Pistachio lovers, I have THE perfect cookie for you. These pistachio cream chocolate chip cookies are stuffed with pistachio cream and loaded with pistachios and pools of chocolate.
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pistachio cream stuffed chocolate chip cookies
This cookie is THE cookie for pistachio lovers. If you haven’t heard of pistachio cream before, allow me to be the one to introduce you to this *delicious* ingredient. Pistachio cream is an Italian product. The texture is identical to nutella, but has the flavor of pistachios. It’s rich, creamy, and perfect for getting even more pistachio flavor into these cookies. Aside from being stuffed with pistachio cream, these cookies are soft and chewy with crisp edges, are filled with brown butter flavor, and are loaded with chocolate and pistachios.
why you’ll love these pistachio cream chocolate chip cookies:
- They’re super flavorful: Between the brown butter, pistachios, pistachio cream & chocolate – there’s a ton of flavor in every bite of these cookies.
- Easy to make: the cookie dough all comes together in one bowl – no hand mixer or stand mixer required.
- They’re simply *perfect*: these are small batch cookies, but don’t let that fool you into thinking they’re not perfect and delicious.
expert baking tips
Weigh your ingredients:
My recipes are all written in grams because it is the most accurate way to bake. When you use a kitchen scale, you ensure that your baked goods turn out as close to the written recipe as possible. Plus, the cleanup is way easier when using a scale! I will provide standard cup measurements but please note that I have not tested the recipe using cup measurements and therefore can not guarantee your recipe will come out how mine did. Here is my favorite kitchen scale.
Mix the dough carefully:
When adding in the flour, only fold the mixture just until no flour streaks remain. Over mixing the dough leads to more gluten formation, which can make the cookies thicker and more tough in texture.
chill the cookies prior to baking
I know, I know – it’s frustrating to have to wait! However, because we’re using melted brown butter, we want to give the dough time to firm up. Letting the cookie dough chill just a little bit in the fridge means that the cookies will bake up thicker. This also gives the flavors a little bit of time to meld together.
Under bake for perfect cookies:
Cookies continue baking after they have been taken out of the oven. Once the edges turn slightly golden brown, and the cookies look just a little wet on top still, they are ready to come out. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for an additional 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.
The secret to perfectly round cookies:
Wanna know the secret to perfectly round cookies? It’s cookie scooting! Right when the cookies come out of the oven, take a bowl, cup, or biscuit cutter that is just slightly larger than your cookies and place it over one of the cookies. Gently swirl the bowl around the cookie to make the cookie perfectly round (and slightly thicker). And that’s all there is to it!
A note on oven temperature:
Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature and might not always actually be at the temperature they claim to be at. If you love to bake like I do, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.
ingredients for pistachio cream cookies –
- All purpose flour: for structure and chewiness.
- Baking powder & baking soda: for helping the cookies rise.
- Salt: to help balance and bring out the sweetness of the cookies
- Unsalted butter: for tenderness and flavor. You can use salted butter in place of the unsalted, just be sure to omit the extra salt from the cookies. We’ll also be browning the butter for some extra delicious toasty flavor. If you’re looking to make this dairy-free, Miyoko’s Creamery vegan butter has the ability to brown just like regular butter and works like a charm.
- Granulated sugar & light brown sugar: a combination of both gives us cookies with crispy edges and soft and chewy centers.
- Egg: for binding and for moisture.
- Vanilla: for flavor. I use and love this vanilla extract!
- Semi-sweet chocolate: I recommend semi-sweet or dark chocolate because the pistachio cream itself is quite sweet. Please note that if you use all chocolate chips, the cookies will bake up a little thicker, and if you use all chopped chocolate, they will be a tad thinner.
- Pistachio cream: truly the star of the show here. We will stuff each cookie with 1 tbsp. of pistachio cream and then swirl a bit on top of each cookie prior to baking. Pistachio cream & pistachio butter are different products, so be sure to get the right one (although I’m sure pistachio butter would be delish here as well!) Here is the one I used.
how to make pistachio cookies –
Here’s a little look into the process of making these pistachio cream stuffed chocolate chip cookies. The full recipe is at the end of this blog post!
- Freeze small scoops of pistachio cream.
- Mix together the brown butter and both sugars.
- Whisk in the egg and vanilla.
- Then mix in the dry ingredients, followed by the chocolate and pistachios.
