I call these pistachio drop cookies because they’re little drops of heaven! This is an easy cookie recipe prepared in 1 bowl with just 6 ingredients. Instead of artificial pistachio pudding mix, flavor these pistachio cookies with real pistachios and almond extract. Brown butter icing is optional, but it’s delicious and worth the extra few minutes!
Do you ever catch the baking itch, but don’t know what to make next? Try a pistachio dessert. Seriously! It’s an unexpected and delicious flavor, and the pastel green hue is a lovely bonus.
I’ve shared my favorite Pistachio Cake, Pistachio Cupcakes, Salted Chocolate Pistachio Shortbread, White Chocolate Cranberry Pistachio Cookie, Pistachio Chocolate Chunk Cookies, and now Chocolate Swirl Pistachio Ice Cream on my website. I love creating and publishing unique desserts using this underrated nut; pistachios are meant for sugar!
Why You Need to Bake Pistachio Cookies Now
Let us count the ways!
- 1 bowl recipe
- Astoundingly easy to make
- Only 6 ingredients
- Only 30 minutes chill time
- Bite-sized & adorable
- Crumbly & soft
- Made with real pistachios
- Topped with brown butter icing
And bonus: this is an egg-free cookie recipe, just like shortbread cookies.
Real Pistachio Flavor
These pistachio cookies are adapted from my beloved snowball cookies, a classic Christmas cookie recipe. I use toasted pecans in my snowballs recipe, but today we’re using pistachios and almond extract. I love using real flavors in pistachio desserts. Did you know that most pistachio cookies rely on artificial pistachio pudding mixes? The pudding mixes are great, but I love baking from scratch when I can. And I know you do too.
These are just like my lemon coconut drop cookies, peppermint snowball cookies & cranberry spice cookies, too!
How to Make Pistachio Cookies
- The first step is to pulse or chop pistachios into very fine crumbs. A small food processor or chopper makes this step easier. Depending on your taste preference, use salted or unsalted pistachios. I love salty sweet flavor combinations, so I use salted.
- The next step is to beat room temperature butter until it’s creamy and smooth.
- Add confectioners’ sugar. Confectioners’ sugar sweetens the cookies and replaces some of the flour. The cookies dry out with too much flour.
- Add vanilla extract and almond extract, then add flour and pistachio crumbs. Most pistachio flavored ice cream gets its flavor from almond extract and it’s absolutely delicious in this easy cookie recipe. If desired, add a drop or 2 of green food coloring.
- Chill the cookie dough for 30 minutes, then roll into balls.
- Bake until lightly browned, then top with the optional icing.
(LOL as if brown butter icing is ever optional.)
Brown Butter Icing… you’ll want to eat it with a spoon.
Though these pistachio cookies taste great on their own, they taste even better with brown butter icing. I fell in love with brown butter icing when I topped these brown butter pumpkin oatmeal cookies and this peach Bundt cake. Brown butter icing belongs on everything, including a spoon on a trip to your mouth.
What is brown butter? Browning butter is a method of melting butter that gently cooks its milk solids. Brown butter is nutty, toasty, and caramel flavored. Browning butter takes no more than 6-8 minutes and elevates every single dessert it touches, including icing. Here’s my how to brown butter tutorial. By the way, have you tried my brown butter chocolate chip cookies? You’re in for a treat.
Simply whisk browned butter, confectioners’ sugar, milk, and vanilla extract together until smooth. Dip each cookie into the icing or drizzle on top. Because butter is solid at room temperature, the brown butter icing sets after about 1 hour. This brown butter icing is also delicious on peach Bundt cake, apple blondies, pumpkin oatmeal cookies, and pecan sugar cookies.
These are some of the best cookies I’ve ever made and I know you’ll happily agree. The ingredient list is short, the preparation is simple, and the flavor is unique. Fair warning: these bite-sized soft & crumbly cookies disappear quickly. 🙂 So when they’re gone, check out 30+ other options in my collection of Quick Dessert Recipes—ready in 1 hour or less!
More Quick & Easy Cookie Recipes
- Lace Cookies
- Shortbread
- Mini M&M Cookies
- Banana Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- Coconut Macaroons
- Almond Crescent Cookies
Pistachio Drop Cookies
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 3 dozen
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- :
Description
Adapted from my snowball cookies, these soft and crumbly pistachio cookies are made from REAL pistachios and topped with brown butter icing. The cookie dough is made from 6 easy ingredients and requires just 1 mixing bowl. There’s only 30 minutes of cookie dough chilling needed, making this a quick cookie recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (130g) salted or unsalted pistachios*
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (90g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- optional: 1-2 drops green food coloring (I used 1 drop of gel)
Brown Butter Icing (Optional)
- 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp; 56g) unsalted butter
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) milk or heavy cream
- 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- optional: pinch of salt
Instructions
- Pulse pistachios in a food processor until small crumbs form. See photo above for a visual. You need 3/4 cup of very finely chopped pistachios. Set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute on medium speed until completely smooth and creamy. Add the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract, and almond extract, then beat on medium-high speed until combined. Add the flour, 3/4 cup pistachio crumbs, and food coloring (if using) and beat on medium-high speed until combined. The dough may not come together at first, but keep mixing. The cookie dough will be thick.
