Easy Pistachio Chip Cookies

This is my first Christmas cookie posting of the 2010 Christmas Baking season, and I'm starting out with a brand-new cookie recipe that is super-easy but big on taste!


My Christmas cookie baking is fairly constant from year to year in terms of variety, but I try to roll out at least one new variety per year, to test. Sometimes, the new ones make the cut and transition to perennial Christmas cookie staple...and sometimes they don't. These pistachio cookies definitely make the cut, for both their taste and ease of assembly. Let's face it, when you are making many different kinds of cookies, convenience definitely becomes an important factor. I tore the original recipe out of a Betty Crocker mini cookie magazine, but it is also available online here.  The original recipe calls for cranberries, but I modified it, because I prefer chocolate!



These cookies start by using a Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix pouch as a base. I rarely use a cookie mix as a base, but there are some cookies where it works beautifully, and this is one of them. Can you use from-scratch drop sugar cookie dough? Sure you can, with the understanding that you will sacrifice some of the convenience. The choice is yours. Me? I say why fix what ain't broke, and I just use the mix. 

So, begin by combining all the dry ingredients in a bowl. This includes the cookie mix, a box of pistachio instant pudding, and a little extra flour.

Then, you add in some melted butter (yet more convenience!) and eggs. Because the butter is melted, you should have no problem making these cookies with nothing more than a wooden spoon, no need to whip out the stand mixer for this one! If your butter just came out of the microwave, add it first and mix it into the dry ingredients for a few strokes before you add the eggs, so you can avoid the heat of the butter cooking the eggs.

Once this is well-combined, stir in some salted, dry-roasted pistachios and semi-sweet chocolate chips. Try to make sure the pistachios are lightly salted, unsalted nuts will taste too bland in the final cookie.

Now, you use the #60 scoop, and scoop cookies out onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Slightly flatten the tops, and bake until the bottoms are starting to brown.

The first batch I baked, I forgot to flatten. It wasn't tragic. You can see the difference in the flattened vs not flattened look below. But if you forget to flatten, bump up the baking time a little, since the cookies are a little thicker.

These cookies are definitely going into my permanent Christmas cookie rotation, I love all things pistachio-flavored. They were easy and super tasty. If your tastes run away from chocolate, you can always do what the original recipe calls for, and use dried cranberries and maybe even white chips instead of the dark chips.


Easy Pistachio Chip Cookies
(Printable recipe)

Ingredients

• 1 pouch Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
• 1 box (4-servings) pistachio instant pudding mix
• 1/4 C flour
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1 C dry roasted, salted pistachios, chopped
• 1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Combine cookie mix, pudding mix and flour in a bowl, mix to combine dry ingredients
3. Add melted butter and eggs, mixing well to combine (can do by hand)
4. Stir in the nuts and chips
5. Using a #60 scoop, drop onto parchment-lined cookie sheet. Slightly flatten tops
6. Bake for 9-11 minutes, until bottoms are browning
7. Cool on sheet for 2 minutes before removing to wire rack