It’s DAY 1 of the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies over here at The Girl Who Ate Everything. These cookies caught my eye because not only are they different from any other cookie I’ve ever made, they’re green and red…perfect for a Christmas cookie plate.
These are easy enough that you could easily whip up a 7-8 dozen for a cookie exchange. Somehow I managed to complicate an easy recipe like this. What should have taken 5 minutes to prepare took…well…way longer. I accidently bought unshelled pistachio nuts and had to shell a whole bag! Don’t even ask how long that took…
Stay tuned for more Christmas cookies and grab a button so you don’t miss out on any cookies.
Ingredients
- 1 (1 lb 1.5 ounce) pouch Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix
- 1 box (4 serving size) pistachio instant pudding and pie filling mix
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup dry roasted salted pistachio nuts, chopped
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped
- optional - green food coloring (I didn't add any but if you wanted them extra green you could)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl stir cookie mix, pudding, and flour. Add melted butter and eggs and stir until incorporated.
- Add pistachios and cranberries and mix well.
- Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and slightly flatten with fingertips.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes. The only way you can ruin these cookies is to overbake them! If you bake them too long you will lose the soft texture and they won't be as green. They will not look done but take them out and let them sit on the pan for about 2 minutes. Trust me.
- Cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.
Notes
Source: Betty Crocker
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http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2010/12/day-1-of-12-days-of-christmas-cookies.html
Instant Pistachio Pudding is one of the only mixes that I buy and I love it so much! These definitely sound good! Though I’m a little unsure about the craisins, I’ll have to try it and see.
Those are soo pretty! That color is gorgeous
I LOVE pistachio pudding…seriously one of my favorites. These look AWESOME!!
Oh lord… LOVE Pistachios. Another cookie to add to the list for this year’s cookie extravaganza. And such festive colors, too!
I made pistachio cookies a while ago too, yours look really good! I love the color.
I totally wanted to make these when I saw them in Betty Crocker. I am glad to know that they are good!
The color is awesome, delicate and nice…easy recipe too
These look amazing, I love that they are Christmas colors, naturally!
These look really yummy – love the fun green color!
Susan http://www.ugogrrl.com
What festive looking cookies (although huge bummer on having to shell the pistachios!).
Mmm pudding cookies are one of my favorite…they are so fluffy! I love the festive green and red in these cookies…yum yum!
Yummy!I saw these over at betty crocker too:) They look fab!:) Looking forward to all of the cookies to come!
What a stunning holiday recipe! Would you like to submit it to my contest to win a cookbook? Just wanting to share the holiday cheer (and exposure to your blog) Would love for you to win
http://ow.ly/3j61M
These are so pretty and cheery! Perfect for the holidays. I’m going out of town this weekend, but I will get you my post as soon as I can!
I’ve totally done that before – had to shell the pistachios by hand! But these cookies look like they would be worth it!
Such pretty colours!
I made those last weekend and they turned out delicious! The boyfriend usually doesn’t like sweets, but he loved those. I didn’t add any coloring and they were a very pretty shade of green. PS: In the list of ingredients you forgot the flour – 1/4 cup.
@Sophie,
Thanks girl for the catch! So glad you enjoyed them.
Christy
They are very nice!
I’m troubled. I’ve had my cookies in for 8 minutes, out for 5, in for 2 more, out for 30, in for 2 more and out for 2 more and they are still total mush. Is this because I’m using those hallow air-bake cookie sheets? Help please!
Jen
@Jen,
I don’t think the hallow air sheets should be causing that. Maybe too much butter or the wrong sized pudding? I’m not sure. Sorry.
I always try to do a test batch first to see what the cooking time may be because every oven varies.
Christy
I’ve made a bunch of these for a cookie swap tomorrow night. I hope the ladies like these as much as the guys I’ve had try them do! They’re delicious and sooo easy! Thanks for the recipe! Next, I’m going to try those hot chocolate cookies. =)
-Anne-Marie
I made these as part of my Christmas baking and they were my favorite cookie! I also sent some to my family and my brother stated they were also his favorite. Perfect color green (without any added coloring) and soft. Yum! I made them using a sugar cookie recipe instead of the pouch, I just tweaked the recipe a bit and it still came out fabulous. Thank you!
Oh, what an exquisite cookie! I love pistachios. I’m definitely going to try these
So are you supposed to make the pudding according to it’s directions on the box before adding it to the other ingredients? Might sound like a silly question but I’m making these with friends for a cookie swap so I can’t afford to have any mistakes.
@Kris,
Totally valid question. Just add the dry pudding mix. Do not prepare it. Good luck with your cookie swap!
