Delicately flavoured and nut-studded cookies with just a hint of rosewater, Pistachio Cookies are perfect for afternoon or snacks. Pistachio and rosewater are a delicious flavour pairing, with just a hint of the exotic about it. It makes me think of hot summer days and sun-drenched holidays, wafting through narrow, cobblestone-lined streets in a long summer dress, and stopping at one of the little cafés that serves mint tea in glass cups with tiny sweets alongside.
Slice and Bake Cookies
I love slice and bake cookies, and these Pistachio Cookies are no exception. You make the dough into sausage shaped ‘logs’ and put the logs in the fridge for a good few hours or overnight before slicing and baking them. Then you can bake exactly the number of cookies you need while keeping the rest of the dough fresh in the fridge or freezer.
The dough logs for Pistachio Cookies keep for at least 3 days in the fridge or you can freeze them and they will keep well for at least a month. (You may need to allow the frozen dough logs to soften just a bit before slicing.) Either way, you can have hot cookies fresh from the oven in minutes. There is a particular comfort to knowing you are never more than 15 minutes away from a fresh, hot cookie. There is nothing like fresh from the oven cookies and a hot drink or cold glass of milk after a rough day.
If you are planning an afternoon tea or are making cookie trays for Christmas, Pistachio Cookies are a great make ahead option to help you get organised in advance. Also, once the cookies are baked, they keep well in a sealed container at room temperature. I prefer to eat them within 3 days as I like the texture best at this point, but they will keep for up to 5 days.
The Story Behind the Recipe
(If you would rather go straight to the Pistachio Cookie recipe, just hit the Jump to Recipe button at the top of the post.)
I have loved pistachios ever since my dad brought a big bag of them home one day after work. Back then, they used to tint the shells of pistachios red to hide blemishes on the surface. I was fascinated by the bright red shells, many of which were just slightly open, revealing the green nuts inside.
Dad showed me how to split open the shells and extract the contents, popping them into my mouth like candy. They were crunchy, salty, and sweet at same time. I loved them, despite being slightly shocked at how the red dye transferred to my fingertips. I remember my mom – who was slightly concerned that my dad and I had eaten nearly the whole bag between us – held my hands aloft as she ushered me to the sink to wash them, so that the red dye didn’t transfer to anything else! From then on, Dad would occasionally bring a bag pistachios home for us to share and I have lovely memories of that time together.
Later, I discovered that pistachios were also an ingredient in Spumoni ice cream, one of my favourite ice cream flavours at the time – who knew?! I never tasted Pistachio Cookies, but the first time I had a pistachio cake I just loved it. It was made with a cake mix, and funnily enough I now find that kind of pistachio flavour quite cloying and artificial, but at the time I really enjoyed it. I had yet to try pistachio cake made with real pistachios and natural rose flavouring, sometimes referred to as Persian Love Cake. Oh my goodness, what a difference in flavour there was! The pistachios in the cake were like the sweet and salty ones I remember eating with Dad and the rosewater was aromatic and fresh.
From then on, I sought out opportunities to taste the pistachio and rose water combination. At a café in Athens within sight of the Acropolis, I ordered baklava, filo pastry filled with nuts and soaked in a honey syrup – only this time the nuts were all pistachios and the honey syrup was also flavoured with rosewater. I have never had baklava exactly like it, before or since, but what a treat it was. Then there were the pistachio macarons filled with rosewater buttercream that I ate in Parisian cafe alongside a cup of tea one April afternoon. These Pistachio Cookies are an homage to the flavours in all these pistachio and rosewater treats. They bring back lovely memories every time I eat them.
An Easy To Adapt Recipe
Pistachio Cookies are an adaptation of my Orange Pecan Cookies, and this Pistachio Cookie recipe is a great place to start if you fancy being creative and thinking up variations. You could use any chopped nuts in place of pistachios, just adjust the flavouring to suit. I’m thinking almond flavouring instead of rosewater if you use almonds, vanilla to go with walnuts and caramel flavouring if you use pecans. Feel free to use your imagination! If you prefer a nut free cookie, try my Chocolate Chip Slice and Bake Cookies.
