This pudding mix Pistachio Cookies Recipe makes soft, chewy cookies with bits of crunchy pistachios, sweet dried cranberries, and a hint of almond. This easy cookie recipe is sure to become a family favorite.
These pistachio pudding cookies have a soft and chewy dough with a hint of almond and vanilla. Crunchy bits of pistachios and pistachio pudding mix add flavor to the dough. While butter and dried cranberries add sweetness to each bite of the cookie.
This chewy pistachio cookie recipe, with its lovely pastel green color, is great for Christmas, St. Patrick’s Day, or Easter but a perfect cookie for any time of year.
Looking for more delicious cookies to bake? Try baking up one of these Swiss Christmas Cookies Recipes, some Coconut Cranberry Cookies.
😊 Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Soft and chewy: This recipe turns out soft and chewy cookies and will remain so after they are cooled from baking. It’s the mixture of the sugars that make them soft.
- Perfect for pistachio lovers: This recipe uses pistachio pudding for the ultimate pistachio flavor for any fan of pistachios.
- Easy cookie recipe: These pistachio pudding cookies are simple enough for any level cook to bake.
- Incredible flavor: Sure to be everyone’s favorite cookies!
🛒 Ingredient Notes
These pistachio cookies are made with wholesome, simple ingredients. A quick trip to the grocery store to gather the ingredients is all it takes.
- Cranberries: Use dried cranberries as opposed to fresh ones. Dried cranberries are made by partially dehydrating fresh cranberries, a process similar to making grapes into raisins. There are also reduced sugar dried cranberries to help lower calories and sugar in these cookies.
- Pistachio pudding mix: Makes a dense, soft, and moist cookie. Be sure and buy regular pudding mix, not instant.
- Sweetener: This recipe uses a combination of granulated sugar and corn syrup.
- Butter and eggs: Allow each to set out to room temperature.
- Flavoring: Vanilla extract and almond extract are combined in this recipe. Be sure and use real, not imitation, flavorings.
- Pistachio nuts: You will want to choose a roasted and salted shelled pistachio to chop up for these cookies. Be sure they are fresh. Pistachios get chewy and stale tasting if left unsealed. Save some time and buy them already shelled, or for a more budget-friendly option, buy them in the shell and shell them yourself.
See the recipe card for a complete list and quantities of each ingredient.
🔪 How to Make Chewy Pistachio Cookies
All it takes are a few simple steps to make these cookies. Let’s look at an overview of what goes into the steps.
- Beat butter and sugar in a medium mixing bowl with a whisk or an electric mixer.
2. Add the egg, vanilla, almond extract, and corn syrup to the bowl and mix well.
3. Next, add the flour and pudding mix and mix well.
4. Last, fold in the dried cranberries and chopped pistachios.
5. Place spoon-size cookie dough balls on a lightly greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet.
⭐ Hint: Use a cookie scoop to make sure the cookies are evenly sized! This makes them look better but also bake more evenly.
6. Bake the pistachio cookies at 350 degrees F for 10 to 12 minutes.
7. When cooked, transfer them to a wire rack to cool.
TIP: The pudding mix creates a soft green cookie. However, if you would like greener cookies, add a few drops of green food coloring when blending the butter mixture with the eggs and corn syrup.
Mix In Ideas
- Add white chocolate chips.
- Add dark chocolate chunks or drizzle some melted chocolate over the top of the baked cookies.
- Pistachio cherry cookie. Swap out the dried cranberries for dried cherries.
How to Make Ahead and Freeze
Pistachio cranberry cookies are perfect for making ahead and storing in the freezer. This works great when you don’t need a full batch of cookies and wish to make just a few at a time.
- After you make the dough, use a cookie scoop to make evenly proportioned dough balls.
- Place them on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and freeze for 24 hours.
- After the dough balls are frozen, transfer them to a ziplock-type bag or air-tight container and store them for up to three months.
- When you are ready to bake, remove the amount you want to bake and place the dough on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Let them thaw completely before baking.
