These Pistachio Shortbread Cookies are absolutely divine. They are buttery, crumbly, packed with chopped pistachios, and dipped in dark chocolate - what's not to love?
TL;DR Recipe Snapshot
What it is: Buttery shortbread cookies packed with chopped pistachios and dipped in chocolate.
Why you'll love it: Authentic Scottish shortbread recipe with only 5 ingredients, no mixer or food processor or cookie cutters needed.
How to make it: Combine butter and sugar, then mix in the flour and bring it together into a dough. Roll into a log, chill, then slice and bake.
Reader Review:
I've made these cookies many times, and every time, I have no leftovers and many requests for the recipe! So easy to make, and the perfect blend of salty and sweet!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Kelley
Shortbread is something I don't mess around with. I grew up in Scotland, and after years as a professional baker and recipe developer, this pistachio shortbread cookie recipe has become one of my favourites.
They're the cookies I bake when I want to impress but don't have hours to spend. The dough comes together using the creaming method - no food processor needed - and is baked slice-and-bake style, so there's no rolling or cutting out. Packed with chopped pistachios and finished with a dip in chocolate, it's a five-ingredient recipe that's simple to make and quietly impressive.
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Why This Recipe Works
- Traditional shortbread recipe with balanced ingredient ratios.
- The recipe uses the 'slice and bake' method, so there is no need for rolling out or cookie cutters.
- Baked low and slow for the perfect crumbly texture that melts in your mouth.
Reader Review:
These cookies turned out exactly as the photo shows. They were delicious, easy to make and are suitable for any occasion. No special skills needed and I like the fact that the uncooked dough has to stay in the fridge which means I make them the day before I need them, then its a quick slice and in the oven. I have made them about10 times now and they always turn out perfect.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Sonia
Ingredient Notes
This pistachio shortbread cookies recipe is an easy, melt-in-the-mouth shortbread with added pistachios and dark chocolate. Unlike butter cookies, classic shortbread only contains 3 ingredients, and that is what we use as the base.
- Butter - As with any shortbread recipe, it is important to use high-quality butter with a high-fat content to make sure you get that wonderful crumbly texture. Use salted butter, or if you only have unsalted butter, just add ¼ teaspoon of salt to the recipe with the flour.
- Sugar - Use granulated white sugar. Some shortbread recipes call for confectioner's sugar, but if you want classic shortbread as it's supposed to be, use granulated (caster sugar in the UK).
- Flour - All-purpose flour is best, we don't want any leavening agents like you find in self-raising flour.
- Pistachios - Of course, you'll need pistachios. I like to make it easy on myself and buy mine already shelled. You can use unsalted or salty pistachios - this is totally down to personal preference. It also doesn't matter if you use roasted or raw pistachios, as we'll be baking them anyway.
- Chocolate - These pistachio cookies are wonderful on their own, but dipping them in chocolate does something magical to them. I've always thought dark chocolate and pistachio were a match made in heaven, but you could use milk chocolate or even white chocolate if you prefer. Make sure you use real chocolate and not chocolate chips as chocolate chips have other ingredients in them that stops them from melting properly (so they are bake stable).
See the recipe card for quantities.
Things You'll Need
- Mixing bowl
- Wooden spoon
- Cookie sheet
- Microwave-safe bowl (for melting chocolate).
Reader Review:
This is such an amazing shortbread recipe! Your instructions/tips were very helpful, so thank you! These are delicious on their own but dipped in dark chocolate they are so decadent
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Mary
How to Make Pistachio Shortbread Cookies
These pistachio cookies are an adaptation of my classic shortbread cookie recipe, with pistachios and chocolate added in for extra deliciousness!
Cream Butter and Sugar
Put your softened butter into a mixing bowl and mix it with a wooden spoon or spatula just to soften it a little more.
Add the sugar to the butter and mix together, just until combined. You could use a stand mixer with paddle attachment, or an electric mixer for this, but it's not really necessary as it's easy enough to do by hand. If you do use a mixer, just make sure to keep it on low speed, as we don't want to incorporate too much air into the mixture.
Add the Flour and Nuts
Add the flour and mix until it starts to clump together - it will look kind of like large, chunky breadcrumbs. Ditch the spoon and bring it together with your hands to form a smooth dough.
