Soft and chewy pistachio cookies made with only 6 ingredients including instant pistachio pudding mix and maraschino cherries. Add a little green food coloring and they become the perfect cookie for Christmas!
Today I am bringing you these easy pistachio cookies made with pistachio pudding mix. They are one of my new favorite dessert recipes to make for the holidays.
These paired with molasses cookies, chocolate crinkle cookies and chocolate chip pudding cookies would make the perfect addition to your Christmas dessert board.
I was recently on a quest for a pistachio cherry cookie that was not only festive looking but actually tasted good too. I love meltaway cookies and thought that a pistachio version would not only taste amazing but would have the Christmas green color that I wanted.
The result was melt-in-your-mouth perfection! The color resembles my grinch cookie recipe and would also be perfect for St. Patrick’s Day along with my pistachio dessert!
Recipe Ingredients
Traditional meltaway cookies do not contain eggs and are made from butter, powdered sugar, and cornstarch. Since pudding mixes already have cornstarch in them, it’s the perfect component in these pistachio cookies.
- Butter: Softened butter is best, not melted. A quick way to soften the butter is by microwaving the butter in a bowl for 15-20 seconds at 50% power.
- Powdered sugar: Gives these that melt-in-your-mouth texture.
- Instant pistachio pudding mix: Adds wonderful pistachio flavor to these cookies.
- All-purpose flour: For structure.
- Almond extract: Compliments the nutty flavor of the pudding and is clear in color so will not impact the color of the cookie. You could use clear vanilla extract.
- Maraschino cherries: Chopped finely and patted dry. You could omit for plain cookies.
- Green food coloring (optional): For darker green pistachio cookies add a drop or two of food coloring.
How to Make Pistachio Cookies
These pistachio pudding cookies are easy to make and loved by everyone who tries them. Just 4 simple steps and you can have homemade cookies in no time.
- Mix ingredients: Cream butter until light and fluffy then add powdered sugar, almond extract, green food coloring, and pistachio pudding mix and continue to mix. Next, add in your flour and mix until just combined. Last, add in your chopped cherries.
- Chill dough: Wrap cookie dough in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 15 minutes or until slightly firm.
- Roll into balls: Use a medium cookie scoop to place dough on parchment lined baking sheets. Alternately, use about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough to roll into a ball. Gently flatten balls with your palm or the bottom of a cup.
- Bake: Bake cookies for 9-11 minutes or just until the bottoms are light browned. Cool on pan for 3-5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. Once cooled completely, dust with powdered sugar.
Storage
Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 – 5 days. You can also freeze baked cookies in a freezer safe bag up to 3 months.
