Cran-Pistachio Cookies
It’s DAY 1 of the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies over here at The Girl Who Ate Everything. These Cran-Pistachio 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.
Cran-Pistachio Cookies
These Cran-Pistachio 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.
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, unprepared pudding mix, 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.
Recipe Notes
Source: Betty Crocker
Made these for a cookie exchange and everyone wants the recipe. This is now my husband’s favorite cookie! Next time I’m going to add a few white chocolate chips!
so I noticed if you touch them when its time to take them out, they are mushy as if they arent done, but the harden after they cool off
Easy to make and delicious
Made this cookie today. To die for!!! This is my new favorite Christmas Cookie!
I followed your recipe to the letter and I’m happy to say these came out so yummy and pretty. Thanks so much for sharing with us!!!
I added white chocolate chips and it tasted great! A girl’s gotta have chocolate.
I made these for a family cookie night and they were good good good. I also did a little less nuts, and didn’t add the coloring, as they were a beautiful green. I did think they might need a little more flour and I was wondering what homemade sugar cookie recipe that you have used?
These are going in the KEEP file for cookies, easy, yummy and a crowd pleaser. 🙂
Thanks!!
Angela,
I have a homemade sugar cookie on my site but it’s for a fluffy cookie. For a chewier cookie like a mix I love OurBEstBites version: http://www.ourbestbites.com/2008/12/sugar-cookies/
Thanks Christy!!! Happy Holidays! 🙂
Christy,
One more thing.. so you make the home made kind and just add the pudding… the ratios are the same?
THANKS AGAIN. 😉
I have no idea if the sugar cookie mix and the recipe I listed yield the same so I’m not sure. Sorry!
If you added dried cherries instead of cranberries you could call them Spumoni cookies!
Totally!
Do these freeze well?
I haven’t tried but I’m sure they would.
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.
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.
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 !
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!
This came just in time. A quick recipe for a cookie party. Everyone loved it.
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!
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.
These cookies are so pretty! Do you chill your cookie dough before baking?
I didn’t chill mine…
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.
Just made these cookies and they awesome not to sweet they are just right thanx
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!
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 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.
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.
These look awesome. What size cookie pouch did you use because I’ve come across different sizes?
It looks so nice! And it tastes so good!!
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
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!)
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!!!!
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!
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.