Irresistible White Chocolate Pistachio Cookies From Scratch

A tray of White Chocolate Pistachio Cookies finished 4 different wasys its on a gray plate rimmed in gold.

5 from 1 vote

Irresistible White Chocolate Pistachio Cookies From Scratch

There’s something quietly luxurious about these irresistible White Chocolate Pistachio Cookies. The creamy sweetness of white chocolate paired with buttery, toasted pistachios creates a cookie that feels special without being fussy.

Prep Time50

Cook Time15

Course: Cooies

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Easy White Chocolate Pistachio Cookies, White Chocolate Pistachio Cookies

Servings: cookies

Calories: 141kcal

Author: Helen S. Fletcher

Ingredients

White Chocolate Pistachio Cookies

¾ cup toasted pistachio nuts (85 grams)
1 cup unsalted butter (225 grams or 2 sticks)
½ cup powdered sugar (65 grams)
2 cups cake flour* (250 grams)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
*if substituting all-purpose flour (which I don't recommend) use 1 ¾ cups but the weight remains the same.

Finishing Ingredients - if dipping all of them or finishing all the same kind

12 ounces white chocolate (340 grams)
2 ½ tablespoons shortening such as Crisco
6 ounces finely chopped toasted pistachios (170 grams)
45 whole or half toasted pistachos

Instructions

White Chocolate Pistachio Cookie

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
Place the pistachios on a rimmed baking sheet and toast all of them at once until they are fragrant and somewhat browned, about 7 to 9 minutes. Cool completely.
Coarsely chop ¾ cup or 85 grams for the cookies. To easily do this see my post, Chopping Nuts a Quicker Way. Set aside.
Combine the butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and almond extracts in the bowl of a mixer. Beat until the mixture is almost white, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Add the flour and mix to about ¾ done. Add the pistachios and finish mixing until everything is evenly combined. If the dough is too soft to scoop, chill it to firm it up. Don't leave it in the fridge too long or it will be too hard to scoop the cookies.
Using a #70 disher/scooper drop the cookies on the prepared baking sheets and then roll them into smooth balls. Place them 2" apart. A tablespoon of dough may also be used.
Bake for 7 minutes, turn the sheet and bake for 7 to 8 more minutes. Cool completely.

Finishing the White Chocolate Pistachio Cookies

To coat all of the cookies in finely chopped nuts, place the toasted nuts in the bowl of a processor. Pulse to chop them finely. They will not all be chopped to the same degree, so pour them into a sieve and remove the nut dust. Pick out the larger nuts and re-pulse them. Repeat until they are uniformly finely chopped. Place them in a bowl that is large enough to coat one cookie at a time. You want to create depth so the cookie can be be coated right up the bottom when held upside down. Set aside.
Place the chopped up white chocolate and shortening in the top of a double boiler or fashion one out of a bowl that fits on top of a saucepan. A tapered bowl is perfect here because the chocolate should be as deep as possible and not spread out or it will be difficult to dip them properly.
Add water to the saucepan but do not let it touch the bottom of the bowl.
Bring the water to a bare simmer and keep it there. Heat the chocolate and shortening until it is melted, stirring often. Do not use a whisk as you risk air bubbles.
While the chocolate melts, line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Keeping the double boiler intact, turn a cookie upside down and dip it in the chocolate all the way to the bottom. Allow the excess to drip back into the bowl. Very lightly, scrape the remaining excess, on the side of the bowl without removing all of the chocolate.
If finishing with the finely chopped pistachios, dip the cookie immediately into the nuts right after dipping it into the chocolate and place it on the baking sheet.
If finishing with the pistachio half or whole, apply it immediately after dipping the cookie and placing it on the baking sheet.
To speed up the setting of the chocolate, refrigerate for 10 to 15 minutes. They will stay set up at room temperature or in a tin after they are set.
If using the powdered sugar finish, the cookies will not be dipped. Simply line them up on a baking sheet and sift powdered sugar heavily over the. They will not have white chocolate on them.
Kept in an airtight tin with paper between them, they will last for a week or so.
To make ahead, roll the balls of dough, freeze them and bake from the frozen stage, adding a couple of extra minutes. Finish as desired.

Notes

There is always an abundance of photos to guide you in the post above. If you have questions, look at the photos or read the header of the article. Many of them will be answered there.

As always, I recommend using a scale for accuracy and consistency. Flour, in particular, is difficult to measure by volume. For my recipes, I use 140 grams per cup of unsifted all-purpose, bread or whole wheat flour and 125 grams of cake flour. Others may use different weights so use whatever they suggest.Unless otherwise noted, salt refers to table salt.

Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.

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It is important to toast the pistachios to bring out the maximum flavor. Since I toast all of my nuts, I often will toast a 1 or 2 pound package, cool them, repackage and freeze them so they are ready when I am. At the bakery we would toast 30 pounds at a time and freeze them. It makes baking much easier.

The nuts are chopped two different ways - more coarsely for the cookie and finer for the finish.

Cake flour will give the best texture to the cookie. It is a softer flour and provides a melt a melt in your mouth experience more so than all purpose. If you have to use all-purpose flour, you will need to use 1 ¾ cup instead of 2 cups of cake flour but the weight remains the same.

Powdered sugar is often used in European cookies and also contributes to a cookie that melts in your mouth.

I know there are some who eschew using shortening (read Crisco) to solidify the chocolate at room temperature but there is very little and it is the only thing I know of that will make the chocolate solid at room temperature. Butter and oil will not harden. Coconut oil has been suggested but it can get crackling hard.

White chocolate can seize or burn quite quickly which is why I prefer to melt it over a double boiler and barely simmering water. I have burned too much melting it in the microwave.

When coating cookies or candy as in the recipe, keep the double boiler intact as you dip. The hot water underneath delays the cooling of the chocolate making it easier to get them dipped. If it gets too thick, simply rewarm.

Nutrition