How to Keep Cookies Fresh
Want to know the secret to keeping your cookies fresh while storing them? It’s a simple slice of white bread!
The reason a slice of white bread works so well to keep cookies fresh is that it contains the moisture that your home-baked treats need to stay fresh.
The cookies absorb the moisture from the bread, keeping them soft and supple like they just came out of the oven while the bread becomes stale and hard.
Keep your cookies in an airtight container with a slice of bread, and they will remain fresh for days.
How to Serve These Cookies
- Fresh baked cranberry pistachio cookies are perfect for parties and large groups!
- Create a party cookie tray, along with other favorites such as Bourban and Brown Sugar Cookies, Easy Christmas Cookies, and Blackstrap Molasses Cookies.
- Pair them with a glass of milk, a cup of coffee, or hot tea.
- Pistachio cranberry cookies are a great gift idea; cookies speak love! Make it extra special and easy for you by purchasing cookie gift boxes to deliver them in.
Cardboard Gift Box With Window
More Cookie Recipes
Pistachio Cookies Recipe
Note: Be sure to read through the recipe’s post for tips and details about this recipe.
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter, Softened
- ⅓ cup sugar, White granular
- ⅓ cup corn syrup
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 3.4 oz pistachio pudding mix, regular pudding mix, not instant.
- ½ cup cranberries, dried
- 1/2 cup pistachio nuts, Roasted. Chop slightly. If you would like more nuts in the cookies, add another 1/3 up or so.
Instructions
- Cream butter and white sugar in a mixing bowl½ cup butter, ⅓ cup sugar
- Add egg, vanilla, almond extract, corn syrup and mix well⅓ cup corn syrup, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 teaspoon almond extract
- Add flour and pudding, mix well2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 3.4 oz pistachio pudding mix
- If you would like a greener cookie drip a few drops of green food coloring and mix well
- Fold in cranberries and pistachios½ cup cranberries, 1/2 cup pistachio nuts
- Place spoon size cookie dough balls on a lightly greased cookie sheet or parchment-lined cookie sheet.
- Bake 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes
Equipment
Notes
- Add 1/2 cup white chocolate chips.
- Add 1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks or drizzle some melted chocolate over the top of the baked cookies.
- Pistachio cherry cookie: Swap out the dried cranberries for dried cherries.
- Store leftover cookies with a slice of white bread in the container to keep them soft and fresh after baking.
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What a great recipe! I’ll have to give it a try. We have lots of cookie baking to do in the next few weeks and a big party here next weekend. I have lots to prepare for this Christmas. Thanks so much for sharing it.
Victoria
If we normally make this recipe with chocolate chips instead of cranberries, but thought the cranberries went nice with the green for a Christmas look. Also a powdered sugar and milk frosting is good on these.
Can’t wait to give it a try. My daughters and I plan to bake all next week and our men plan to help taste test for us. :) Happy baking.
Victoria
Nowhere does it say if the pistachio pudding mix is instant or cook & serve. I assume it is instant….(I even zoomed the pages really big to read the pudding box, but you “staged” the corner where it would normally say “instant” if it were…SO I’m gonna try a batch and see how they turn out…I’ll come back with a rating after they are baked…
I love having my readers share with me their ideas, problems and tweaks on a recipe. I want to make my recipes full-proof and it’s helpful to have you all point out problems you have with the content. thanks :)
Well, I tried it with the instant pudding… This is a very dense cookie. Is there supposed to be a leavening agent, like baking powder, that was omitted from the published recipe? The flavor was good, but the cookies were like little hockey pucks. I have been baking for over 50 years…Imma gonna need to tweak this recipe (figure out what is missing) before I try them again.
These are dense cookies as stated in the post under ingredients. However, I wonder if using instant pudding might have made them even more so. In the picture of the ingredients, I have regular pudding, but I failed to mention in the text to use it. So, I went back in and added that in the post and the recipe card. I do think your idea of adding a little baking powder would be a good idea for these. The next time I make them, I will try them, and if it works, I will make the adjustment option in the recipe card. By chance, if you try again, please let me know how it goes.