pistachio and chocolate chunk cookies

pistachio and chocolate chunk cookies

• 31 Mar 2025

With that rather large jar of pistachio cream in the cupboard haunting me, I've been hunting for recipes utilising pistachio cream. I've come up with a a recipe for pistachio and white chocolate buns that I was going to make until I was side tracked by a batch of Edd Kimber pistachio and chocolate cookies.

They looked very good. I had all the ingredients and I also had a fancy new and unused cookie scoop I bought while in Tasmania. The pistachio and white chocolate buns were put on hold and into the kitchen I went to bake some cookies.

Whilst I love pistachio cream, it doesn't agree with me so I decided to make a half batch because these cookies were always destined to be shared with my neighbours. I always find cookie recipes way too sweet, so I reduced the sugar in the cookie dough and rather than making 6 cookies, my new cookie scoop yielded 9 cookies. As the cookies were a little smaller I needed to use less pistachio paste, about 1/2 tsp for each cookie.

I'm a fan of resting cookie dough so I made the dough 2 days before I baked the cookies. I also scooped the dough when it was soft, rather than chilling it. The dough was pretty solid though so I had to warm it a bit before I could encase the pistachio cream.

Here's the recipe for you which makes nine, 40ml cookies. Please refer to the original recipe if you'd like to make 12 cookies. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C. Please note the cookie dough needs to rest in the fridge for a few hours, plus you have to freeze the pistachio cream until it's solid, so you'll need start this recipe a few hours before baking.

Pistachio and chocolate chunk cookies – makes 9 

2 tbs pistachio cream
125g plain flour
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
¼ tsp of fine sea salt
60g unsalted butter diced and softened
35g light brown sugar
35g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
85g dark chocolate (65-75% cocoa solids) roughly chopped
40g shelled pistachios roughly chopped
sea salt flakes for sprinkling on top

Method
Spread the pistachio cream out to a 1cm thickness onto a small baking tray lined with baking paper. Transfer to the freezer and freeze until solid. When solid, cut into 9 small cubes.

Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and the salt into a bowl.

Place the butter, sugars and vanilla into a bowl and using a hand mixer or a stand mixer, mix for 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk and beat for 1 minute or until fully combined. Add the flour mixture and mix, on low speed, until just combined. Add the chopped chocolate and the pistachios, and continue mixing until just until evenly distributed. 

Divide the dough into 9 equal portions and roll into balls then place the cookies into a large container, lined with baking paper. Cover and refrigerate the dough for a few hours or until firm. The dough can be made up to three days in advance.

Heat the oven to 180⁰C, conventional and line two large baking trays with baking paper.

Remove the pistachio cream from the freezer. Working with one ball of dough at a time, press into a large flat disc and put a cube of the pistachio cream on top. Fold the edges of the dough up and over the cream, sealing it in. Gently re-roll the dough into a ball. You can freeze the unbaked balls for up to three months – the cookies can be baked from frozen, simply add a minute or two to the bake time below.

Divide the cookies between the two baking trays and sprinkle each cookie with a pinch of sea salt flakes. Bake the cookies for 14-16 mins or until the edges are golden but the centres are still a touch paler. Remove the cookies from the oven and cool on the baking tray for 10 mins before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. The cookies will keep for four days in a sealed container.

I shared these with the neighbours and froze a few cookies for later. The reviews have come in for the cookies and they were declared a resounding success. 

I know it's hard to believe but both Passover and Easter are just around the corner. I've been baking up a storm for Passover and next week is Passover Week on the blog. I still have one more item to bake but from Monday April 7 I'll be sharing 5 Passover friendly bakes with you and I just can't wait! 

See you all again next week for Passover Week 2025.

Bye for now,

Jillian