Chop the pistachios roughly and put ⅔ of them into the dough. Reserve the other third for sprinkling on top later. Use your hands to work the pistachios into the dough evenly.
Shape the Dough
Tip the dough out onto your work surface and form it into a long log shape with your hands, about the width of a paper towel roll.
Wrap the dough log in a large piece of plastic wrap and roll it a little to smooth it out into a neat round shape.
Chill the dough log for an hour or until it is firm to the touch. You can also make it ahead and keep it in the fridge for up to 3 days before baking.
Slice the Shortbread
Once the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 340°F / 170°C and line a sheet pan with a sheet of parchment paper.
Shortbread is baked at a low temperature so that it can bake all the way through before the top of the cookie starts to turn brown.
Unwrap the dough from the plastic and use a sharp knife to slice ½-inch rounds, place them on your prepared baking sheet with room to spread.
Bake
Bake shortbread for 15-20 minutes. Bake time will vary depending on how thick you cut your cookies, so keep an eye on them and take them out when the edges are just starting to turn golden brown.
Baked shortbread still looks a lot paler than regular baked cookies, so you really want to take them out just when the edges are turning, otherwise, they'll be overbaked.
Remove the pistachio shortbread cookies from the oven and let them cool on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Dip in Chocolate
Once the cookies are cooled, it's time to dip them in chocolate!
Chop the chocolate into small pieces and microwave in 30-second bursts until completely melted.
Dip the pistachio shortbread cookies into the melted chocolate to about halfway. Shake gently to get off any excess chocolate, and then lay on a piece of parchment paper.
Decorate
Before the chocolate sets, sprinkle the top of the cookies with the reserved chopped pistachios.
Optionally, sprinkle a tiny bit of sea salt on there too. Allow the chocolate to set completely.
Reader Review:
These were amazing! Easy to prep ahead of time and came out perfect with the cooking time listed. Took them to a cookie party and everyone loved them. They won prettiest cookie too! Thanks for sharing.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Jen
Tempering The Chocolate
If you want the perfect finish on your cookies, temper your chocolate! Tempering will allow the chocolate to set hard and shiny and it won't melt easily at room temperature. It's an extra step but it's a lot easier than you think.
Did you know you can temper chocolate in the microwave without a thermometer or any fancy equipment? See my post on how to temper chocolate to find out how.
Pistachio Shortbread Cookie Variations
- Leave out the chocolate - Of course, you don't need to dip your pistachio cookies in chocolate. I think it really adds something to the cookies but they are still absolutely delicious without it! You could also try other kinds of chocolate like milk or white chocolate.
- Extra Flavor - For some flavor variation try adding some extracts to your shortbread dough - i think this recipe would go particularly well with almond extract.
- Different Nuts - You don't have to stick to pistachios! I love pistachios as they are my favorite nut and the green color makes for wonderful Christmas cookies, but you can make this recipe with any kind of nuts you like! Try walnuts or pecans.
- Shapes - You don't have to use the slice-and-bake method for this dough - you could also roll it out and cut into whatever shapes you like, just make sure the shapes are very chilled (almost frozen) before putting them in the oven so they retain their shape. See my Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies recipe for instructions on this.
How To Store Shortbread
Store your pistachio shortbread cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.
You can also freeze the unbaked cookie dough in the log shape, tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and sealed in a Ziploc bag for up to 3 months. To bake, thaw in the fridge overnight and then slice and bake as normal.
Alternatively, you can chill the dough log and then slice the cookies and freeze individual slices so you can bake a few at a time as needed. You can bake from frozen by adding 2-3 minutes to the bake time. So you can have wonderful homemade cookies anytime!
