Why It Works
- Adding a small amount of pistachio paste imparts the cookies with deep, nutty flavor while keeping their texture chewy.
- Leaving the pistachios in larger pieces makes their flavor stand out, while finely chopping the chocolate ensures even distribution throughout the cookies.
Like many bakers, I have a long history with chocolate chip cookies. They’re the closest thing my mom has to a signature recipe, and she’s famous for them. Naturally, they were the first thing I learned to bake, and I have plenty of memories of making them alongside her. Since then, I’ve graduated from pastry school, worked in pastry kitchens, and tested countless recipes, both for fun and for work. Over time, I’ve learned that there’s no single way to make a great chocolate chip cookie, but the dough’s versatility is what makes it so much fun to play with. Once you have a base you love, you can swap in different chocolates or fold in nuts, oats, coconut, or dried fruit.
When I first tried a Dubai chocolate bar, the wildly popular dark chocolate treat filled with pistachio cream and crispy kataifi, I was immediately struck by how well pistachios pair with dark chocolate, and I’ve been fixated on the combination ever since. There are scores of recipes online for elaborate homemade Dubai chocolate–inspired desserts, but I wanted a faster way to get that same flavor profile. I hoped the answer lay in a pistachio chocolate chip cookie.
When baking cookies, I’m usually not looking for an involved project, which is why I default to Stella Parks’ recipe for quick and easy chocolate chip cookies—they’re as quick and easy as advertised. What makes these cookies stand out is their texture, which strikes the ideal balance between chewy centers and crisp edges.
I started by adding chopped pistachios to Stella’s recipe, but that alone didn’t deliver the rich pistachio flavor I was after. Next, I ground the nuts and replaced some of the flour with the pistachio meal. Without enough flour to provide structure—and with the extra fat from the nuts—the cookies spread too much, turning thin and overly crisp. By my third batch, I was getting close. I swapped some of the white and brown sugar for sweetened pistachio paste and added chopped pistachios. The flavor was good, but there was still too much chocolate overpowering the nuts. Several batches later, I found the right ratio of chocolate to pistachio for cookies that are still very much chocolate chip cookies—but with plentiful, pronounced pistachio flavor. Pulling back on the chocolate and chopping it into fairly small pieces lets the pistachios shine, while keeping the nuts chunky enhances their flavor and gives each bite a satisfying crunch.
My recipe doesn’t call for a lot of pistachio cream, but it’s essential to achieving a really rich, nutty flavor. It also lends just a hint of a muted green color. Feel free to make homemade pistachio paste, but a high quality store-bought option will be just as good, and it will spare you the project. When shopping, keep in mind that some brands label it as pistachio paste and others as pistachio cream—they’re essentially the same thing.
Serious Eats / Jatin Sharma
For this recipe, choose a pistachio paste that’s primarily made from pistachios, sweetened with sugar, and blended with a little oil for a smooth, creamy texture. Vicente Delicacies’ Cream of Pistachio is the one I usually keep on hand, but plenty of other excellent options are available. Note that some pistachio pastes are closer in texture to pistachio butter—made mostly from ground nuts with not much else added. While that’s great for spreading on toast, it won’t work here—the lack of sugar and added fat in the cream changes both the flavor and texture of the cookies.
Once my cookies were exactly where I wanted them to be, I decided to run just one more test for fun. I made a final batch using white chocolate instead of dark. It’s a simple one-to-one swap that creates a completely different cookie—sweeter, creamier, and a little more buttery, with the pistachio flavor coming through even more clearly. If you like white chocolate, you’ll love this version.
Enjoy these cookies warm with a cup of coffee or tea, or let them cool for perfectly chewy, nutty bites.
