The absolute BEST pistachio cookies you'll find! These super easy, super soft and chewy oatmeal pistachio and dark chocolate cookies are spiced with cinnamon and cardamom. Guaranteed to become a new favorite in any cookie baker's repertoire!
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Why you'll love these cookies
- Soft and chewy - the oatmeal adds to the cozy texture of these pistachio cookies, helping them stay soft and fresh for days.
- Dark chocolate and salted pistachio - a match made in heaven! Rich dark chocolate, aromatic spices, pistachios and sea salt come together to make this incredible treat.
- A unique cookie for a cookie swap or gathering - if you're looking for a new an innovative cookie to share, look no further!
Equipment Notes
This is a super simple recipe, which essentially only needs a bowl and a beater. You can make the whole thing with a stand mixer and paddle attachment, or the following:
- Large mixing bowl - or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
- Hand held electric beaters - if you are using a stand mixer, you won't need the beaters as well!
- Spatula - a rubber spatula is perfect for scraping down the bowl, mixing dry ingredients and folding through the add-ins.
- Baking sheet - this recipe calls for roasting the pistachios with some oil and salt prior to making the cookies. This is an optional step, but adds to the flavors. For the sake of this process, ideally you'll need a baking sheet with low sides to allow you to stir the pistachios. If this is also your cookie sheet, then you'll be all set! But you may want an extra cookie sheet for speeding up the baking process.
- Parchment paper - a bit of parchment paper is handy for lining your baking pans. You could grease these with cooking spray as an alternative or use silicone baking mats - whatever you prefer.
- Sieve - for best results, you'll want to sift your dry ingredients when adding to the mixture.
- Cookie scoop - I use a 1.5 or 2 tablespoon cookie scoop for my cookies. Larger or smaller scoops can be used or simply a standard soup spoon, but the baking times may vary a bit so keep an eye!
- Wire cooling rack
Ingredients Notes
To make these cookies, you'll need the following:
- Pistachios - unsalted, shelled pistachios.
- Olive oil - just a drizzle for roasting your nuts. I like the subtle flavor that olive oil brings, but you can use other flavorless oils such as sunflower or canola here.
- Flaked sea salt - a bit for the pistachios and a bit for decoration on top of the cookies at the end!
- Butter - unsalted butter, softened at room temperature. You can use salted butter, but this will add salt to the overall recipe, so you should use less salt on your pistachios and on top of the fresh baked cookies to compensate.
- Light brown sugar - firmly packed measurements. Brown sugar will add a light molasses flavor and softness to these cookies.
- Superfine granulated sugar - or caster sugar.
- Egg - one large egg, ideally at room temperature.
- Vanilla bean paste - while you could use vanilla extract here, vanilla bean paste will give you an extra punch of flavor!
- Flour - all purpose flour or plain flour will work best in these cookies.
- Baking soda
- Ground cinnamon
- Ground cardamom - you can by cardamom pre-ground or in pods. If buying in pods, you'll need to grind the seeds with a mortar and pestle
- Oats - standard rolled oats are best here. You can use jumbo oats, but then the oat flakes in the cookies will be massive!
- Dark Chocolate - I like to use a good quality dark chocolate chip (about 70%). You can use semi-sweet chips or really any of your favorite solid chocolate chip/bar cut into chunks.
Roasting Pistachios
The process of roasting the pistachios will help them to start releasing their oils and will accentuate the flavor in these cookies. This is an optional step, but I highly recommend it!
Start by pre-heating your oven to 350ºF and spreading your pistachios out in a single layer across a rimmed baking sheet. The rim here is key to ensuring the pistachios don't just fly everywhere when you stir them, but it doesn't need to be some sort of deep casserole dish or anything special!
Drizzle about a teaspoon or two of oil over the pistachios and sprinkle with sea salt. Give this a stir and roast for about 15 minutes, stirring halfway through, until aromatic and going lightly golden.
Remove these from the oven and allow to cool completely to room temperature. This can be sped up by transferring to a cool plate and spreading out in a single layer.
