Pistachio Butter Cookies — Two Ways — for St. Patrick’s Day

How do you use and cook with pistachio butter? Hum. We received a jar of pistachio butter for Christmas from our Southern California relatives. This will be an adventure as I am not familiar with pistachio butter. I love a challenge. The pistachio butter had a green tint; it wasn’t too sweet. It vaguely fits into a St. Patrick’s Day theme — which is coming right up. The pistachio butter reminded me of peanut butter which brought up the idea of making cookies. I did a deep dive on the internet for recipes and found that other folks had already figured out that you can use pistachio butter to make cookies. I couldn’t decide between between two cookie varieties: “Pistachio Butter Thumbprint Cookies” and “Pistachio Butter Snap Cookies.” I love cookies and since both used a similar dough with a few flavor differences, I made both types.

“Pistachio Butter Snap Cookies”

This cookie reminds me of ginger snap cookies. The cookie is crisp and it “snaps” for flavor. For this cookie recipe, I added both ground cardamom and orange peel to the dough. Cardamon is a spice used in the cuisine of many countries from Indian, to the Middle East and to Swedish cuisine. The seeds within the pods are used either whole or ground. The spice is pungent with hints of lemon and mint. It can be included in either sweet or savory dishes. My idea is that the cardamon would add a flavor “pop” to the cookies.

My idea is that the cardamon would add a bright, snappy flavor to the cookies. And, look — the cookies have a green tint!

“Pistachio Butter Kiss Cookies”

I love Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies so I figured I would like the same recipe substituting in pistachio butter. For these cookies, I added vanilla extract and aromatic almond extract along with Hershey’s Kisses.

These cookies look just like classic thumbprint cookies. Although I used the same sugar cookie dough, the cookies lost the green color.

About Pistachios

Pistachios are a nut — actually a seed — which are grown on small trees. About 97% of all these nuts in the US are grown in California — I guess this that is why my brother’s family sent us the pistachios. When pistachios ripen, the hull pops. A tarp or net is placed under the trees and the trees are shaken to remove the nuts. I found that pistachios had a bland flavor — it didn’t overwhelm the cookies. If you find a pistachio whose hull hasn’t popped yet, it probably is not ripe enough to consume. Pistachios are sold both raw and roasted — shelled or unshelled — salted and unsalted. Raw pistachios are preferred for cooking while roasted (salted or unsalted) make great snacks.

These recipes used both pistachio butter and ground pistachios.  Pistachio butter is made by blending roasted, unsalted and shelled pistachios until the nuts release their oils and turn into a creamy paste. Ground pistachios just aren’t blended as finely.

Sugar Cookie Recipe

I used a basic sugar cookie recipe as the base for these cookies. Here are the ingredients. I used both granulated sugar and brown sugar in this recipe.

To mix up the cookies, I creamed the sugars and butter using an electric mixer. Then I blended in the egg, pistachio butter and extracts. Lastly, I added the dry ingredients, spices and ground pistachios. Since the cookies differed slightly in ingredients, I mixed each batch separately.

Rolling out the Cookies

The “Pistachio Butter Snap Cookies” are large. Each one is about two tablespoons or 40 grams. I rolled them out into balls, then used a fork to make an indentation in each one.

The “The Pistachio Butter Blossom Cookies” are much smaller. I used one tablespoon (or a small spoon) to measure each one. These were 15 grams, each. Dipping them in raw sugar made a crunchy texture. After baking partially, I added a Hershey kiss. to the center of each cookie and then baked for another minute or two.

Which cookie do I like the best? Why, both are great. These cookies aren’t too, too sweet. The pistachio butter and finely ground pistachios added a subtle nutty flavor. And, if you look closely, there is a faint green. Just enough for St. Patrick’s Day in my opinion.

I had to move quickly to get a good photo of the cookies on a plate. They disappeared quickly!

Cooking with pistachio butter was a creative and fun adventure. My kind of an afternoon in the kitchen. And, I have two new cookie recipes with slight flavor variations, thanks to the Christmas present from my California relatives. Enjoy these two cookie recipes!