Salted Honey Pistachio Cookies are soft, extra flavorful cookies made with browned butter, sea salt, honey and salted pistachios. This sweet and salty treat is easy to make, too!
Perfect Pistachio Cookies
You know I love a good cookie recipe. I basically built my whole business around my cookie obsession. I mean find what you love, right? Anyhow, over the coarse of the almost TEN YEARS I feel like I have perfected the art of the cookie. At least, I have perfected MY version of the perfect cookie. Chocolate Chip, Snickerdoodle, White Chocolate…yep, I’ve made them all hundreds of times. So coming up with new, and interesting cookie recipes over the last few years has gotten a little tougher. I have to get more and more creative…which is cool, I’m all about a challenge.
Anyhow, that brings me to today’s (delicious) recipe, Salted Honey Pistachio Cookies. I generally am a no-nut kinda gal…especially in cookies. I do make an exception from time to time, though. And pistachios are the perfect excuse to go nuts in.
These easy pistachio cookies are packed with flavor! I browned the butter, so there’s that. I also included coarse sea salt and honey to give them a different type of sweetness. AND white chocolate, because why not. You could also, certainly, use dark chocolate chips or semi-sweet chips in these cookies. Yes, totally.
When you brown the butter, just let it cool for a bit. You don’t want it to be piping hot.
And the coarse sea salt throughout the cookie adds little pockets of salty. If you don’t love this, go ahead and sub out the coarse sea salt for kosher salt.
Also, make sure not to over-bake these. The key to getting an extra soft cookie is to take them out of the oven slightly underdone and allow them to “carry over” cook on the pan for a few minutes on the baking sheet before cooking them on a wire rack.
I love the extra flavor the browned butter and honey give to these cookie to make them really unique!
PrintSalted Honey Pistachio Cookies
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Prep Time: 30 minutes - Cook Time: 8 minutes
- Total Time: 38 minutes
- Yield: 36 cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
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PinDescription:
Salted Honey Pistachio Cookies are soft, extra flavorful cookies made with browned butter, sea salt, honey and salted pistachios. This sweet and salty treat is easy to make, too!
Ingredients:
- 1 cup butter
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup chopped pistachios
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- optional – flaked sea salt for garnish
Instructions:
- In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat melt the butter and bring to a boil. Stir or swirl pan consistently as the butter boils and begins to brown (about 5 minutes). It will turn a deep amber color. Remove from the heat and allow the butter to cool for 20-30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- When the butter is cooled add it to the bowl of your stand mixer, along with the brown sugar and granulated sugar. Mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Add in the honey, egg, vanilla, sea salt, and baking soda. Mix for an additional minute, until combined.
- Turn mixer to low and add in flour, mixing until just incorporated. Stir in the pistachios and white chocolate chips until evenly combined.
- Using a medium cookie scoop (2 tablespoons) drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet about 2- inches apart. Bake for 8 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden. Don’t over-bake.
- Allow the cookies to cool for 3-4 minutes on the baking sheet, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Sprinkle with flaked sea salt if desired.
Notes:
The trick to keeping these cookies soft is to watch the bake time carefully. All ovens bake slightly differently, also the baking sheet you use can make a huge difference. I bake these for exactly 8 minutes in my oven, and the cookie gets slightly golden at the edges while looking slightly underdone on top. They will continue to bake as they sit on the hot baking sheet, so make sure to let them sit on the sheet for 4-5 minutes after you take them out of the oven.
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Hi! I’m Shelly and I’m an addict. Of the buttercream sort. I started this site a few years ago as a way to justify my sugary, buttery obsession with desserts. It has worked out well for me so far, because as it turns out you guys all love sugary, buttery desserts too! It feels good to know you're not alone, doesn’t it?
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My all time favorite cookie recipe! I LOVE the white chocolate and pistachios but have also enjoyed substituting them for semi-sweet chocolate chips and pecans or walnuts. They are so SO good!
★★★★★
So glad you like them!!
Can these cookies be frozen after they are baked?
Sure!
Oh. My. Word. I just made these for my son, who loves pistachios, and they are incredible! Sweet but not too sweet. Salty but not too salty. Soft and chewy, but not mushy. They came out exactly as shown in your beautiful pictures. He will love them — he cooks for a hospitality group that has, among other things, an upscale Mediterranean-influenced restaurant, and I think these would be a terrific dessert (maybe in brownie form, served warm, with some yummy ice cream?). Thank you for this little bit of deliciousness.
★★★★★
Best review ever!! So glad you like them!!
Hi Shelly, what type of pistachios do you use? Salted, dry roasted or plain? Can’t wait to make them!!
I used roasted and salted, but it’s up to you honestly! I like the extra salt on pistachios! And the brand I use is Wonderful ? Here’s a link: https://amzn.to/2NEsfEW
What kind/brand of pistachios did you use?
I used roasted and salted, but it’s up to you honestly! I like the extra salt on pistachios! And the brand I use is Wonderful 🙂 Here’s a link: https://amzn.to/2NEsfEW
Thanks for sharing! Do they keep long?
These look so good! Do you use this base for any other recipes?
This is our favorite cookie recipe! We love it as is but have also tried it with walnuts and semi-sweet chocolate chips. So SO yummy!
★★★★★
love hearing that you like them!!
I made these and they’re fantastic. They turned out perfectly.
★★★★★
would like to know if I can use just the brown sugar and honey only? will it change the sweetness of the cookies or texture?
You can 3/4 cup of light brown sugar, and omit the granulated, but make sure to use the full 3/4 cup of sugar, no matter the type!
Update…these were a huge success! Served with homemade pistachio ice cream…a keeper for sure….thank you for a great recipe!
great idea!!!
Hi Shelly What is the “shelf life” of these cookies when stored in a heat-sealed plastic cookie bag?
They will be on the shelf room temp. They look terrific. The customers for whom I bake prefer
soft type cookies not crispy/crunchy. and with at least a 5 day “shelf-life” Much thanks for your reply.
I always say 3 days for best freshness, but they will last for 5 days, certainly.
Thoughts on freezing the dough? Do you think it would be okay to roll the dough in balls before hand and just cook that way rather than the dropped spoonfuls?
That should be fine!
I made these with semi sweet chocolate chips. Easy to follow recipe and beautiful results.
Here’s an addition to my earlier comment. I just asked my husband what he thought of these cookies. He said he thought they were the best I’ve ever made! And I make a LOT of cookies!
Love hearing this!!!
Just made these. I’m not sure they are fully cooked (followed your directions exactly) and I made 43. They are delicious! I’m a huge white chocolate fan, pistachios too. Loved the combo. I sprinkled them with Maldon sea salt.
It tasted fantastic. Thank you so much !!
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Salted or unsalted butter
I use salted, but it’s a personal preference 🙂
Great! I would like to chill the dough overnight…do you see any issues with that?
Yes, I would like to make the dough ahead because I would like the cookies to be fresh when I serve them but I won’t have a lot of time. Can I make the dough a day or two before? They look so yummy and impressive!
Yes, absolutely!
These are really calling to me… yum!
Hi,
I love the recipe.
The pictures are superb.
Thank you,
Cookie