This recipe for Italian Pistachio Cookies uses only 5 ingredients. The cookies are soft and share the tastes of pistachio and lemon. They are great for a quick cookie recipe any time of the year, and the green color also makes them a great fit for Christmas dessert!
Recipe Origin
When I was living abroad in Italy I developed a very bad/wonderful habit of walking into random bakeries every time I went anywhere. I couldn’t help myself! I would always order something I had never tried before, trying to expand my horizons as much as possible when it came to Italian food.
There was one bakery that stood out to me above all the rest. I don’t remember the name of it, but take me back to Roma and I could walk you there with my eyes closed. And inside this bakery, there was one cookie that crowned every other cookie.
I found myself buying this cookie whenever I walked by Campo Dei Fiori (which happened frequently) and savoring every single delicious bite.
Once I came home I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to buy the cookie whenever I wanted, and was absolutely devastated.
Harnessing the power of the internet, I took to my blog. On my Instagram Stories I described the cookie…. The taste, the color, the shape, the deliciousness.
People around the world were sending me links and photos of cookie recipes that might fit my description, but none of them matched my beloved cookie.
Finally, one of my followers from India messaged me. He had a friend that was studying to be a pastry chef in Italy and he had asked her about the cookie.. She used my clues and gave her best guess; I looked it up. She was right!!
Finally, I had what I needed. I could only find recipes for this cookie with almond flavoring, but, in my opinion, the pistachio is what makes the cookie great.
I adapted the recipes I found and came up with this beautiful creation…. My Italian Pistachio Cookies. I hope you love them as much as I do!
Why Make this Recipe
- Soft Italian Cookie: It’s very rare to find an Italian cookie that is soft instead of crunchy. And while I love the flavors of Italian cookies, I’m not always a fan of the crunchiness (except with biscotti… those are always delicious). This cookie takes the taste of Italian Pistachios and pairs it with a soft, delicate cookie that you will love.
- 5 Ingredients: No need to buy a million extracts or flavorings for this cookie. Simply use the 5 ingredients in this recipe and have a delicious cookie in no time!
- Great for Christmas: Want a unique and delicious cookie for Christmas? This recipe is perfect, especially for it’s green color!
What Ingredients Do I Need to Make this Recipe
- Pistachios: You can buy these in bulk in the health section of your grocery store. Make sure they are shelled (for ease) and unsalted (for taste). Do not roast your pistachios.
- Almond Flour: Almond flour can be found in your grocery store, typically with the rest of the organic flours. I use Bob’s Red Mills. Make sure you buy super-fine flour as opposed to coarse.
- Lemon Zest: The easiest way to zest a lemon (in my opinion) is to run it across the medium setting on a cheese grater. You can also use a lemon zester if you are lucky enough to have one (I am not).
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How to Make this Recipe
Step 1: Make the Dough
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Use a spice grinder or food processor to grind the pistachios into a fine flour.
In a bowl, combine the pistachio flour with the almond flour. Add sugar, eggs, and lemon zest.
Mix to combine.
Step 2: Form Cookies
Break cookie dough into pieces a little bigger than a walnut shell. Coat hands in powdered sugar and rub on the outside of the cookie dough ball until the dough is covered in powdered sugar.
Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, leaving indents with your fingers on the dough.
Step 3: Bake
Bake for about 15 minutes. The dough should still be soft, like marzipan.
Bake for 18-22 minutes for a crunchier cookie.
Expert Tips
- When processing the pistachios into flour, make sure to use a high powered grinder. I would recommend a food processor.
- You may need to open the food processor, stir the pistachios, and continue processing. Make sure that the flour is very fine and that there are no hard pistachios left in the flour. You can even run the flour through a sieve to ensure you’ve gotten all of the hard pieces out.
- The cookies are meant to be softer cookies. However, if you want them to be a bit crunchier, like normal Italian cookies, feel free to bake them for about 20-22 minutes instead of the recommended 15.
- If you want a less strong lemon flavor, use about ½ of the lemon zest suggested.
Recipe FAQs
Can I Buy Pistachio Flour?
You certainly can buy pistachio flour if you’d like, however I wouldn’t recommend it. Pistachio flour is incredibly expensive and not typically found in stores. You’d likely need to buy it off of the internet and have it shipped to your house. If you want to do this, you can buy Pistachio Flour here.
However, I recommend buying pistachios and simply grinding them into flour yourself. It is far easier than searching high and low for pistachio flour or paying a large amount of money for a single pound.
Did you like this Pistachio Cookie Recipe? If so, check out these other recipes I’ve picked out just for you:
- Pecan Snowball Cookies
- Fast and Easy Maple Cookie Recipe
- Cocadas: Coconut Cookies from Bolivia
- Easy Cucumber Salad Recipe with Pistachio
Traditional Italian Pistachio Cookies
Ingredients
- 200 g 1 ⅔ cup shelled, unroasted, unsalted pistachios, (shelled means no shells on the pistachios!)
- 175 g 1 ¾ cup almond flour
- 175 g 1 ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 2 eggs
- Zest of one lemon
- Extra powdered sugar, for coating
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Use a spice grinder or food processor to grind the pistachios into a fine flour.
- In a bowl, combine the pistachio flour with the almond flour. Add sugar, eggs, and lemon zest. Mix to combine.
- Break cookie dough into pieces a little bigger than a walnut shell. Coat hands in powdered sugar and rub on the outside of the cookie dough ball until the dough is covered in powdered sugar.
- Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, leaving indents with your fingers on the dough.
- Bake for about 15 minutes. The dough should still be soft, like marzipan. Bake for 18-22 minutes for a crunchier cookie.
Notes
- Pistachios: You can buy these in bulk in the health section of your grocery store. Make sure they are shelled (for ease) and unsalted (for taste). Do not roast your pistachios.
- Almond Flour: Almond flour can be found in your grocery store, typically with the rest of the organic flours. I use Bob’s Red Mills. Make sure you buy super-fine flour as opposed to coarse.
- Lemon Zest: The easiest way to zest a lemon (in my opinion) is to run it across the medium setting on a cheese grater. You can also use a lemon zester if you are lucky enough to have one (I am not).
- When processing the pistachios into flour, make sure to use a high powered grinder. I would recommend a food processor.
- You may need to open the food processor, stir the pistachios, and continue processing. Make sure that the flour is very fine and that there are no hard pistachios left in the flour. You can even run the flour through a sieve to ensure you’ve gotten all of the hard pieces out.
- The cookies are meant to be softer cookies. However, if you want them to be a bit crunchier, like normal Italian cookies, feel free to bake them for about 20-22 minutes instead of the recommended 15.
- If you want a less strong lemon flavor, use about ½ of the lemon zest suggested.
Jo says
Hands down this has to be my new fav recipe, i used lightly salted roasted shelled pistachios (only thing i could find, not from bulk food store) super easy to make, and taste is divine, almost like the lebanese pistachio cookie with the choc dipped top, these are better than bakery store ones.
The Foreign Fork says
Im so glad you like the cookies Jo! They are a personal favorite of mine as well 🙂 Thank you for leaving a review!
Mary says
Hi, could you share ingredient quantities to make 42 cookies ?
The Foreign Fork says
Hi Mary, Just double everything in the recipe!
Jo says
I shaped mine with a 3cm mini ice cream scoop, i got 45 with single recipe, just right size also. Baked perfect in 15 min.
Mary says
Could you confirm how much of each ingredient I need?
– 175 g almond flour (which is about 0.75 cup almond flour)
– 175 g cup powdered sugar (which is about 0.75 cup powdered sugar)
– 200 g cup shelled, unroasted, unsalted pistachios (which is about 0.85 cup pistachios)
Thx for sharing this recipe and I’m excited to try it!
The Foreign Fork says
Hi Mary,
I’m so glad you’re excited for the recipe! Based on your comment, I got nervous that the measurements in my recipe card were wrong so I remade the cookies last night and remeasured the grams and cups of every ingredient. The conversions that I have in the recipe card are accurate based on the weighing that I did again last night! Go with the grams measurements or with the cups that are listed in the recipe card and either will work out for you just fine 🙂
PS just in case this was a point of confusion, the “shelled pistachios” means they do not have shells on. That might be affected your weights!
Emma says
A HUGE hit at my family’s thanksgiving and a Friendsgiving 🥰 I’m an average baker and these cookies were easy to bake AND everyone loved them. My family wouldn’t stop talking about them at our feast! Thank you Alexandria 🙂
The Foreign Fork says
Yay, that is the best compliment, Emma! I’m so glad your family liked the cookies. Thank you for leaving a review 🙂
Rocky says
Hello, I’m excited to make these cookies for my family this year for Christmas. I’m starting to make cookies now in October, as I usually make several different cookies. If I am using pistachio flour rather than starting with whole/halved pistachios and then grinding into pistachio flour, is the weight/measurement of pistachio flour the same? If it is different, what weight/measurement would I use?
The Foreign Fork says
Yes the weight is still the same! Enjoy them!
Debbie says
And they are gluten free! Thank you for a great recipe that I will make again and again!
The Foreign Fork says
Yes they are!! So glad you liked the recipe, Debbie 🙂 Thanks for the kind review!
Esther says
Can I freeze the pistachio cookies after dusting them with icing sugar ????
Esther
The Foreign Fork says
Yes you can!
Joan says
Should I freeze before of after baking?
The Foreign Fork says
After 🙂
Tena says
I am allergic to almonds what can I use instead of almond flower will pistachio flour work?
The Foreign Fork says
Hi Teena, This recipe does use pistachio flour already (that is what grinding up the pistachios makes). This recipe needs to be made as is, because the flours are important to the texture of the cookie. If you are allergic to almonds, this is not the right recipe for you.
Dev says
I absolutely love these cookies, I’ve made them half a dozen times in the last few months. I’ve experimented with substituting the almond flour with cashew flour as well as hazelnut flour, including a mixture of all three, and I can assure they all work well! Great texture and flavor. I bake them on a Pit Boss Navigator pellet grill and the hint of smoke takes them to the next level..
The Foreign Fork says
Hi Dev, it makes me so happy that you love the cookies so much!! I will need to experiment with cashew flour and hazelnut flour myself, that sounds DELICIOUS!! Thank you for leaving a comment 🙂
Alexandra says
Can I also use all-purpose flour instead of almond flour?
Thank you!
The Foreign Fork says
All purpose flour and almond flour will lead to very different results in this recipe. I would recommend sticking with almond flour. It can be ordered online or found in most grocery stores!
Sue Cook says
Best Cookies and easy to make ❤
The Foreign Fork says
So glad you liked them Sue, thanks for leaving a comment 🙂