- Flatten the cookie dough balls, place a scoop of pistachio cream in the center, then roll the cookie dough back into a ball.
- Chill the cookie dough, then bake, serve, and enjoy!
pistachio chocolate chip cookies recipe q&a
What is brown butter?
Brown butter is super simple to make so don’t worry! It’s just regular butter that is cooked on the stove until some of the moisture evaporates, allowing the milk solids in the butter to be toasted. The result is this butter with an amber hue and little speckles that has a toasted and slightly nutty aroma.
can I double this recipe?
Definitely – I’ve tested this recipe up to quadrupling it with no problem. Please be sure to use grams for the best results.
can I make these cookies ahead of time?
Definitely – cookie dough really only gets better with time. You can keep the cookie dough tightly covered in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking. For longer term storage, you can also freeze the cookie dough balls. Just be sure to take the dough out of the fridge at least 30 minutes to 1 hour before you want to bake, so that it becomes soft enough to scoop again.
How to store chocolate chip cookies
Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. They will keep for up to 5 days, but will taste the best 1-3 days after baking.
why did my cookies turn out more dry/crumbly/thicker than pictured?
- Measuring error: Typically, the #1 culprit for this is always not measuring the flour properly. If you use cup measurements, you run the risk of adding too much flour to the dough which can make it super dry. If you’re using cup measurements, make sure that you fluff up your flour and then spoon it into your measuring cup, rather than scooping up the flour with the measuring cup. Measuring will also be sure that you end up with the right amount of brown butter and that you cooked it for the proper amount of time.
- Overmixing: if you over-mix the dough, you will introduce more gluten into the cookies which will lead to tougher, thicker cookies. Make sure to only fold in the flour just until that last streak of flour disappears into the dough.
- Oven temperature: Like I said before, it’s possible that your oven isn’t at the temperature that it claims to be at – which is, unfortunately, more common than it should be. If your oven is hotter than 350F without your knowledge, you’ll end up with thicker, more dry cookies.
Why did my cookies spread so much?
- Chilling the dough: The #1 reason for this would be that you didn’t chill the cookie dough. Although it can be frustrating to wait, the cookie dough does need to chill to give time for the butter to firm up and the ingredients to meld together so that they don’t completely spread out in the oven.
- Browning the butter: Another reason I recommend measuring your ingredients. When you brown the butter, moisture cooks off of it. So, if it wasn’t cooked for long enough then there would be extra moisture in the dough, which would make the cookies spread out more.
- Oven temperature: It could also be that your oven temperature is running lower than it claims to be. For that reason, I recommend always using an oven thermometer.
tools and ingredients:
You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here!
more cookie recipes you might enjoy:
did you make this recipe?
I’d love to see and know your thoughts! please leave a comment and review below, and tag me on instagram @freshbeanbakery. #freshbeanbakery
Pistachio Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 8 tbsp. pistachio cream + extra for topping
- 113 g unsalted butter (½ c.)
- 100 g light brown sugar (½ c.)
- 50 g granulated sugar (¼ c.)
- 1 egg room temperature
- ½ tsp. vanilla
- 160 g all purpose flour (1 ⅓ c.)
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. salt
- 100 g chocolate (½ c. + 1 tbsp.)
- 45 g pistachios crushed (⅓ c.)
Instructions
- Prior to starting the cookies, you're going to want to freeze 1 tbsp. balls of the pistachio cream so that it's *much* easier to work with later on. I used a 1 tbsp. cookie scoop and scooped 8 balls of pistachio cream onto a parchment lined sheet.
- In a small saucepan set over medium heat, brown the butter. Stir the butter occasionally until it turns amber in color and develops little brown specks.
- Transfer the brown butter to a medium sized mixing bowl and set it in the freezer for 5 minutes to chill. You should be left with at least 90g of brown butter, if you have a little less, just add in some water until you reach 90g.
- Once the butter has cooled down a bit, whisk in both sugars.
- Whisk in the egg and vanilla until well combined.
- Add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Use a rubber spatula to fold the mixture together just until a few flour streaks remain.
- Add in the chocolate and crushed pistachios and fold the mixture together just until no flour streaks remain.
- Scoop out heaping 3 tbsp. scoops of the cookie dough. Use your palm to flatten the cookie dough ball down, then place a frozen ball of pistachio cream in the center of the flattened cookie.
- Fold the overhanging cookie dough on top of the pistachio cream, making sure it is completely trapped inside each cookie
- Cover the cookie dough balls and place them into the fridge for 30 minutes.* Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C.
