Pistachio Pudding Cookies

Soft and chewy Pistachio Pudding Cookies that you can make in under an hour! These cookies are pistachio flavored with bits of crushed pistachio and white chocolate chips, they’re so easy to make, and you will love their vibrant color and texture!

I love making pudding cookies! A box of instant pudding can do so much to the texture and flavor of a cookie. The texture is always soft and creamy, and the flavor depends on the pudding mix that you decide to use. We’re making pistachio pudding cookies here, but you should also try my Banana Pudding Cookies, these Pumpkin Spice Pudding Cookies, Harry Potter’s Butterbeer Cookies, or these fudgy Double Chocolate Pudding Cookies.

These pudding cookies are super easy to make, and perfect for any time of the year! They can be topped with extra white chocolate chips and crushed pistachios, or holiday sprinkles if you’re baking them for the holidays!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

1. Pistachio Flavored: A box of instant pistachio pudding mix does the trick! It creates a wonderful texture and a lovely pistachio flavor. We’re also adding crushed pistachios for an extra layer of flavor or texture, but if you don’t have them, you can just leave them out.
2. Soft and Chewy Cookies: Adding pistachio pudding mix to the cookie dough creates the most amazing soft-baked cookie textures. I like to bake these cookies into small 1 tablespoon sized cookies, so you get creamy centers and crispy chewy edges.
3. Fun Cookie Recipe: This cookie recipe is not at all complicated! In fact, it’s super easy and will come together quickly with standard baking ingredients. The only “odd” ingredient is the Jello Pudding Mix, which is easy to find at the store.
4. No Chill Cookie: I love cookie recipes like this one where you can make a large batch of cookies in under an hour! No waiting or cookie dough chilling is required here.

Key Ingredients

All you need to make these cookies is a box of pistachio pudding, some crushed pistachios, and the regular cookie ingredients.

• Butter: Use unsalted butter and be sure to let the butter sit out and come to room temperature. Softened butter will give you smooth, well-mixed cookie dough.
• Sugars: Both white sugar and brown sugar are needed in this recipe. Brown sugar creates chewiness, while white sugar allows the edges of the cookie to get slightly crisp. You need half a cup of each.
• Eggs: You need 2 large eggs that are brought to room temp before you start mixing the cookie dough. Room temperature eggs mix in better than chilled eggs.
• Pistachio Instant Pudding Mix: An essential ingredient to this recipe and it’s what adds a pistachio flavor, and a creamy soft texture to the cookie. We’re using just the powder, no need to actually prepare the pudding. JELL-O brand instant pudding mix is my go-to, but other brands will also work. Just be sure that you’re using instant pudding mix, and not the type that needs to be cooked.
• Vanilla: Skip the imitation stuff, and use pure vanilla extract, it makes a big difference!
• Flour, Baking Soda, and Salt: These are our dry ingredients, along with the pudding mix. Mix them together before you start, and make sure not to overmix the wet with the dry ingredients to ensure soft cookies.
• White Chocolate Chips & Pistachios: I like to fold in some white chocolate chips and crushed pistachios into the cookie dough.

How to Make Pistachio Pudding Cookies

1. Get Ready to Bake: Start by preheating the oven 350°F/180°C. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or use a silicone baking mat.
2. Mix the Wet Ingredients: In a large bowl, using a handheld mixer beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugar and brown sugar and continue beating until well combined. If you’re not sure how, I wrote a whole post on how to properly cream butter and sugar explaining its importance and everything you need to know about it. Then add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix until the eggs are well incorporated.
3. Add the Dry Ingredients: In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, pudding mix, baking soda, and salt). Mix that with the wet ingredients until just combined. Avoid overmixing the dough.
4. Add Food Coloring: If desired, you can add green food coloring to get a vibrant pistachio color. I use Wilton Leaf Green Gel Coloring.
5. Add Chocolate Chips and Pistachios: Switch to a heavy spoon or spatula, and gently fold in the white chocolate chips and crushed pistachios. Now you’re ready to bake!

3. Form Cookies: Create 1 tablespoon size balls from the cookie dough using a cookie scoop (I used this one from OXO). Place the balls 1 inch apart on the prepared cookie sheet.
4. Bake: Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes, or until the bottoms of the cookies are lightly browned. Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for a few minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe Tips

• Use a Cookie Scoop. It makes life much easier! I use cookie scoops for all of my drop cookies. A scoop allows you to easily portion out the dough, giving you cookies that are uniformly sized. Scoops come in different sizes, so be sure to check yours to see how much it holds to know if you’re using the right one. This medium scoop makes 1.5 tablespoon cookies and you’ll get 26 cookies in total. In this recipe, I used a small cookie scoop that makes 1 tablespoon cookies and I got 60 cookies in total.
• Get the Right Pudding. Be sure that you buy a pistachio pudding mix that says “Instant” on the box for making cookies. Other types will not work the same way in the recipe.

Storing Tips

You can store pudding chocolate chip cookies for up to 5 days in an airtight container.

If the cookies start to get stale, put a piece of white bread in the container with them. The bread will dry out, but the cookies will stay perfectly soft and chewy.

Baked cookies can be stored in the freezer in a ziploc bag or freezer container for up to 3 months! You can enjoy them frozen, let them thaw on the counter, or microwave them for a few seconds to warm them up.

More Cookie Recipes You Will Love

• Banana Pudding Cookies
• Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies
• Pumpkin Spice Pudding Cookies
• Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies
• Spiced Eggnog Cookies

FAQs

If you love pistachios, then you’re going to love these easy pistachio or watergate pudding cookies! They’re so easy to make, and totally irresistible!