- Cover the cookie dough tightly and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes and up to 3 days. (If chilling for 2+ hours, let the cookie dough sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before rolling into balls. The cookie dough will be very stiff after being in the refrigerator that long.)
- Time-saving tip: prepare the brown butter icing (below) while cookie dough chills OR while cookies bake.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Roll the cookie dough into balls, about 1 Tablespoon (20-22g) of dough each, and place dough balls 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. If the cookie dough is too crumbly, keep rolling and working it with your hands. The warmth of your hands will help bring it together.
- Bake the cookies until lightly browned on the bottom edges and just barely browned on top, about 14-15 minutes.
- Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack. Make sure cookies are cool to the touch before dipping in icing.
- Brown Butter Icing: Slice the butter into pieces and place in a light-colored skillet. (Light colored helps you determine when the butter begins browning.) Melt the butter over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once melted, the butter will begin to foam. Keep stirring occasionally. After 5-6 minutes, the butter will begin browning and you’ll notice lightly browned specks begin to form and a nutty aroma. Once browned, remove from heat immediately and allow to cool for 5 minutes. (The butter will eventually solidify, so don’t let it sit too long.) After 5 minutes, whisk in the rest of the icing ingredients until smooth. Taste. Add a pinch of salt, if desired. Add more confectioners’ sugar for a thicker texture, if desired. Likewise, add more milk to thin out if needed.
- Dip cookies in icing or drizzle on top. If coated lightly, the icing will set after 1-2 hours. Cover leftover iced cookies tightly and store at room temperature for 1 day or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Cookies without icing can sit covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Freeze baked cookies with or without icing for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature. You can also freeze the cookie dough or cookie dough balls for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before baking.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Food Processor | Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Cooling Rack | Whisk | Green Gel Food Coloring (optional) | Light-Colored Skillet or Stainless Steel Skillet
- Pistachios: You need 3/4 cup of very finely chopped pistachios in this cookie dough. As instructed in step 1, begin with 1 cup of salted or unsalted pistachios—your choice, I recommend salted—and pulse them in a food processor until small crumbs form. See photo above for a visual. Only use 3/4 cup in the cookie dough because any more will make the cookies too crumbly. If you have extra, use as garnish on the icing or sprinkle over ice cream, cake, salad, and more!
- Confectioners’ Sugar: Use confectioners’ (powdered) sugar. Don’t use granulated sugar. The cookies will over-spread and have a granular texture.
- Light Colored Icing: The darker your brown butter, the darker the icing. I remove the brown butter from the stove right away, so it’s a lighter shade of yellow making the icing a lighter shade as well. I use heavy cream in the icing. It’s thicker than milk and will create a creamier, whiter icing.
Reader Comments and Reviews
These are one of my new favorite cookies! They are flavorful and just the right texture.
Can almond flour be used, even a partial substitution for all purpose?
Hi Suzanne, These are already a bit crumbly in texture and we fear using all almond flour would make them even more so (it’s not an even swap with regular flour). You can try to substitute a small portion of the flour first and if you are happy with the taste and texture adjust future batches. Hope this helps!
Thank you for the information! Yes the dough was crumbly as the ground pistachios are like an almond flour already added. They came out yummy and the brown butter icing was irresistible.
These cookies are so soft and nutty. The frosting is a perfect compliment and the best part is they come together very quickly! We devoured them!
My husband and I are OBSESSED with these!! I’m not normally a pistachio person but these were so wonderful and perfectly sweet! I will definitely be making these again!
Sally, I am blown away by your recipe writing skills! Just wow! In the Pistachio drop cookie recipe, you answer all the questions I can possibly think of, if not in the recipe itself then in the Notes, before I can even think of them (and I would have). There is NOTHING more frustrating than having unanswered questions in a recipe, and being given no reasons for the way things are done. Bravo to you, can’t wait to make this and to see your other recipes!
Delicious! So easy to make. The batter smelled so good, it was hard to resist. The brown butter icing – oh my! I will absolutely make these again! I sprinkle some finely chopped pistachio on the icing.
This is my kind of cookie! Buttery, not too sweet, plenty of texture, sweet and salty…. perfect! I messed up and added all of the pistachio crumbs (oops), but remedied the dough with a couple tablespoons of water. I used a really basic icing.
#sallysbakingchallenge
My family loved these cookies! The almond flavor convinced one of my kids that pistachios were worth a try and now we have excitement to try other pistachio flavored foods! The cookies are the perfect blend of crumbly and tender, not dry. The icing, which my husband usually dislikes, was a pleasant surprise. Because it set up on the cookies, once refrigerated, they made everyone happy and weren’t too sickly sweet. Really happy with this one!