- Evenly space out the cookie dough balls on a parchment lined cookie sheet. If desired, melt some extra pistachio cream and use a spoon to top each cookie dough ball off with some of the extra cream.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start to turn golden brown.
- Once the cookies come out of the oven, I recommend "scooting" them. This just means take a bowl, cup, or biscuit cutter that is slightly larger than the cookie, place it on top of the cookie, and swirl the bowl around to make the cookie a little more round.
- Let the cookies sit on the hot baking tray for at least 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Please note that the nutrition facts are only an estimate and may vary based on different brands of ingredients and any substitutions made.
Hiya, is there a way to replace the egg with a vegan alternative?
Hello – you could definitely use a flax egg here!
I actually haven’t made these yet but I need some clarification. You indicated that you made 8 balls of pistachio cream and froze them. The directions say to make the cookie and then “place a frozen ball of pistachio cream” on it and seal it. I’m assuming you mean a smaller amount and not the entire ball??? Otherwise this recipe would only make 8 cookies.
Hi! Yes this recipe yields 8 large cookies but you can certainly double or triple the recipe as needed! ☺︎
I made these and they turned out incredibly! Absolutely obsessed. I definitely hoarded these and didn’t share with anyone except my fiancé. Lol. I’m planning to bake them again soon, but currently I only have pistachio spread. Have you tried it using that instead of pistachio cream?
Thank you so much Tori, I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe! I haven’t tried these with pistachio spread (assuming that’s pistachio butter) but I don’t see why that wouldn’t work out – it will just be a different delicious pistachio cookie!
These are the best cookies I’ve ever had. Can’t say anything else!
Our new go to recipe! These cookies are so delicious and easy to make. The melted butter is something I’ve never tried before in a cookie recipe so am so happy with the results. Have just made a batch from frozen dough!
Thank you so much, I’m so happy you like them!
This is what heaven tastes like
They came out like cake consistency, I have absolutely no idea what went wrong as I followed the recipe to a T. Nothing at all like a cookie
Hi Sarah, I’m sorry that happened. Were you measuring by weight? If not, it’s possible that you added in too much flour which would make the cookies cakey. If that’s not the case, it’s most likely that you over-mixed the cookie dough which would develop more gluten and make the cookies cakey. I hope this is helpful!
I’ve made these twice now recipe as is and they were absolutely incredible! Genuinely amazing
Do you think it would be possible to substitute gluten free flour for the all purpose flour without changing anything else as my partner is gluten intolerant?
Hi Lucy! Thank you so much! Sorry for the very late reply but I definitely think a 1:1 gf flour such as Bob’s Red Mill’s or King Arthur’s would work perfectly here! ☺︎
AMAZING! My family and friends devoured.
Ah thank you so much, I’m so happy you all liked them! 🙂
Although the forming of the dough is a little messy, these are TOTALLY worth it. They are so good!
hi! was just wondering how long to freeze the pistachio cream balls in the freezer for?
Hi! If you freeze them right before starting on the butter they should be ready to handle by the time you need them! 🙂 You could also freeze them the night before to make things easier.
Ive made these cookies twice and both times they were a huge hit! They are true my new faves. I added cardamom for an extra layer of flavor and I am so glad I did.
By far the best cookie I had & the best recipe I baked! The Pistachio cream is so good paired with the chocolate and brown butter. I used the lindt dark fleur de sel chocolate & unsalted pistachios and it was amazing. I baked them for my family during the holidays and they asked for more! Thank you :))
Really good, cream was absorbed into the cookie, no oozing pistachio cream, but still a really good flavor.
I literally SWEAR by these cookies!!!! This is the best cookie recipe ever, I’ve made it multiple times with different fillings, without the filling, with pistachios, with walnuts—countless times! And they have always turned out perfect! Just the right amount of sweetness and nuttiness with the brown butter. These are truly the best cookies I’ve ever had, and that is seconded by my friends who all love me solely because of this recipe. Thank you so much🫶🫶🫶
These cookies were very rich and tasty. I have never used pistachio cream in any cookie recipe before, but this addition made your typical chocolate chip cookie amazingly delicious!! Thank you for the recipe. I am going to add them to my Christmas cookie distribution.
Making this recipe for the third time! It’s such a fan favorite, I’ve been loving pistachio more lately and these cookies definitely are filled with them with tasty ooey goodness of chocolate chips but not overly sweet. I feel like a professional baker when I make these. So happy to have found this recipe, thank you for sharing!
