Raspberry Pistachio Cookies

Raspberry Pistachio Cookies have the perfect balance of fresh raspberries and crunchy pistachios in a delicious, chewy cookie. It's a super-easy recipe with no special equipment, and it all comes together in 15 minutes.

I first baked this recipe in 2020. Baking cookies is one of my favorite things to do, and I am constantly updating my cookie recipes with new photos and pro tips based on your feedback and questions. Let's get started!

Best Raspberry Pistachio Cookies Recipe

Making this raspberry pistachio cookie recipe is just as easy as making my popular chocolate chip cookie recipe! It's an easy cookie dough loaded with fresh raspberries and pistachios, perfectly balanced in sweetness.

My made-from-scratch recipe isn't just one of the most delicious you will try. Thanks to my foolproof technique and perfectly balanced combination of pantry essentials, it is also one of the easiest. Even beginners will find this recipe a breeze. The recipe is packed with helpful information and expert tips to achieve the most fresh, flavorful, and chewy raspberry pistachio cookies.

If you love pistachios as much as I do, don't forget to check out my collection of pistachio desserts.

Katalin's Take On How To Incorporate Pistachios and Raspberries Into Cookies

I love the flavor of pistachios and raspberries together. It's a match made in heaven! Fresh raspberries give cookie dough a juicy hit of berry flavor, and pistachios have the most delicious taste and nutty texture.

In this pistachio raspberry cookie recipe, we add raspberries and pistachios to the cookie dough itself, and we also add more to the cookies during baking to get the best flavor. For the best pistachio flavor, you can either add pistachio flour directly to the dough or blend pistachios with flour in a food processor, as I explain in this recipe later.

I then like to garnish the cookies with freeze-dried raspberries and more chopped pistachios to triple down on this flavor combination. This way, you get a mixture of the baked fruit, which is sweeter and more intense, and still get some fresher berry flavor as well.

Make My Easy 10-Minute Cookie Dough

Blend the smaller portion of pistachios with the all-purpose flour in a food processor (or use a blender) until finely ground. Whisk this pistachio-flour mixture with the salt and baking soda. This is your 'dry' mixture.

Cream the room temperature butter together with both the granulated and brown sugars. You can use an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. After a few minutes, when it is light and fluffy, slowly add the room temperature egg and vanilla, and mix until just combined. This is your 'wet' mixture.

Fold your dry mixture into the wet ingredients using a spatula until just combined. Then carefully fold in the remaining chopped pistachios and fresh raspberries. Try not to smash the raspberries too much. Save a handful of both to top the cookies during baking.

Using an ice cream or cookie scoop, divide the dough into 10-12 equal balls and place them onto two parchment-lined baking sheets. If you prefer, you can weigh them to ensure they are even.

The raspberry pistachio cookies will spread as they bake, so I recommend baking 5-6 per sheet and leaving space between them for the cookies to spread.

Do not soften or smooth the surface of the cookie dough balls; in fact, try to keep it as rough as possible for a nice, crackly surface on the raspberry pistachio cookies.

You Will Want to Chill the Dough to Avoid Flat Cookies

It is super important to chill the cookie dough for at least one hour before baking. This is to help us achieve fluffy cookies with raspberry and pistachio that aren't overspread and sad-looking.

If the dough is already warm or just at room temperature, the ingredients will soften and melt faster in the oven before the baking soda can react with the other ingredients and cause them to rise, meaning the cookies spread out more.

We aim to achieve a thick, crackly surface and fudgey cookies. So they need to be cold before you bake! If you don’t have an hour to wait, try 15 minutes in the freezer. But don't bake them immediately after mixing the raspberry pistachio cookie dough. Learn more about why your cookies might be flat and how to avoid this issue.

Let's Bake!

While the cookie dough is chilling, preheat your oven to 175°C / 350°F.

Bake the chilled raspberry pistachio cookies for 16-18 minutes in total, but take them out after 12 minutes to add the reserved raspberries and pistachios.

