Crispy Dark Chocolate Pistachio Cookies

Posted byorlysmithPosted inCookies

Hello and Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe the holiday season is over, much less that it’s now 2025. I feel like the September through December period zooms past in the blink of an eye, but January through May is the slowest five months to have ever existed. There’s a lot in those months that I am very much not looking forward to, but there are a lot of things I am excited for so I think it’s better to focus on that.

There’s a somewhat high likelihood it could snow this weekend! That would be great because I’m supposed to start school on Tuesday, but if there’s too much snow…

I know everyone kinda hates January and February. People tend to dislike the cold, and there’s not a lot to look forward to. But I love winter, and I think if more people leaned into the cozy aspect of the season they would enjoy it more. So that’s why January is all about the cozy recipes. I have some pretty tasty ones headed your way that are very comforting and cozy.

And we’re starting off strong today with these cookies!

Describe These Cookies to Me

Taste: The prominent flavor here is the pistachio, but there are side flavors that serve to compliment it and tie it together with the dark chocolate. There’s the toasty brown butter, sweet vanilla, and a little cinnamon to bring out the warmer notes in the pistachio. The dark chocolate adds the perfect bittersweet touch to compliment all the other flavors.
Texture: These cookies are thin and crisp, with a little chew once they’ve cooled down. When they’re warm, the center is still a little gooey and filled with puddles of melted dark chocolate.
Ease: Aside from the brown butter pistachios, these are super quick to throw together. The dough comes together super quickly in one bowl, with no mixer, and no chilling.

The Brown Butter Pistachios

I used this same trick back in the fall with my pumpkin spice latte cookies. The difference was, those cookies used oats instead of pistachio. But the process is the same. You melt your butter and then right when it starts to brown, add in your ground up pistachios. Keep it cooking until the butter and pistachios are both toasty and browned, and then poor it into a bowl to cool.

The Dough

Once you’ve let your brown butter pistachios cool, the process is really simple. Brown sugar and granulated sugar for the best flavor and texture, honey and an egg yolk to help give these cookies that chew, vanilla and pistachio extract plus a dash of cinnamon to compliment the nuts, and finally chopped dark chocolate and sea salt.

That’s kinda it for these cookies. They’re very simple, very quick, and very tasty. And I would like to add that they would be really yummy to make on a snowy day…

Crispy Dark Chocolate Pistachio Cookies

These cookies are the perfect quick recipe to throw together on a cold January evening to warm you up. Pistachios are toasted in nutty brown butter, and then mixed with key flavors like brown sugar, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, and plenty of dark chocolate. These cookies have a buttery flavor and a nice chew, spotted with melty puddles of chocolate.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings: 10 cookies
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • ⅔ cup raw pistachios
  • ½ cup salted butter
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons honey
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ⅛ teaspoon pistachio extract or almond
  • 1 Tablespoon milk
  • ¾ cup all purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 4 ounces dark chocolate roughly chopped
  • flakey sea salt for topping

Method
 

  1. Preheat the oven to 350℉. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat. Set aside.
  2. In a food processor, pulse the pistachios until mostly broken up. There should still be some small chunks and it shouldn't be as fine as almond flour. Set aside.
  3. In a medium sized saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Once melted, it will begin to sizzle. Keep cooking, stirring frequently, until you see brown specks. As soon as you do, add the ground up pistachios. Keep cooking, stirring frequently, until the nuts begin to toast and brown, roughly 2 more minutes. Pour the mixture into a large heat safe mixing bowl. Let the mixture cool for 5 minutes before continuing.
  4. Add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and honey to the pistachio mixture, and whisk to combine. Add the egg yolk, vanilla, pistachio extract, and milk and whisk to combine. Sift in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt, and use a spatula to fold it together. Mix in the chopped chocolate. The dough will be a little greasy.
  5. Using a cookie scoop or your hands, roll the dough into balls, roughly 1-2 Tablespoons in size. Place 3 inches apart on the previously prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are browned on the outside but just a little gooey in the center. Sprinkle with flakey sea salt and enjoy warm!
  6. Cookies stay fresh sealed in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

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