Do I use salted pistachio or unsalted pistachio?
Hi! You can use salted or unsalted, whichever your preference is! 🙂
I want to make these cookies with Scyavuru pistachio Crema but it is very runny. Is that going to be a problem?
Hi! I’ve used that one with no problem – it will just freeze into flatter blobs but it will still work perfectly! 🙂
These cookies are so good! I’ve baked them twice already and they come out so tasty every time. I put the batch in the fridge and bake one off every day until I’ve used all the dough and they hold up so well in the fridge. They’re chewy in the middle and crispy on the outside, literally perfect!!
After seeing this recipe on tiktok, they looked so yummy so I had to try! This was my first time making cookies from scratch and the recipe is easy to follow. I made them for a party so I doubled my recipe and they turned out fantastic! They were gone so quickly! Thank you for sharing!
These cookies are delicious! I made the dough and baked a few fresh and froze the remaining dough. Do you suggest I let the frozen dough balls thaw before baking them? Or can I bake them from frozen? Thanks!
Hi Andrea, I’m so happy you liked them! 🙂 I would recommend letting the frozen dough balls thaw before baking them – whether it’s overnight in the fridge, or for 30-60 min. at room temperature.
these were quite possibly the best cookies i’ve ever had omg you are a genius
Ah that is so kind of you, thank you so much! 🙂
Delicious recipe! This recipe still works if you end up using a different filling than what the recipe calls for. Just make sure it’s not too runny and that it’s completely covered in cookie dough. I used Amoretti’s pistachio praline cream and ended up with 6 and a half cookies (6 large and 1 small).
Amazing recipes thank you so much 😊
Thank you so much, I’m so happy you liked them! 🙂
This sound amazing. If I wanted to add cherries – what would be the best way to go about that? Fresh? Dry? Shouldn’t alter the cook time? I’ve been looking for something just like this but with a cherry aspect.
Thank you so much! I would definitely recommend adding in dried cherries as fresh cherries might make the dough too wet. It should have no effect on the bake time. I’d love to know how they turn out if you try them! 🙂
Hi, these cookies seem drop-dead delicious! I plan on making them in the next few days but I was wondering whether it would be OK to only make half a batch? It’s mostly because of the 1 egg that I cannot use only half of. 😀 Or can I …
Thanks! 🙂
Hi Jasna, thank you so much! It is mostly because of the 1 egg that you wouldn’t want to half this recipe, however you could half all of the ingredients, beat a full egg on the side and then only use half of the beaten egg in the recipe. Also, if you’re cutting the recipe in half I would even more strongly recommend you measure the ingredients with a scale for the best results. Otherwise, you could always make a full batch and leave half of the scooped out cookies in the freezer for up to 1 month before baking them off. I hope this helps! 🙂
Hi! I plan to chill the dough balls in the fridge overnight. Can I bake them straight from the fridge? Or do they need to come to room temperature before baking?
Hi! You can bake them straight from the fridge but note that they will probably bake up a bit thicker.
Fabulous recipe! My family said these were the best cookies they’ve ever had. Long live the pistachio era!
Ahh what an honor, I’m so happy you and your family enjoyed these! 🙂
Loved this recipe! They turned out perfect and the flavor was amazing!
Can I use only 90g melted unsalted butter? and not brown it?
Hi! You certainly could but I highly recommend browning it for the best flavor! 🙂
Recipe delicious and easy to follow. My cookies turned out great ! However unfortunately they’re 1. Much “fluffier” looking than yours and 2. I think they’re a bit too dry. I imagine this is user error … where do you think I may have went wrong ?
Thank you so much! I’m sorry you had some issues – if the cookies are a bit dry and fluffy then it’s likely you accidentally over measured the flour or browned the butter for too long. I always recommend a kitchen scale for the best results & consistency!
Hey, I would love to make these cookies this Saturday for my bday brunch. I live in Belgium and saw your video on TikTok. Can I replace the baking soda with something else because I don’t think the baking soda that we have in Belgium is for food (here it is for cleaning).
Thank you so much!!
Hello, thank you so much for wanting to make my recipe! As long as the ingredient on your baking soda is only “sodium bicarbonate” then it is good to use for food. In the US it’s also the same one that’s used for cleaning and is completely safe for baking. I hope this helps!