Pistachio Cherry Meltaways
Pistachio Cherry Meltaways are soft and chewy with a sweet pistachio flavor. Easy and festive, these cookies are always a hit!
I may earn commissions for purchases made through links on this post.
PISTACHIO CHERRY MELTAWAYS
We had a situation happen this week. My husband and I were watching TV and about to go to bed when we heard a crackling noise. We turned around just in time to see our water cooler burst into flames. My husband quickly threw it outside and diminished the flames. No one was hurt.
As we aired out the house that was filled with smoke we started going over the what ifs. What if we were out of town? What if we had gone to bed 10 minutes earlier? The fire was right below our kid’s rooms. So scary. It could have been so much worse. I’m so grateful we were where we were, that my kids are okay, and for my quick thinking husband.
I always do things full throttle and I was on a quest for a cookie that was not only festive looking but actually tasted good too. I love meltaway cookies and thought that a pistachio version would not only taste amazing but would have the Christmas green color that I wanted.
Meltaway cookies don’t have any eggs in them but are made from butter, powdered sugar, and cornstarch to create that melt in your mouth taste. Since pudding mixes already have cornstarch in them, I thought it would be the perfect component in my version of a meltaway cookie.
I experimented and made no less than four batches of these cookies trying to come up with the perfect combination for a buttery pistachio flavored cookie with bits of maraschino cherry throughout. At one point I called my husband at work and pleaded with him to stop at Costco and pick up more butter on the way home! I can hear the treadmill calling my name…
I love the flavor of maraschino cherries and the flavor goes so well with pistachio. At first I poured some of the cherry juice in with the dough for some extra flavor. Epic fail. Red cherry juice + green pistachio dough = dishwater brown. Not festive at all. Experimenting some more I found that I thankfully could have my cherries and eat them too by simply chopping them finely and patting them dry with a paper towel before adding them to the dough. A VERY important step.
After the cookies have baked you can roll or sprinkle them with more powdered sugar.
Look how fun they are to bite into!
OTHER CHRISTMAS RECIPES:
- Christmas Tree “Cheese” Ball
- Soft Eggnog Cookies
- Peppermint Eggnog Punch
- Eggnog Gingerbread Trifle
- Cranberry and Feta Pinwheels
- North Pole Cupcakes
- Eggnog Eclair Cake
- Santa Claus Cookies
Pistachio Cherry Meltaways
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant pistachio pudding mix
- 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
- optional green food coloring, (about 2 drops)
- 1/2 cup maraschino cherries, chopped finely
Instructions
- In a stand mixer, beat the butter until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, pudding mix, and flour. Mix until combined. The mixture may seem dry at first but will come together after beating.
- Add the almond extract and green food coloring if you want the cookies with a brighter green color.
- Finely chop the maraschino cherries. Using a paper towel pat the cherries removing all of the juice and excess liquid. You want to make sure you dry all of the red juice or you may turn your cookies a not so pretty color. Gently mix in the chopped cherries being careful not to overmix because the color will start to bleed.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes or until firm.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Take a tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball. Place cookie on the cookie sheet and repeat with the remaining dough.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet. Once completely cooled sprinkle or roll cookies with additional powdered sugar.
Just wondering, no eggs?
Nope. This are a shortbread cookie
was wondering if these can be made ahead of time and then froze for storage or if I should just make a few days ahead? thanks they sound delicious .
Yes these freeze great!
Just made these cookies! Wow! Delicious! Love a melt away. These will be a hit on Christmas Eve! Thank you! Merry Christmas 🎄
Thank you!
BEST COOKIE We have ever had ! Soo many compliments! We’ve been making for the past year now ! Beware they are addicting lol : )
Thank you!
Do not have a stand mixer, can I use an electric hand held one? I do not see why not. I guess it is what it is. Answered my own question. LOL Love your recipes. Going to try the your Ricotta cookie recipe as well. The meltaways in your recipe look so festive. After reading all the comments I might just try leaving dough in refrigerator over night. Thanks
Please address the issue of the inability to roll these after placing in the freezer as per the recipe instructions. “Your freezer must be strong” was one of your replies to another commenter but that doesn’t solve the problem. What do you suggest? I have rock hard misshaped cookies sitting in trays thinking they’d be malleable after portioning them. They cannot be rolled. Thank you.