Christy
Im thinking about making these this weekend, but was wondering if you thought I could substitute almonds for cranberries. Im not a frequent baker and have never made up my own recipes
@heather, I think the cranberries add a lot to these cookies- flavor and color. I’m afraid subbing almonds would be too many nuts since there are already pistachios in them. Good luck!
These are great! I also made them for a cookie exchange and added 1/2 cup white chocolate chips. Seriously. Delish.
Just took these out of the oven….Delicious!
Made these last Christmas and had to bake more before Christmas because they disappeared. Making them today. They are fantastic, very pretty, and everyone seems to like them.
I’ve got these in the oven now – and of course I’ve taste-tested the first ones that came out. I will say (and I intend to leave this feedback on the Betty Crocker Web site) that I love them, but next time (er, probably next Christmas) when I make them I think I’ll do 1/2 c of pistachio nuts and 1 c. of cranberries. They are a bit heavy on the nuts for me. Delicious, though!
Thank you so much for posting the recipe! They are so festive!! However, I too feel they are WAY too heavy on the nuts, next time I’ll definitely AT LEAST cut them down to 1/2 cup, if not less, however they are DELICIOUS!!!!
These are GREAT! I’ve had them in my Cookies folder since last year and needed some festive cookies for the people at my husband’s work. Like some of the other commenters said, my first reaction was that they’re heavy on the nuts, BUT I NEVER put nuts in my cookies so it was a nice change of pace and I really enjoy the flavor & texture! I’m betting they’ll be a hit! (Now I’m off to start mixing your eggnog cookies!)
As I was browsing on pinterest today, I found your Sisters Blog! What a treat! I’m making cookies today. All the recipes look so good!
XO
Eloise
It looks so nice! And it tastes so good!!
These look awesome. What size cookie pouch did you use because I’ve come across different sizes?
I found these also on Pinterest today, they look divine! However, I was wondering if you could make these a bit more natural without using the pre-packaged cookie mix and made a mix of your own? If so, what would you recommend the recipe be?
Shoot. I have no idea. I would have to experiment with that one.
I just made these for a cookie swap and they taste good but they never really flattened out… they are rounded. What do you think caused that?
@Chris,
Was your butter completely melted? The temperature of your butter is a big factor in how flat or non-flat the cookies are. If the butter was melted but cooled they might be a little rounder. You can also flatten the dough with your fingers before baking.
Salted or unsalted butter?
I used unsalted because that’s what I usually bake with. The nuts are salted so you already have plenty of salt.
I am axious to make these cookies – can’t go wrong with cranberries and pistachios during the holidays. I was not able to locate dry roasted pistachios – I bought the regular, salted, shelled pistachios (no shelling for me!) Will there be a difference in the end result using these nuts versus dry roasted?
@Peggy, No, those will be perfect!
Thanks….I’m going into the kitchen right now to make them!
Just made these cookies and they awesome not to sweet they are just right thanx
I was just wondering if you mix any milk with the pudding first, or just just put the dry pudding mix in there??
Just dry pudding mix is what you want here.
These cookies are so pretty! Do you chill your cookie dough before baking?
I didn’t chill mine…
I made my first batch with the hopes they’d be as good as they look for a cookie exchange. They are delish and so easy to make. I can’t wait to see how my friends at work like them! Thanks.
Sick of seeing all these cheat recipes on Pinterest… Cake mix / cookie mix blah blah blah !
Then don’t make them if you are a domestic goddess with unlimited time on your hands. Keep your negative thoughts to yourself and consider some of us others who have crazy busy lives with no time to scratch bake. I tasted these cookies this weekend and felt INSPIRED to bake (normally not something I have time or desire to do) because they were delicious and EASY, so there!
Thanks Laurie!
This came just in time. A quick recipe for a cookie party. Everyone loved it.
Just made one batch of these… going to be making more! They are soooo delicious! They are the perfect green…. they will look beautiful for my holiday cookie plate!! =] Thank you so much for the great recipe!
Wow! These came out amazing! I used 1 cup of white chocolate chips and 1 tbs of shortening to make a white chocolate coating for the bottom of the cookies. They came out so yummy and the entire batch was gone at my christmas party. Thank you so much! These are the perfect holiday cookie !
Made these for Christmas and absolutely adored them! Beautiful and soft with great flavor.
So I’m gonna make them again tonight but substitute for Vanilla pudding and chocolate chips and see how they turn out.
I might put a little less chips since for me it felt like there were a lot of cran/pistachios and not enough pure cookie.
just made these. they were wonderful. i replaced some of the nuts with a couple handfuls of white chocolate chips and it made then very nice. a tip to tell if they are done for most people.. cookies often never look “done” when they actually are. One way to actually tell if they are ready is to watch them and when they stop having a glossy shine, they are done. this usually happens before they get any brown.