More Pistachio Desserts
Hey pistachio lover! If you can't get enough of pistachio desserts, check out some of these recipes:
Watch How To Make Pistachio Shortbread Cookies
See my video tutorial for how to make these Pistachio shortbread cookies:
Recipe
Pistachio Shortbread Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 227 g (2 sticks) Salted Butter (room temperature)
- 100 g (½ cup) Granulated Sugar
- 250 g (2 cups) All-purpose Flour
- 120 g (1 cup) Pistachios (without shells)
- 113 g ( 4 oz) Dark Chocolate
Equipment
Instructions
- Put the room-temperature butter in a mixing bowl and beat it lightly with a wooden spoon to soften some more.227 g (2 sticks) Salted Butter
- Add the sugar and beat together with the butter. You can use an electric mixer if you want, but it's not necessary. Just beat until combined and no more, we don't want to incorporate any air here.100 g (½ cup) Granulated Sugar
- Add the flour and mix until it starts to form clumps and looks like large chunky breadcrumbs. Ditch the spoon and use your hands to bring it together into a smooth dough.250 g (2 cups) All-purpose Flour
- Roughly chop the pistachios and add ⅔ of them into the shortbread dough. Reserve the other third of them to sprinkle on top later. Use your hands to knead the pistachios into the dough so they are evenly dispersed. Don't overwork the dough.120 g (1 cup) Pistachios
- Shape the shortbread dough into a log shape, roughly the width of a paper towel roll. Wrap it in plastic wrap and twirl the edges like a Christmas cracker to seal it in. Roll it on your work surface to smooth out the edges and make it rounder.
- Chill the dough log in the fridge for one hour or until it feels very firm to the touch. You can also make the dough ahead of time and keep it in the fridge for up to 3 days before baking.
- Once you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 320°F / 160°C (140° fan-assisted) and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Remove the shortbread dough from the fridge and unwrap it from the plastic wrap. Use a sharp knife to slice it into rounds about ½ an inch thick. Place the rounds on the prepared cookie sheet with enough room to spread.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are just starting to turn golden brown. Let cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Once the shortbread has cooled, chop up your dark chocolate and melt it in the microwave in 30-second increments until totally melted. Or for an even more professional finish, temper your chocolate.113 g ( 4 oz) Dark Chocolate
- Dip the shortbread cookies into the chocolate to about halfway, then lay them on a sheet of parchment paper. Sprinkle the remaining chopped pistachios on top and let them set. Optional: You can also sprinkle a tiny bit of sea salt on there if desired.
Kristina S
Followed the directions to the T and these spread out and were a total flop. What a waste of ingredients. I think your oven temperature is too low.
Jules Grasekamp
Hi Kristina,
Sorry to hear your shortbread didn't turn out, it's so disappointing when that happens!
Shortbread is supposed to be baked at a much lower temperature than other cookies to give it the best color and texture, so the baking temp is accurate.
However, shortbread spreading can be caused by one of a few things:
Firstly, it could be that the butter and sugar were beaten too much and incorporated some air into the dough. Unlike with cakes and other bakes, you want to beat shortbread dough as little as possible so you should just mix until it comes together.
It could also be that the butter got too warm and therefore too soft. Or that there was too much butter added (can happen if not using a scale to measure).
Lastly, if the dough wasn't chilled for long enough then the butter doesn't have a chance to harden all the way which can lead to spreading.
I hope this helps! This is one of the most popular recipes on the blog right now so I really hope it works out for you next time 🙂
All the best,
Jules
Kristina S
Thank you so much for this response. I used a pastry cutter to incorporate the butter with the dry ingredients in an effort to prevent overwork. I also chilled the log for 3 hours before slicing and baking. Oh well, you win some and you lose some. They did taste good..... I was just too embarrassed to share them as I had intended. I will try again.
Jules Grasekamp
Hi Kristina,
That is frustrating, I am sorry!
Hmmm the pastry cutter could be the culprit here. The butter should be room temperature and then just mixed with the sugar until combined, then the flour added all at once. If the butter is soft enough then it would be very hard to use a pastry cutter for it as it would likely just get stuck on the cutter.
Did you use a kitchen scale to measure the ingredients? The most common issue I see is when people use cups to measure instead of a scale as it's very hard to measure accurately this way.
Jules
Kristina
That would be it then.... thanks for troubleshooting and helping me be a better baker. I updated the star rating to reflect the taste... looks like the fail is on my part.
Jules Grasekamp
Hi Kristina,
I'm glad it was helpful! In the process pictures in the post you can see how soft the butter should be and what it should look like at each stage, which might be helpful.
I appreciate that, thank you. I hope your next batch turns out perfectly!