Sorry you just need to chill the dough. The recipe said to chill until firm not until rock hard. The fridge should be sufficient
They’re actually Mexican wedding cakes or Russian tea cakes or snowballs with cornstarch and pistachio flavouring.
Will give them a try.
Glad you and yours are alright!
Stay safe and Happy Holidays!
I just made these cookies as a test run for Christmas cookies. These were absolutely delicious. I’ll be including these in my Christmas tins for gifts. Thank you for this recipe.
Thank you!!
These pistachio cookies were such a big hit! Thankyou! Will be a go-to recipe again SOON!
Thank you!
I don’t normally comment on food blogs, but I had to this time. I made these last year for Christmas and my whole family was obsessed! This year I’ve been asked to make them again so looks like I have a new cookie tradition for the holiday. I just wanted to say thank you for posting this and thank you for the tip about patting the juice out of the cherries. For those having freezer issues, last year I made 2 batches and forgot the dough in the freezer over night for the second batch, I left the dough out for a bit and even though it didn’t feel as nice to work with it still baked and tasted exactly the same as the first batch.
Thank you so much for the feedback Ashley!
Hi! I made these for the first time today and it was so much fun. Your directions are excellent and the cookies turned out great, so thank you for that! I had one question regarding the chilling of the dough. Would it be possible to make this dough a day or two ahead of time and leave it in the fridge?
Yes absolutely
Am I the only one who after putting the dough in the “freezer” for 45 mins couldn’t handle the dough at all? Totally frozen…..am leaving dough on counter, as we speak, to see if it can be handled in a while! What did I do wrong?
You’re freezer must be very strong
I can across this recipe a few years ago and haven’t stopped making several batches every Christmas! These cookies are delicious!
Thank you!
I don’t know if you will see this but do you think it will hurt anything if I add a couple tablespoons of milk so that the dough will go thru a cookie press. Thank you.
I’m wondering should I use salted or unsalted butter for this recipe? I’m trying these out for a possible part in our Alice In Wonderland tea party baby shower we are having in the middle of November. Our first grandbaby is due February of next year and her name is Alice Carol.😊
Aww how sweet. Yes, I would use unsalted butter as I always do when baking.
These are incredibly good! Everyone loved them!
Thank you!
I love this cookie, my favorite flavors, the only thing i changed was instead of putting 1 1/2 almond extract , i put 1 tea vanilla extract and 1/2 tea of almond extract. almond extract is strong . but other than that love love this cookie..
Thank you!
This is the copycat recipe I saw: https://www.iheartnaptime.net/pistachio-cherry-meltaway-cookies/
Actually I guest posted this for her on her site. It’s my recipe and if you look at her recipe card you will see that she gives credit to me in the recipe.
I’m going to try these for my office Christmas cookies exchange how many cookies does a batch make!??
Every recipe card has the amount yielded at the top. Sorry it’s too late but it makes 24.
I found these on a site where someone had repurposed (copied?) your recipe, but giving credit, so I didn’t freeze them long enough, and flattened them. I may have made them too big, but they look and smell great. They are cooling now!!!
I can see making them without cherries on St. Patrick’s Day and trying other flavors with other types of pudding. So exciting!
yes, definitely. I wish I knew which site copied them?
Haven’t made them yet, but they sound great, but your opening water cooler story was really scary and I am (and I’m sure you and your family are) so happy and relieved you just happened to be watching TV at the time. It is not just your talent for selecting foods/ recipes that you have been blessed with As many emails as I get, wouldn’t skip one of yours, the recipes and the stories that go with them are priceless. Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Thanks John! That’s a very nice compliment. I appreciate it!
These cookies look so good! And I love that we have all the ingredients on hand already!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
Thank you!