Just a note about the sugar I used in these Pistachio Cookies. Persian Love Cakes, and indeed many candies and sweets with pistachio and rosewater, use granulated or caster sugar. I tested all three sugars, granulated, caster and light brown sugar, but I preferred the texture and flavour of the cookies with the brown sugar. If you prefer a lighter, even more delicately flavoured cookie, you can simply substitute an equal amount of white or caster sugar for the brown sugar.
How to Serve Pistachio Cookies
The nutty green rubble around the edges makes these cookies quite pretty, so they are perfect for afternoon tea or as a gift from your kitchen. I also like to serve them as a delicious garnish on a bowl of ice cream – preferably pistachio flavoured but they are delicious with good vanilla ice cream as well. Two cookies pressed together with some pistachio or vanilla ice cream and lightly frozen together makes a rather fabulous treat as well.
Pistachio Cookies – Printable Recipe
Pistachio Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter, softened I use unsalted butter
- 1 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1¾ cups all purpose flour All purpose flour is also known as plain flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt Can be omitted for low salt diets
- ½ teaspoon baking soda Also known as bicarbonate of soda or bicarb
- ½ teaspoon rose water
- 1¼ cups chopped pistachios, divided
Instructions
- Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl using a wooden spoon. You can use an electric mixer if you prefer.
- Lightly beat the egg and add it to the butter and sugar along with the rose water. Blend thoroughly. Set aside.
- Sift the flour, salt and baking soda into a medium bowl.
- Stir in ¾ cup (90 grams) of the chopped pistachios.
- Add the flour and pecan mixture to the creamed butter and sugar mixture and stir together very thoroughly until everything is well mixed.
- To form the dough 'logs', take a large piece of greaseproof paper or baking parchment and sprinkle it with a little flour. Flour your hands a bit as well.
- Take one third of the cookie dough and put it in the centre of the greaseproof paper.
- Using the greaseproof paper to help you, shape the dough into a log about 10 to 11 inches long (26 to 28 cm).
- Spread ¼ cup (30 grams) of the remaining chopped pistachios on a clean piece of greaseproof paper. Roll the cookie dough log in the pistachios, pressing lightly. Set the piece of greaseproof and any remaining pistachios aside.
- Wrap the dough log in a cling film or saran wrap – or a fresh piece of baking parchment if you prefer.
- Repeat this process with the two remaining thirds of the dough to make two further dough logs. Add the remaining chopped pistachios to roll the dough in as needed.
- Put wrapped cookie dough logs in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight. At this stage you can either freeze the dough for up to a month or bake it from chilled.
- When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350°F or 175°C (160°C for fan ovens).
- Meanwhile, remove the cookie dough logs from the fridge or freezer. You might want to give the logs a bit of a roll on the worktop before you unwrap them, just to round the edges. Sometimes the bottom goes a bit flat when they sit.
- If the logs are frozen, give them at least 5 minutes to warm up before you attempt to slice them. Be extra careful not to cut yourself when you are slicing these firmer dough logs.
- Cut slices about one quarter inch thick (half a centimetre) and place them on baking sheets at least an inch apart. These cookies do not spread that much, but they do need some space between them. Each log will make about 15 to 18 cookies depending on how thickly you slice them.
- Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes from chilled (or 11 to 14 minutes from frozen) until they are just beginning to turn lightly golden. It’s worth keeping an eye on them because they can suddenly brown up very fast.
- Remove the baking sheets from the oven and leave the cookies to cool for at least five minutes before carefully removing them from the baking sheets with a slice or spatula. Cool on wire racks.
Notes
Equipment
- 1 set measuring cups OR
- 1 set measuring spoons
- cling film or saran wrap
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Comments & Reviews
Those look very yummy