Dark Chocolate Pistachio Cookies

June 9, 2023

I love pistachios. In fact, I love them so much that I will actually shell my own in order to enjoy them… many foods are not worth manual labor, but pistachios are. Thankfully, we can buy shelled pistachios, but they are fabulous nevertheless and I always felt like these wonderfully salty little snacks were meant to be folded into a chewy cookie dough….

Well last week I added some pistachios and white chocolate into my favorite cookie dough and they turned out amazing – White Chocolate Pistachio Cookies – so, I wanted to try a batch with dark chocolate to see how they would turn out and these cookies are absolutely fabulous! The subtle bitterness and rich flavor of dark chocolate pairs perfectly with the salty pistachios creating a complex and delicious cookie that you are going to love.

Let’s get started…

Begin by creaming a cup of softened butter with 3/4 cup of brown sugar and a cup of granulated sugar in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer until everything is nice and creamy.

Next, add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and 2 large eggs and mix until fully incorporated.

Now for the dry ingredients. This recipe calls for 375 grams of all purpose flour, which is just about 3 cups and although you can use a measuring cup to gather your flour, I do suggest weighing the flour in order to make this cookie dough exactly like mine.

Scooping flour with a measuring cup will give you varying amounts each time depending on how compacted the flour is in your storage bin and in the measuring cup. If you add too little flour, cookies will spread way out and be too thin, but if you add too much flour, they can be tough and dense, so this is why I suggest weighing the flour as a little bit of insurance that your cookies will turn out fabulous.

Along with 375 grams of all purpose flour, add a teaspoon of baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and use a silicone spatula to incorporate the dry ingredients. Just mix until you no longer see dry flour and then add about a cup of dark chocolate chips or chunks and a cup of chopped pistachios…

Fold the dark chocolate and pistachios in until they are evenly distributed.

This cookie dough needs to be chilled before baking, so these cookies are great to make up, form into portions and freeze until you find yourself needing freshly baking cookies. They can be either chilled for a few hours in the refrigerator or frozen for about 30 minutes if you want to bake them up sooner than later.

I like to spray a cookie dough scoop with non-stick spray and form heaping tablespoon sized balls of dough. Place the portions onto a baking sheet and once all of the dough is formed, chill until firm.

These cookies can go directly from the refrigerator or freezer into the oven, so when you are ready to bake them up, simply transfer the portions onto a parchment lined or non-stick baking sheet and bake the cookies in a 350 degree oven for about 12 minutes or until the edges are lightly golden brown.

The cookies will be a little puffy when they first come out of the oven, so I like to bang the baking sheet on my counter top once or twice to make them settle a bit. This is optional, but knocking some of the air down in them will help the cookies to be just a little more chewy, which I love.

Once your cookies are baked, transfer the baking sheet onto a cooling rack or heat proof surface for about 5 minutes to give them time to set up a bit and then transfer the cookies directly onto a cooling rack.

These cookies are simply fantastic. They may look and taste like a typical chocolate chip cookie, but the combination of dark chocolate and pistachios is something that will definitely be happening more often in my kitchen. You are going to love it.

Oh and one more thing… if you think this recipe is too big, make the full batch of dough, bake some up today and then store the rest in the freezer for an emergency cookie craving. Planning ahead is never a bad idea….

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