Chocolate Chip Pistachio Cookies
These chocolate chip pistachio cookies are crispy around the edge and soft and chewy in the center. The dough has a nutty flavor from the brown butter and pistachio paste and the cookies are stuffed with melted pools of dark chocolate and chunks of pistachios. Oh, and no chill time!
Why you’ll love these pistachio chocolate chip cookies
- They’re super quick and easy to make with a tiny bit more effort than an average cookie (& NO CHILL TIME!).
- They’re a little crisp on the outside and soft in the center when they’re warm but nice and chewy when they’ve cooled.
- There’s pistachio paste in the dough, pistachio crumbs folded in with the flour and pistachio chunks on top.
- They can be made with either 1 large egg or 3 large egg yolks. Eggs are expensive nowadays and I wanted an easy recipe that’s able to use up several leftover egg yolks.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Flour: I HIGHLY recommend using a digital scale, as flour is so often over measured. If not, make sure to scoop the flour into the measuring cup and level it off.
- Sugar: I used light brown sugar but I’ve also made them using half dark brown sugar and half granulated sugar. I don’t recommend just dark or just granulated sugar. I also don’t think they’re overly sweet so I don’t recommend reducing any of the sugar as it’ll change the texture of the cookie too.
- Pistachio Paste: I just made my own pistachio paste at home and it’s super easy (included in the recipe). If you have some store bought pistachio paste, you may also use that, however I believe it’s a little more runny than what I used so either reduce it to 1 Tbsp or add an additional tablespoon of flour.
- Pistachios: I use lightly salted pistachios because I think the salt brings out the flavor a little more and I kind of like a salty cookie. You may also use unsalted but I’m not sure I would recommend fully salted unless you omit the added salt in the recipe.
- Butter: I like to use salted butter for cookies, especially when browning the butter. I find that it browns quicker and more evenly but unsalted butter also works fine.
- Dairy free butter also works well.
- Eggs: I tested this recipe with both a large whole egg and with just egg yolks. I want to make my recipes as versatile as possible so if you’re making one of my recipes that calls for egg whites, and you have a ton of egg yolks leftover, you can replace this one large egg with 3 large egg yolks. I photographed both versions and there’s a VERY slight difference. The egg yolk cookie was just slightly less wet and didn’t spread quite as much so it baked a little bit thicker than the cookie with the whole egg. Both versions were great but I preferred the thinner cookie using one large egg.
- Just make sure your egg is at room temperature. Pop it in hot water for a few minutes if it’s cold.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Brown the butter by heating a stick of butter in a saucepan over medium heat. It will melt, bubble, foam and then the milk solids will toast and settle on the bottom. Make sure to read my whole post on browning butter if you haven’t done it before. The butter should reduce from 113g to about 90-95g.
Step 2: Place the pistachios in the bowl of a food processor and process for a few minutes until the pistachios are as ground as they’re going to get. Add the water (I do 1 tsp of water per ounces of pistachios) and blend until the mixture is pastey.
Step 3: Combine the browned butter with the pistachio paste, sugar and egg. Whisk aggressively, for 2-3 minutes, until it lightens in color and is smooth.
*see ingredient & substitutions above on using 3 egg yolks instead for a thicker cookie.
Step 4: Add the flour, baking powder and salt and use a rubber spatula to fold the dough just until the flour is almost combined.
Step 5: Add the chopped chocolate and pistachio crumbs and fold until all the flour is combined and the chocolate and pistachios are evenly distributed.
Step 6: Use a large cookie scooper to scoop 8 cookies, about 2.5 ounces each, and place them onto a cookie sheet (I use two cookie sheets because they spread a lot).
Step 7: Bake for 10 minutes then remove the pan from the oven and bang it on the counter a few times so the cookies flatten a little. Quickly use a biscuit cutter (or anything round) to scoot the cookies back into a round shape and finish baking. Return to the oven for 2 more minutes and bang them on the counter and scoot them with the biscuit cutter again.
Step 8: Top with the roughly chopped roughly chopped pistachio chunks and flakey sea salt and allow them to cool on the pan for at least 10 minutes to set before serving.
How to bake cookies
I always bake in a convection oven but when I took some polls on instagram, most of you said you either don’t have one or you don’t know how to use your convection oven. So since I just about developed all my recipes in a 350F(180C) convection oven, I decided to experiment with a conventional.
If you don’t know the difference, a convection oven has a fan that circulates the heat more evenly. This usually results in a quicker bake, so always do less time if you’re unsure and it also gives a more even browning. If you’re not used to it, the change can be frustrating but I find them convenient.
These cookies spread a lot so I recommend using two average sized cookie sheets. I was able to squeeze all 8 cookies on my large 15×11” cookie pan, if it was any smaller, I would do 4 or 6 at a time.
Baking with a conventional oven (no fan)
Bake 2.5 oz cookies at 325F (163C) for 11-13 minutes.
Baking with a convection oven (fan)
Bake 2.5 oz cookies at 350F (177C) for 10-12 minutes.
How to make cookies ahead of time
The cookie dough can also be made ahead of time. Just finish the cookie dough, scoop the dough balls onto a cookie sheet and place it in the fridge to firm up for half an hour. Then place the cookie dough balls in an airtight container or bag and freeze for up to a few months.
Before baking, bring them back to room temperature and bake accordingly or reduce oven temperature by 25F and add a few extra minutes to baking time if baking frozen..
How to store cookies
Everyone loves a warm chocolate chip cookie but honestly I loved these fully cooled and I even loved them chilled while they were thawing. They’re definitely more chewy after they’ve cooled.
Store them in an airtight container or bag at room temperature for 2-3 days or a few weeks in the freezer. Feel free to microwave them for 5-10 seconds before serving again.
Frequently Asked Questions
I haven’t tested these with dairy free butter but all of my recipes that I have tested have worked with dairy free butter so I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
I haven’t tested these with gluten-free flour but all of my recipes that I have tested have worked with dairy free butter so I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. I recommend a 1:1 gluten-free substitute like King Arthur or Bob’s red mill.
I haven’t tested it but I don’t see why not. I would like to try it with cashews and white chocolate though!!
Thanks so much for reading today’s post, if you have any questions just comment down below. Make sure to leave it in the comment section because I can’t answer in the rating section.
If you make these insanely good chocolate chip pistachio cookies, I’d love it if you left a star rating for me. If it’s less than five stars, please leave a comment with the rating so I know why! 🙂
As always, have a blessed day and happy baking!
Love, B