Wow. ..I have never received so many good things about my cookies, as when I served these. I couldnt keep them on the plate. 3 friends even contacted me for more . Thanks fo much for sharing this recipe of absolute deliciousness.
You are welcome!
These are so tasty! Mine were a slightly flatter than yours those. No flat but not as round as yours. I cooled them and the dough was pretty hard. Any idea on what I might have done wrong?
These were, in the words of my daughter and husband, “Amazing!” They also got the, “Oh, oh, ooooooh” from my husband, which means they are a definite keeper, lol! I veganized them and also did mine a little different in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. I omitted the cherries and added mini chocolate chips sprinkled with green sugar. Thank you for a wonderful recipe. 🙂
I forgot to add that they held their shape so well that I had to flatten them a bit. Also, I found the amount of almond extract to be just right. 🙂
Awesome!
Brilliant. I’m going to have to try that.
I have made these a couple of times. They are super easy to make and come out consistent. I use dried cherries instead of maraschino. Doesn’t have the same festive look, but I like it better. I don’t see a need for green food coloring as the pistachio pudding gives it the nice shade of green. All in all they are pretty good and hold up a soft texture, but I find the almond extract a little bit overwhelming so next time I am going to either cut back on the volume or split it with clear vanilla or maybe even a touch of cherry extract.
Thanks for your feedback!
I can’t seem to get the cookies to cook? I cooked them for 20 mins at 350 and set them to cool but they still taste and feel like raw dough in the middle am I doing something wrong?
That sounds strange? I’m not sure what happened.
How many cookies does this recipe make
About 2 dozen.
I am having no luck with this recipe. They are melting into clouds. Any suggestions?
I’m not sure what is going wrong?
I made these at Christmas time and they turned out perfectly! Delicious. I’m making them again today with my granddaughters, one of which has a thing about my chocolate pistachio candle….says it smellls good enough to eat, so for today we are substuting mini chocolate chips for the cherries! Hope it satisfies her craving…lol. That’s for the great recipe.
Ooh that sounds divine Barb.
really………..there are no eggs in this recipe????????????? i cant get the batter to hold together.
It’s a short bread so it’s not supposed to have eggs.
How many does this recipe yield?
Makes about 2 dozen.
As an eternal optimist that all things will work out, I’m planning to take these to a cookie exchange tomorrow even though I have never made them before! What I was wondering is if you have ever made these a sliced cookie? I shaped them into a 1.5″ diameter log before putting them in the freezer thinking that would work well. Any experience with that?
Sliced cookies would be great!
Going to make these today, look so good! Did you use salted or unsalted butter?
Hi, thank you fit this recipe, I positively love these cookies, they are so good! I am so eager to make them now instead of waiting until Christmas eve, do you think they will hold up well until Christmas if I bake them today? They never last long enough around here for me to figure out their shelf life. Also, how long do you think this dough could be safely frozen for, in the interest of keeping some around to pop in the oven whenever I feel the urge? Thanks!
I think this is dough is safe to freeze up to a month. Sorry, I didn’t get back to you in time. I hope they turned out.
I know this might sound silly, but we’re about to make these cookies so I need clarity on the pistachio pudding amount. I bought a bunch of boxes of JELLO Pudding mix because I want sure. The amount on the box says it’s 3.4 ounces. So my question is: do i need “One” 3.4 ounce of pistachio pudding mix (one box) or is it 13.4 ounces?
Sorry if that was confusing. It’s 1 (3.4 ounce) box.
I made these today and they came out wonderful. I chilled my dough for about 1 hour in the fridge and I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful they came out. This recipe is a KEEPER! Thanks for sharing..my friends & family send their thanks too!
I am so glad I ran across this recipe last year. My family loves it. I think these cookies have become my dad’s favorite. We even tried a variation the other day, when we couldn’t find pistachio pudding, we used lemon. They still tasted great. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Ooh. I like that.
Hi! I am really enjoying your recipes! quick question about the pistachio cherry cookies. is the picture with or w/out the food coloring. because that’s a lovely shade of green.
