose flour; 1 cup chopped pistachios; 1.5 cups white chocolate chips

This is a pistachio pudding cookies recipe with creamy white chocolate, folded into soft chewy cookie dough with lightly salted crunchy pistachios.

Soft and buttery pistachio cookies you say?? I got you. These are the cousin of my original Vanilla Pudding Mix Cookies, a huge hit at every gathering. The textures are phenomenal and they're freezer friendly! This recipe makes about 3.5 dozen, and I love to freeze the dough.

Baked pistachio pudding cookies on metal baking sheet.

One of my favorite things about this recipe is that I can make the cookie dough ahead, freeze it, and bake it easily. It turns out that frozen cookie dough only takes a few more minutes to bake than regular dough! Normally I bake these cookies 11-12 minutes. When the cookie dough is frozen into balls I can bake them in about 15 minutes. Win win win.

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Why We Love This Recipe
🛒 Ingredients
✏️ Substitutions
🧑‍🍳 Instructions
❓Frequently Asked Questions
📌 Baking Tips and Storage
❄️ How To Freeze Cookie Dough
🍪 More Pudding Cookie Recipes
📝 Printable Recipe
💬 Comments

Why We Love This Recipe

Easy! There's no frosting to make, no fillings, and no rolling out or cutting. This pistachio cookie recipe makes an impression without a lot of fuss.
Freezer friendly - you can easily freeze the dough for pistachio cookies ahead of time and bake them fresh whenever you want to eat them!
You only have to dirty one bowl to make this simple cookie recipe.
These have a soft and chewy texture with melty white chocolate and crunchy pistachios in every bite!

🛒 Ingredients

Pistachio Pudding Mix - Instant pistachio pudding mix is best for these cookies, it can be sugar-free (1 oz) or a regular 3.4 oz box.
Sugar - a combo of white granulated sugar and brown sugar is used to make these cookies nice and soft without being cakey.
Pistachios - lightly salted roasted pistachios are used for this recipe, but you can use unsalted. Roasted pistachios taste the best texture-wise. If you can get the pre-shelled ones, GET THEM. It's so annoying to shell them all!
Almond extract - just a touch of almond extract really makes the flavors pop in pistachio cookies, and is much easier to find than pistachio extract, but if you can find the pistachio extract then use it! I like to buy a larger bottle of almond extract because I use it so often.

See the recipe card below for the full list of ingredients and quantities.

✏️ Substitutions

Regular pudding mix and sugar free pudding mix can be used interchangeably as long as they are the instant version.
Add in a few drops of green food coloring if you want a more green appearance! I prefer to leave it out.
White chocolate chips can be swapped with regular chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips for a dark chocolate pistachio cookie.
Pistachios can be subsituted for macadamia nuts or almonds, but pistachios are definitely best for this recipe!
For extra melty white chocolate, chop up a bar of white baking chocolate instead of using the white chips.
Add in 1 cup dried chopped cranberries for a fun cranberry pistachio cookie.
Do NOT substitute margarine or shortening in this recipe, the cookies will not turn out correctly.

🧑‍🍳 Instructions

Sticks of butter with brown sugar and white sugar in mixing bowl.

Step 1. In a mixing bowl, mix together the brown and white sugar with the softened butter with an electric mixer high speed for about 3 minutes, until fluffy and creamy.

2 eggs in creamed butter and sugar in mixing bowl with cookie mixing paddle.

Step 2. Add in the eggs, vanilla, and almond extract to the creamed butter and sugar, and mix well until the mixture is fluffy again.

Pistachio pudding mix and baking soda in raw pistachio cookie dough.

Step 3. Add in the pudding mix, salt, and baking soda, and mix well.

Chopped pistachios and flour in pistachio cookie dough in mixing bowl.

Step 4. Add in the flour, and chopped pistachios and mix on low speed until all flour is mixed in and no flour pockets are left.

Raw pistachio pudding cookie dough in mixing bowl.

Step 5. . Add in the white chocolate chips last and mix well. The cookie dough should be a soft play dough texture, not dry or crumbly at all.

Raw cookie dough balls on metal baking sheet with green hot pad underneath.

Step 6. Using a 1.5 Tablespoon scoop, scoop onto a baking sheet 12 to a pan. Bake at 350 ℉ for 10-12 minutes, 11 is usually perfect. The cookies should be just starting to crack around the edges.

Cool for 10 minutes and enjoy!

❓Frequently Asked Questions

Can you make this dough ahead of time?

Yes! To freeze: make the dough as directed, and scoop onto a metal baking sheet small enough to fit into a freezer.
Make sure the edges are not touching. Freeze for 30 minutes to harden the outsides, then transfer to a freezer safe container and freeze for up to 3 months.

Will sugar free pudding mix work instead of regular?

Yes! As long as it is instant pudding mix and not the cook and serve, the sugar free would work fine.

Can you freeze these cookies?

Yes! You can either freeze the dough or freeze the cookies baked. Make sure they are cooled completely, then transfer to a freezer safe container with wax paper or parchment paper in between layers as needed. Freeze for up to 3 months.

Do you use unsalted or salted pistachios?

This recipe uses lightly salted roasted pistachios, but either will work, whatever your preference is.

📌 Baking Tips and Storage

Cream the butter and sugar on high speed for at LEAST 3 minutes. Light and fluffy is what we want! When adding the flour, start with the minimum amount and then add more if needed. The dough is a soft play dough texture and pulls away from the sides of the bowl easily, it is not crumbly at all.
Don't over bake the cookies! I bake them for 10-12 minutes, usually 11 minutes is perfect. Edges of the cookies should be barely golden brown when removed from the oven, and the tops barely beginning to crack.
Use a large cookie scoop. You can't go wrong with big cookies. I use a heaping 1.5 Tablespoon scoopful.
When scooping, do rows of 3 and 2 on the baking sheet, so you can bake a bakers dozen (thirteen) at a time instead of twelve cookies.
Storage: Store at room temperature in an air tight container for up to 5 days, or freeze in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months.

Raw pistachio cookie dough balls in freezer bag.

Make recipe for dough as directed.
Scoop onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or baking mat close together but so edges are not touching.
Freeze 30 minutes to harden the outsides, then place into a freezer safe bag to use later.
To bake thawed: Place cookie dough balls in refrigerator overnight and then onto prepared cookie sheet. Preheat the oven to 350 F and bake as directed in recipe.
To bake while frozen: Preheat oven to 350 F. Place frozen cookie dough balls Bake for 14-16 minutes or until edges are barely golden brown and the tops are barely beginning to crack. At 14 minutes check every minute until done.

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