Jules
Lisa
Hi. I made these for a cookie exchange & I was disappointed. Perhaps I should have used milk chocolate instead of dark. They were beautiful but not sweet at all. They definitely did not win the contest. I would suggest adding more sugar. Sorry…….. won’t be making these again.
Jules Grasekamp
Hi Lisa,
I'm sorry to hear you weren't a fan of the pistachio shortbread. It is a shortbread recipe first and foremost, and shortbread is not as sweet as cookies. Next time you may prefer my pistachio cookies which are more like a traditional cookie and therefore a lot sweeter 🙂 https://bonnibakery.com/pistachio-cookies/
Jules
Jen
These were amazing! Easy to prep ahead of time and came out perfect with the cooking time listed. Took them to a cookie party and everyone loved them. They won prettiest cookie too! Thanks for sharing.
Jules Grasekamp
Hi Jen,
Yay! I'm so happy to hear they won prettiest cookie! 🙂
Thank you for trying my recipe, I'm so glad you loved it!
Jules
Katie
These are delicious and so simple with only 5 ingredients. Could be 4 if you omit the chocolate.
Jules Grasekamp
Hi Katie,
So glad you loved the pistachio shortbread! Thank you for trying my recipe 🙂
Jules
Geraldine
Hello! I’m thinking of making this for my holiday cookie party this weekend. Am I able to refrigerate the dough over night and bake next day? I see the refrigerator for one hour, but not sure if over night is ok.
Thanks!
Jules Grasekamp
Hi Geraldine,
Yes you can definitely do this, the dough can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
This is an excellent point though, I will update the post to make it clear that this is possible - thank you!
I hope you love the pistachio shortbread and have a great time at your holiday cookie party!
Jules
Junebug
These turned out DELICIOUS!!! I was very leary of using plastic in the micro wave to temper the chocolate but I did it anyway thinking the time was very limited. It turned out fine. I forgot the suggestion to add salt & almond extract which I’ll try next time. Thanks for the recipe.
Jules Grasekamp
I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed the pistachio shortbread!
Yes the microwave tempering is not an exact science but it works great in a pinch and I find it is a great way to encourage people to try tempering chocolate who would otherwise be intimidated or put off by the need for a thermometer - so it definitely has its place!
Glad you loved the cookies, thank you for trying my recipe 🙂
Jules
Jen George
I have made these several times and every time they are a HUGE hit. I usually make 2 batches, 1 with chocolate and one without. Sometimes I add a touch of sea salt and it just elevates the cookie just a little bit more. I always use a good dark chocolate. I also ensure I use really good salted butter. These are easy, just make sure to time it so the dough can refrigerate, delicious and always a hit!!
Debbie Caruso
A very delicious cookie. Second time around I might try half salted pistachios, or a pinch of salt. Otherwise, a yummy recipe. Definitely good for company!
Jules Grasekamp
Hi Debbie,
I'm so glad you loved the pistachio shortbread! I also like mine extra salty! Enjoy!
Jules
Rachel Harper
These sound delicious. Do they freeze well?
Jules Grasekamp
Hi Rachel,
They are super delicious! What I like to do is cut the dough into the cookie slices and then freeze those, then when you want to enjoy them you can pop them straight on baking sheet and just add 3-5 minutes to the baking time!
Jules
Denisse Cano
Recipe was so easy and tasted absolutely delicious.
Jules Grasekamp
Thank you Denisse, so glad you enjoyed the pistachio shortbread! 🙂
Jules
Celeste
Love these cookies....thank you for sharing! YUM 🙂
Jules Grasekamp
Thank you Celeste! They are one of my favourites, so glad to hear you like them too!
Jules
Celeste
Pretty and Tasty too! All Gone...Next! Thank You for sharing!
Chris Radwanski
These are unlike any other shortbread I’ve eaten and man are they tasty! Safe to say these disappeared as quickly as they appeared 🙂
K M
Sodium count is wrong if using 2 sticks salted butter!
Jules Grasekamp
Hi K M,
Thank you for pointing this out. The nutritional values are automatically calculated by the recipe plugin, so I will look into what went wrong here and make sure it is rectified.
Thank you!
Jules
AM
Not worth docking 3 points because of nutritional value.
Saul Gravy
These look so tasty! Love the idea of the pistachios adding a little bit of extra bite to the shortbread! Genius!