Continue baking the cookies for 4-6 minutes until the edges are golden and the center is set but still slightly gooey, but not wet-looking. Avoid overbaking your cookies!

Leave the cookies to cool for a few minutes on the baking pan before moving them to a cooling rack. Before serving, garnish with more chopped nuts and crushed freeze-dried raspberries.

Store & Freeze Cookies Like a Pro

Store the baked raspberry pistachio cookies in an airtight container on the counter for up to 2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Although there are rarely any leftovers in my house!

Once baked, they are best enjoyed fresh, but you can freeze the cookie dough balls in ziplock bags for up to one month. I like to freeze them on a tray until solid, and then transfer them to the bags. You can even bake from frozen; they will need a bit longer in the oven.

Learn more about how to freeze cookie dough and bake from frozen.

Flavor Variations

Try using other nuts, like walnuts, macadamia nuts, or pecans, instead of pistachios for a different nutty flavor but with just as much crunch.

Add a few handfuls of white or dark chocolate chips to give these cookies a chocolate hit. Always use good-quality chocolate chips, and avoid those labeled 'baking chocolate,' as they can become greasy.

Or try using blueberries or blackberries instead of raspberries for a different fruity flavor!

Substitute the Ingredients Wisely

For perfectly gooey cookies with raspberries and pistachios, you need a recipe with the correct ratio of ingredients. Substitutions will affect the taste and texture, so make them carefully!

All-purpose flour (AP flour, or plain flour) is a medium-strength flour that works well for baked goods like cookies and brownies. You can use a mixture of pastry flour and bread flour instead if this is all you have.

Using both white and brown sugar allows for the best texture with slight caramel undertones from the extra molasses. You can use just white sugar or just brown sugar, but a combination of both is best. Do not reduce the overall amount of sugar, as this is necessary for the texture of the raspberry pistachio cookies.

You can use frozen raspberries instead of fresh raspberries, but you will need to increase the baking time by a few minutes.

Check out my baking guides to learn more about popular baking ingredients and their roles in baking.

Expert Tips For Making Raspberry Pistachio Cookies

1. The butter must be at room temperature so it is soft enough to cream and emulsify properly. Avoid last-minute microwaving and take it out of the fridge an hour ahead of time! Read my guide on how to soften butter quickly.
2. Always use room temperature eggs in baking! Do not use cold eggs; they will not emulsify properly.
3. Make sure you add the salt; it is essential for elevating the flavors and balancing sweetness.
4. Unsalted green pistachios without the shell and skin work best in this recipe. If you shell them yourself, try to remove as much of the flaky skin as possible. If you wash and semi-dry your hands and then rub the pistachios between your fingers, the skin will flake off more easily.
5. Don't skip the chilling time for the cookie dough, or you can end up with flat cookies.
6. It is better to underbake these cookies than to overbake them. Always avoid overbaking cookies!
7. For perfectly round and crinkly cookies, take them out of the oven when there are 10 minutes left of baking time and use a cookie cutter to make circular movements around them. This tightens up the edges and encourages more crinkling to form on top.
8. Did your cookies spread too much despite all your efforts? Check out my guide on why cookies came out flat and how to fix them.

What Equipment To Use

Baking is a science and requires precision, so weigh your ingredients by the gram using a digital scale for accuracy.

Combine the raspberry pistachio cookie dough with an electric hand mixer and then a rubber spatula.

Always use a digital oven thermometer to ensure you are baking at the right temperature and avoid over-baked, crumbly, and dry cookies.

Let the cookies cool on a wire rack after baking.

Try Some Of My Other Cookie Recipes

If you love cookies, I have plenty of other recipes for you to try next. Here are some reader favourites:

• Brownie cookies
• Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies
• Lemon poppyseed cookies
• Almond croissant cookies
• S'mores cookies

And check out my round-up of the best unique cookie recipes here.

Have you tried this recipe?

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