How to Make Chocolate Oatmeal Pistachio Cookies
These cookies are so simple to whip up! They're a bit of an update on my Classic One-Bowl Oatmeal Cookies with some add-ins and alternate spicing.
Step 1: Start with a large mixing bowl - this can either be the bowl for a stand mixer (which should be fitted with a paddle attachment) or a good size stand alone mixing bowl. Add your butter and sugars to this and beat until light and fluffy. This will take about 2 minutes using a paddle attachment or a little less time using handheld electric beaters.
Step 2: Add the egg and vanilla, beating to combine.
Step 3: Next sift your dry ingredients into the wet mix. These are the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and cardamom. Beat until just combined. You may want to do this in two additions, beating after each, to avoid flour exploding all over your kitchen. If using a hand held electric beater, change to a spatula near the end of mixing as the dough will become fairly stiff.
Step 4: Add in the oats, pistachios and chocolate, mixing until well distributed. Mixing in the oats first will help ensure all is an even dough, but I've also had success dumping everything in at once together.
Step 5: Using a cookie scoop, pre-scoop your cookie dough balls and place these on a tray in the refrigerator to chill for a couple of hours.
Step 6: Once your dough is well chilled, preheat the oven to 375ºF and place balls of dough well spaced on a parchment lined baking sheet. I aim for about 2" spacing. For a decorative finish, gently press the balls of dough to lightly flatten and add a couple of pistachios and chocolate chips on top.
Step 7: Bake in the center of your pre-heated oven for about 12-15 minutes until starting to go golden at the edges. Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle with a little flaked sea salt. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire wrack to finish cooling.
Expert Tips
This is a fairly forgiving cookie recipe - the combination of flavors making the outcome foolproof deliciousness!
Some of my top tips for the best results:
- Chill your dough. I know its a bit passé these days with a lot of no-chill time saving doughs growing in popularity. You can make these straight from dough - they won't be disasters and it won't impact the flavors! If you want best results and soft, chewy cookies that haven't spread thin, chilling is key.
- Adding a couple of pistachios and a chocolate chip on top of the cookie pre-baking is entirely optional. This is a nice touch for decorating, but don't worry if you don't have any spares available!
- Likewise a bit of sea salt on top helps accentuate flavors, but won't ruin the cookies if you leave it off. Add the salt after baking, otherwise the flakes tend to melt into the dough.
- For perfectly round cookies, you can use the trick of swirling the freshly baked cookies with a round cookie cutter. Use a round cookie cutter, slightly larger than the cookies themselves. While these are still warm, place the cookie cutter over them and swirl in a circle, letting the cookie roll around the cutter edges. This will help jiggle the cookie into a nice circle.
Substitutions and Variations
Just like any other cookie with add-ins, there are fundamentally limitless substitutions you could make here! Some options to make these your own:
- Different types of chocolate. I'm a huge dark chocolate fan and personally think it works best with the pistachios here. That said, a lot of people like white chocolate and pistachio too.
- Nut or chocolate free - you can of course make these cookies without one or both of the add-ins. I'm not sure why you would though as then they wouldn't be chocolate, pistachio oatmeal cookies! If you're looking for a nut-free oatmeal cookie alternative, try one of my other oatmeal cookie recipes - the Biscoff Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies are a particular treat if you want some thing unique.
- Making these dairy free - if you need to make a dairy free version, you can substitute the butter here for a non-dairy alternative. I'd recommend using something that you've tested in baking before. In practice oils and non-dairy options often make my oatmeal cookies bake a bit softer, almost more bendy. They're still tasty though!
Storage Advice and Freezing
These cookies will last for a few days as chilled dough before baking. Once baked, they tend to stay fresh for a few days at room temperature, if kept in an airtight container or ziploc bag.
If you're not planning to batch bake and devour, I would recommend freezing the cookie dough balls. Freezing dough enables you to have a back up supply of cookies at any given time and these cookies bake brilliantly straight from frozen! They may take a couple extra minutes - keep an eye on them as they bake - but otherwise the process is unaltered.