Thank you!!
never mind! i’m sorry, I just saw your post! reading is so important! making these for this xmas! my mom and I always have a cookie baking day!
I made these this weekend and they are my new favorite cookie! Thanks for sharing the recipe! For those of you who have had issues with your cookies being too flat, or not flat enough, it probably has to do with your butter. Make sure the butter is soft (not melted, not cold, and not room temperature). I’ve never been very good at baking because I don’t like to measure ingredients, and it took me years to find out how important the consistency of butter can be. But if you follow this recipe exactly how it is given, you should be fine! I hope this helps!
Thanks Andrea!
I’ve made these a couple of times now, and they never spread out at all. They’re still delicious, and adorable, but just look like little balls of dough. Was there baking powder/soda in the recipe, but not listed?
Nope it’s a simple recipe with no soda or powder in it. You can press slightly down on the dough to flatten them before you bake. Mine spread a little. They are supposed to be in a ball shape. I’m wondering if it’s an allitude thing?
Tried this recipe and was disappointed, the mixture did not come together and I finally added an egg after looking at other recipes online and it finally combined into dough
If your butter is soft it will come together eventually. You can add a dash of milk if you want as well.
These are amazingly delicious! I finally have a special cookie recipe that not everyone makes! My cookies didn’t spread much either so after baking I just pressed on them with the back of a fork and they were the perfect shape! Love them so much!
I made these as Christmas treats and they turned out beautifully. I’ve been having trouble making cookies lately–they just never turn out well, so I was nervous about them, but they are perfect. I froze the dough until it was so hard that I had to cut it with a knife, if that makes a difference.
made these today and tasted great BUT it did not spread that much…. was it over chilled? i dont know… had it in. the freezer for 45mins….
will try another batch soon….
How many jars of maraschino cherries did you need?
I used about 1/2 of a 6 ounce jar.
I love cherry in Christmas cookies. Can’t wait to try these. Can I use candied cherries? Thanks!
I’m sure you could!
That is so frightening! who would think that a water cooler could burst into flames! you just never know, and yes, it’s always good to be grateful.. I’m so glad that you were, where you were and able to act so quickly. I shutter to think how differently this could have gone. Grateful for family, friends, loved ones, and now Pistachio-cherry meltaways…. glad you and your family are okay (thanks for the cookies recipe!)
Don’t need the red and green combo, but I think I’m going to try these cookies with other flavor combos gingerbread pudding and pecans? Maybe replace the almond extract with vanilla? We’ll see how it turns out!
I’ve never seen gingerbread pudding. Sounds good!
Was food coloring used in the cookies photographed in this blog entry?
Yes. I used about 3 drops. But they really don’t need it.
I made these cookies yesterday, and they are delicious! But mine spread out quite a bit while baking and I ended up with very flat, thin cookies. Any idea why? Perhaps it was the brand of pudding mix I used??
Oh no! What brand did you use? Were the cookies chilled?
Mine did too…
I don’t think I let the dough chill enough. I’m going to try it again and put the dough in the refrigerator overnight before baking the cookies.
Mine didn’t spread at all. After 11 min they were still a ball shape. I wanted them to spread some. What did I do wrong? And I left out the food coloring (allergies).
Monique,
Okay, I have no idea why everyone is having different results. Was yours super chilled? My four batches all turned out the same.
That is my worst fear: my house catching fire. Your story alternately freaked me out and made me so grateful that it wasn’t more serious for you. Seriously!
How scary! So glad you guys are all okay! These cookies look super tasty!
I want one, right now!!!
Pinning this!
So glad everyone was safe! That is totally scary when stuff like that happens! I don’t go to bed with the dryer going anymore, cuz someone said recently that they can catch fire! Yikes! Anyway…..thanks for this yummy recipe! I can’t wait to make them! I LOVE maraschino anything!
Wow! I am so glad that you were there for your water cooler. Events like that are scary. These cookies look amazing. Love the festive colors. Thanks for sharing.
This cookies look so delicious!! I love the cherry and pistachio combo. Pinning!