There are two other ingredients, aside from the pistachios themselves, that contribute greatly to the cookie in terms of making sure these cookies are pistachio-centric. One is pistachio flavor, which is often sold in small dram (3/4th teaspoon-sized) bottles and useful for making ice cream and baked goods. The other is pistachio oil. I purchased both for the purpose of making the cupcakes in my previous blog post. I ended up not using a lot of either, so I figured I could make cookies to help use these ingredients up, otherwise they’d just sit in my cupboard until eventually they’d end up getting rancid, and then I’d have to throw them away. I’m glad I made these, because they are pretty amazing, if I do say so myself! They are large and slightly on the flat side, but fairly crunchy and crispy, but also with a little chew.

I forms the cookies into balls and let them sit overnight in the fridge to get very cold before baking them off. Judging from the amount of spread, they would be too flat if you baked them without refrigerating the dough first to get very cold. Ever since I read somewhere that cookies taste better and seem better when the raw dough is refrigerated for a little while, I think I pretty much assume that refrigerating raw dough for a bit before baking is always a good thing. I’m sure there are cookie doughs that don’t require refrigerating beforehand, but this isn’t one of them. If you want to bake them off right away without refrigerating the dough first, I’d increase the flour by about 1/2 cup. I’ve not tried this out, though, so try this at your own risk. Even with this extra flour, I’d still refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes and to make sure the baking sheets aren’t warm before already before using.

oatmeal pistachio cookies

ingredients 

1 and 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened, slightly colder than room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/4 teaspoon pistachio flavor

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup pistachio oil

1 cup shelled pistachio nuts, whole, lightly toasted

1/4 cup chopped pistachios

method

Into a medium bowl, add the rolled oats, flour, salt, and baking soda together and stir with a whisk several times. Set aside.

In another bowl, cream the butter with the sugars for 5 minutes until lighter and fluffy.

Add the eggs to the creamed butter/sugar mixture, and beat before adding the next one, until incorporated.

Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the pistachio flavor and vanilla extract, beating again until mixed in.

Slowly drizzle the pistachio oil in a steady stream while continuing to beat, until all the oil is mixed in.

Add the flour mixture and stir and fold in until all the flour is moistened, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl again. 

Fold in the pistachio nuts. 

Divide cookie dough into 1/4 cup portions and place close together on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper covered with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 

Add 6 balls of cookie dough per baking sheet, flattening and rounding each slightly and making sure there is at least three inches between each cookie. Bake for about 15 minutes, just until the middles of each cookie no longer look wet, but can look slightly pale towards the center. 

Remove from oven and place baking sheet on wire racks to let cookies cool for at least 15 minutes before even removing them as cookies will still be soft, but harden as they cool.

Enjoy with a tall glass of milk!