FAQs
Absolutely! Pistachios, just like pecans and walnuts are great to add to cookies. These oatmeal chocolate pistachio cookies are a dedicated recipe using pistachios.
Yes - these pistachio chocolate cookies can be frozen either before or after baking. For best results in the finished product, I recommend freezing as cookie dough balls and then baking straight from frozen when desired. Baked cookies that are frozen and then defrosted will be fine, but often lose a little something in the texture/flavor in the process.
More Pistachio Recipes
I'm a huge pistachio lover! If you are too, or if you ever find yourself with surplus of these gorgeous green nuts - you've come to the right place! Try one of these pistachio recipes:
- Homemade Pistachio Paste
- Pistachio Cardamom Layer Cake
- White Chocolate Pistachio Truffles
- Pistachio No Bake Cheesecake
- Pistachio and Coconut Cinnamon Rolls
Oatmeal Chocolate Pistachio Cookies
Equipment
- large mixing bowl or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment
- hand held electric beater if using a stand mixer, you won't need the beaters as well
- spatula
- baking sheets you'll want a rimmed baking sheet for roasting pistachios and a cookie sheet or two for baking
- Parchment paper useful for lining baking sheets
- Sieve for sifting the dry ingredients
- cookie scoop I use a 1.5 or 2 tablespoon cookie scoop for my cookies
- wire cooling rack
Ingredients
- 1 cup pistachios, shelled and unsalted plus a few extra for decorating if desired
- 2 teaspoon olive oil just a drizzle for the nuts
- 2 teaspoon flaked sea salt a bit for salting the nuts when roasting and some leftover for the tops of the freshly baked cookies
- 1¼ cup unsalted butter softened at room temperature + 2 tbsp
- ¾ cup light brown sugar muscovado or other soft brown sugar, firmly packed measurements
- ½ cup superfine granulated sugar or caster sugar
- 1 large egg best practice would have the egg at room temperature for incorporating into the dough
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 1½ cups all purpose flour or plain flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1½ cups rolled oats
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips or solid chocolate chopped into small chunks
Instructions
Instructions for Roasting Pistachios
- Roasting the pistachios is an optional step, but will add to the overall flavor of these cookies. Begin by pre-heating your oven to 350ºF and spreading your pistachios out in a single layer across a rimmed baking sheet.
- Drizzle about a teaspoon or two of oil over the pistachios and sprinkle with sea salt. Give this a stir and roast for about 15 minutes, stirring halfway through, until aromatic and going lightly golden.1 cup pistachios, shelled and unsalted, 2 teaspoon olive oil, 2 teaspoon flaked sea salt
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature before you prepare your cookie dough.
Instructions for Cookie Dough
- Add your butter and sugars to a large mixing bowl and beat until light and fluffy. This will take about 2 minutes using a stand mixer and paddle attachment or a little less time using handheld electric beaters.1¼ cup unsalted butter, ¾ cup light brown sugar, ½ cup superfine granulated sugar
- Add the egg and vanilla, beating to combine.1 large egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- Next sift your dry ingredients into the dough - these are the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and cardamom. Mix with a spatula just until combined and no patches of flour remain.1½ cups all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- Add in the oats, pistachios and chocolate, mixing until well distributed.1½ cups rolled oats, 1 cup dark chocolate chips, 1 cup pistachios, shelled and unsalted
- Using a cookie scoop, pre-scoop your cookie dough balls and place these on a tray in the refrigerator to chill for a couple of hours.
- Once your dough is well chilled, preheat the oven to 375ºF and place balls of dough well spaced (about 2" apart) on a parchment lined baking sheet. For a decorative finish, gently press the balls of dough to lightly flatten and add a couple of pistachios and chocolate chips on top.
- Bake in the center of your pre-heated oven for about 12-15 minutes until starting to go golden at the edges. Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle with a little flaked sea salt. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire wrack to finish cooling
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