These easy to make pistachio cookies melt in your mouth and are so delicious! Coated in powdered sugar, an added single red heart gives them a cute, Christmas Grinch vibe.
Are you looking for an adorable Christmas cookie recipe for Santa? He is sure to love these buttery, melt-in-your mouth Grinch Pistachio Meltaway Cookies.
Christmas happens to be my favorite time of year. I love pretty much every aspect of this jolly season from the music, to the decor, and of course the food!
There is nothing that evokes more joy to my taste buds than a fresh-baked cookie. Can I get an amen? Cookies and the Christmas season go hand-in-hand so I am excited to share these cookies with you today!
I am also going to share some baking & prep tips to ensure your Grinch cookies come our perfectly.
The beauty of this recipe is that you can omit the hearts and simply enjoy these pistachio pudding cookies “as is”. The overall ingredients list is pretty common too which is great and always appreciated!
Pistachio Pudding Cookies Ingredients
- 1 cup powdered sugar divided
- 3.4 oz pistachio pudding instant mix
- 1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1 1/2 tsps. almond extract *vanilla works too
- 1/2 cup chopped pistachios optional
- 12 candy hearts red
Tips for Making Pistachio Pudding Cookies
- You will want to refrigerate the dough so your cookies do not spread into thin, burnt puddings.
- You can make this dough ahead of time and refrigerate for 24 hours.
- Baking them on parchment is important.
- Allow them to cool for 5 minutes before dipping them in powdered sugar.
- The candy heart should be added after the powdered sugar.
- I do not recommend freezing these. They are best eaten within the first 3 days of baking. Over time, they can get a wet texture from the powdered sugar.
- These cookies are very sweet & buttery and melt away in your mouth. If you do not like a buttery cookie, these might not be for you.
- The nuts can be omitted.
- You can swap the nuts with maraschino cherries. You just have to be sure to pat them down well to remove excess moisture. Add up to 1/2 cup of chopped cherries.
- Pistachio pudding mix must be instant. It does also contain a few small pistachio pieces throughout.
Recipes that use Pistachio Instant Pudding
Pistachio Meltaway Cookies
Equipment
- baking sheet
- stand mixer
- tablespoon cookie scoop
Ingredients
- 1 cup powdered sugar divided
- 3.4 oz pistachio pudding instant mix
- 1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1 1/2 tsps. almond extract *Vanilla works too
- 1/2 cup chopped pistachios optional
- 12 candy hearts red
Instructions
- Add butter to a standmixer and beat until fluffy.
- Add the 1/2 cup of powdered sugar, pudding packet, and flour.
- Mix until combined. Add in the extract. The batter with not be too sticky.
- Remove batter and place it into plastic wrap and wrap.
- Place in the fridge for 1 hour.
- When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Line the baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Using a tablespoon cookie scoop, measure out one 1 tablespoon of dough and roll it into a ball.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes or until edges are slightly golden brown.
- Allow cookies to firm for 5 minutes.
- Dip them in additional powdered sugar & insert a small candy heart into each. Enjoy!
Hi Tara, by any chance, was your butter melted? These are finicky in that the butter has to be just soft, and the dough must be adequately chilled. Sorry you had this experience.
Followed the directions bur my cookies are flat and the center is doughy. Not sure what I did wrong.
Sorry, it is 12 cookies!
The recipe says it makes 18 but it only calls for 12 candy hearts. Does it make 12 or 18? Thank you.
I love that these are really easy to make!! Really perfect for the holidays!
wow! I am drooling over these cookies! They are too cute and tasty!
My husband would love these cookies. He likes pistachios a lot and to enjoy them in cookie form even better. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
I’ll have to add these to my holiday baking list. Of course, I’ll have to make a test batch first. ????
I want to try this recipe. I love pistachio pudding so I am sure it would add quite a bit to the cookie.
These cookies look amazing! I absolutely love pistachio pudding and I bet it would make the taste of these awesome!
I love these pistachio cookies. Especially that little red tip on top each of them.
These are so cool looking. They look so easy to make.
I think Santa would love these cookies, as long as we can hold a couple for him, away from our kids! This looks fun and easy to make!