I can’t wait to try these! I really prefer bars to drop cookies though; does anyone have recommendations on what size pan and how long to bake? I’ve successfully converted a few other recipes here to bars! (The pecan cookies with brown butter I know I successfully bakes as bars, I just can’t remember how long I baked them!)
Hi
Do you think a lemon icing would work instead of brown butter icing ?
Definitely!
Love this recipe! The brown butter icing adds so much! They were gone in a minute!
Easy and delicious. I will echo the comments on the brown butter icing – it’s the best! I might just put that on all baked goods! Thanks for a great recipe.
I made an oopsie and added lemon instead of almond extract (same label -different color) and thought “Welp I’ve come this far, and that’s 2 sticks of butter I’ve already used”…so I also added the almond as well and they turned out wonderfully! I brought them to a work lunch and got rave reviews! Will definitely make again without the lemon, but it was great!
The brown butter icing is excellent! I did not use almond extract and instead I doubled the vanilla. I also used a full cup of pistachios after chopping. I will reduce the flour next time by 1/4 cup, but overall these turned out perfectly!
I made the pistachio drop cookies this afternoon to bring to a friend whose daughter has been in the hospital. I love pistachios but have never made pistachio cookies before. These were quick and easy to make. I need to double the recipe next time I make them because everyone loves them!
These cookies, as simple as they are, can be a total showstopper. Pistachios automatically elevate everything, as does browned butter. And yet they required few ingredients and were easy to make (and delicious!). The green color brings something unexpected to the cookie game and I ended up sprinkling a tiny amount of gold edible glitter to the top which made them look just gorgeous! Also, this recipe lends itself to lots of variation possibilities.
Really enjoyed these cookies – the icing I made too thick initially. The cookie drops are too dry without the icing – which made these a delight!
Tasty!! I got a little crazy with the food coloring but that’s on me haha I love the flavor and texture of these delightful cookies.
What a cute little cookie & so yummy.
I had some trouble with the icing. It was way too thick so I added more heavy cream. It seemed to thicken & get grainier as I added & stirred. I put it in the microwave on low power for a few seconds hoping to get it back to where it was. It worked but then seemed to seperate a bit & became almost airy fluffy like. It doesn’t coat well & not like a solid white color,more see through.
I always enjoy participating in the challenges. Thanks for sharing!
I think these cookies are delicious. My only comments is that it might help if the recipe said to sift the confectioners sugar for the icing. I had to beat it for several minutes to get the lumps out.
Hi Sally, I love your recipes! Thank you for sharing with us! I’m wondering if these cookies will ship well? I’d like to send them to my daughter for her birthday. Let me know what you think, and if you have a better option to ship. Thank you so much.
Hi Gina, yes, we’d think so! Here’s the best way to ship cookies.
These look delicious. Can I use pistachio extract instead of almond?
Hi Nancy, swapping the almond extract with the pistachio extract should work just fine. Leave in the vanilla extract as written. Enjoy!
Delicious and super easy to make! I used salted pistachios as recommended and I think that was a good call. But, the almond extract is what really makes the cookie in my opinion. I think I made my balls a little big because I only got 2 dozen. I cut the icing recipe in half and there was plenty. They are really delicious – very much a shortbread feel.
A question- can these pistachio cookies be make with almond flour so they are gluten free?
Hi Debbie, We don’t recommend almond flour as it has very different baking properties and is not always a 1:1 swap. We haven’t tested it, but you might have success experimenting with a gluten-free all-purpose flour like Bob’s Red Mill or Cup4Cup. If you give anything a try, we’d love to know how it goes for you!
I wanted to make a half batch to test them out for a brunch this weekend. These were so simple that I whipped out the batch between making six loaves of bread!
They are a tad sweeter than I would like, I wonder if I can reduce the sugar at all. I know sugar plays a big role in the texture and baking, so I’m unsure. Sally and team, any advice on that?
The icing is SO good! My husband kept poking his finger in it, and after the cookies were dipped, we could taste the brown butter. But today, the brown butter is barely noticeable. I think I might bake them a day ahead but ice them on the day of serving.
Hi Lori, so glad you love them! You’re right, sugar is used for moisture and texture in baked goods as well as taste. You can certainly try reducing the sugar, but the resulting texture will be different than intended.
Love the alternate recipe for the March challenge! The family agrees that the Pistachio Drop cookies are a hit. The cookie has a shortbread taste with a hint of pistachio. The icing is a must.
These are delicious! The recipe is simple to follow and turned out perfectly. Will make again!
Taste is great, but mine also came out too crumbly. I measured everything by weight, but still some of the cookies fell apart. Brown butter icing is a MUST— so delicious
way too much almond extract. it is supposed to be pistachio not almond .
Gee, I may have to make both of the March challenge recipes. They each look great! Question about the icing for these cookies. You include vanilla extract, but not almond, as in the dough portion. Have you tried almond extract and didn’t like it? It seems like it would add more to the pistachio flavor, but maybe it was too much flavor?? I may try it too see. I have pistachio flavor emulsion, so it seems a shame not to use it.
Hi Ginny! The icing without almond extract adds nice balance, but you can certainly add it if you would like!