Salted pistachio chocolate chunk slice and bake cookies have pistachio chunks, dark chocolate, brown sugar, sea salt, and a crunchy sugar edge. Their upgraded taste and texture puts them above the rest!
I had plenty of pistachios leftover from my pistachio cake adventuring, I love the combination of dark chocolate and pistachios, and I needed cookies to bring to our neighbor’s backyard party. The pieces fell into place naturally and the result was one of the best cookies I’ve ever made. What makes them so great? Sit back, let’s have a chat.
UNIQUE COOKIE STYLE
These salted pistachio chocolate chunk slice & bake cookies are adapted from my favorite slice & bake cookie base, a cookie I’ve treasured for years. Toasted hazelnut slice & bake cookies started it all (pictured below), then I moved to funfetti slice & bake cookies and dark chocolate orange slice & bake cookies. I even published a chocolate version, a maple walnut version, and a vanilla spice version in Sally’s Cookie Addiction. Yes, I’m in love with the slice & bake cookie.
Want to read more about this unique cookie dough? It all started with my toasted hazelnut slice & bake cookies.
Let’s get back to today’s cookie recipe though. Instead of dunking into chocolate like my typical slice & bake cookies, I added chocolate chunks directly to the cookie dough. I also used all brown sugar for flavor and sweetening, more salt, more vanilla, lots of chopped pistachios, and rolled the cookie dough in coarse sugar and leftover pistachio pieces. They’re not chocolate chip cookies, they’re better.
These Are the BEST Cookies!
- Basic ingredients: sugar, flour, butter, egg
- There’s no leavener, so the cookies are extra dense inside
- Very easy, 1 bowl recipe
- Thick. Thick. Thick.
- Sweet and salty
- The texture is unique, similar to shortbread. Crunchy crumbly edges, soft centers
- So buttery!!
- Make ahead. Make the dough, roll into logs, chill for up to 5 days, slice and bake when craving hits
- Pools of melted chocolate
More on that whole pools of melted chocolate thing: use chocolate chunks that you chop up from a chocolate bar. If you’re going to spend money on good chocolate, this recipe is when to do it. Baking chocolate is excellent here; it’s sold right next to the chocolate chips. I like using bittersweet or dark chocolate. Use whatever chocolate you love. The wonderful thing about using pure chocolate is that your warm cookies have soft melted chocolate inside, not chunks of chocolate chips. Same thing we love most about these dark chocolate chunk oatmeal cookies, too!
How to Make Slice and Bake Cookies
- The cookie dough is a little sticky, but you should be able to mold into a ball. Here’s a helpful note: your cookie dough will be too sticky if you started with too-soft butter. Make sure the butter is room temperature, not melted in the slightest. Use my trick to soften butter quickly or set it out (along with the egg!) 1 hour prior to beginning. Butter is ready to use when you can neatly and easily cut a knife through it.
- Cut the cookie dough ball in half, shape into 2 logs, roll each log into a mixture of coarse sugar and chopped pistachios, wrap them up in plastic wrap, and chill for 3 hours. Let me explain that. I divide the cookie dough in half and roll into 2 logs so that they’re easier to roll in coarse sugar/pistachios and so they chill faster in the refrigerator.
- After chilling, unwrap the cold cookie dough logs and slice cookies. Now they’re ready to bake! Since the cookie dough slices are extremely cold, your cookies won’t overspread in the oven. Sometimes the chocolate chunks are too hard for easy slicing, leaving some empty spots in cookies. Not a problem. My recipe below leaves a few chocolate chunks aside that you can stick back into the sliced cookies.
- Next you can break out your freshly cleaned silicone baking mats, arrange 12 cookies onto each baking sheet, and sprinkle with a little sea salt. Then bake!
Our friends called these “the fancy cookies” and while they definitely have an upgraded taste and texture, they’re not complicated. If you’ve tried my other slice & bake cookies, you know they’re pretty low key.
If I had to chose, I think the crunchy edges would be my favorite part. Buttery, dense, crumbly, salty, sweet, and oh-so-perfect. I guess they really are fancy!
Salted Pistachio Chocolate Chunk Slice and Bake Cookies
- Prep Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 14 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: 2 dozen cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Salted pistachio chocolate chunk slice and bake cookies have pistachio chunks, dark chocolate, brown sugar, sea salt, and a crunchy sugar edge. Their upgraded taste and texture puts them above the rest!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2/3 cup (133g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 ounces (170g) chocolate, coarsely chopped*
- 3/4 cup (75g) finely chopped pistachios, divided*
- coarse sugar for rolling (I use sugar in the raw brand)
- sea salt for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- In a large bowl using a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar together on medium-high speed until combined and creamy, about 2 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla extract on high speed. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed, and continue to beat until fully combined. On low speed, beat in the flour and salt until combined. The cookie dough will be thick and slightly sticky. Switch to high speed and beat in most of the chocolate (leave a few chunks aside for step 4) and 2/3 cup of the pistachios until combined.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and, with floured hands, divide or cut into two. Shape each half into an 8-inch log, about 2.5 inches in diameter. The measurements don’t have to be exact. Roll each log in a mix of coarse sugar and the leftover pistachios. Tightly wrap the logs in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours and up to 5 days. Chilling is mandatory for this cookie dough. I prefer to chill mine for 4 hours or even overnight—the colder the dough, the thicker the cookies.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. (Always recommended for cookies.) Set aside.
- Slice each log into 12 equally thick cookies and place cookies on baking sheets about 2 inches apart. (The chocolate chunks in the cookie dough will be very hard and may not slice, leaving gaps in some cookies. Press any extra chunks you set aside in step 1 into the tops, if needed.) If desired, sprinkle each with sea salt.
- Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes or until brown around the edges. Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cookies will stay fresh covered at room temperature for 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Baked cookies freeze well up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature, if desired, before serving. You can make/assemble the cookie dough logs and chill in the refrigerator for up to 5 days (see step 2). Cookie dough logs freeze well too, up to 3 months. Allow the logs to thaw overnight in the refrigerator then continue with step 3.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Cooling Rack | Coarse Sparkling Sugar
- Chocolate: You can find 4 ounce chocolate baking bars in the baking aisle. You’ll need 1.5 of them. (Save the other 1/2 of a bar for your next batch!) I like using Ghirardelli or Baker’s brand. You can use milk chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, white chocolate, or bittersweet chocolate, whichever you prefer. I use bittersweet.
- Pistachios: you can use salted or unsalted. This would depend on how salty you want your cookies. I use salted. If you’re using a sweet chocolate, like milk chocolate or white chocolate, maybe salted pistachios are the way to go. If you want a sweeter cookie, unsalted is your best bet. If you want a super dark chocolate, wonderfully salty cookie with a little sweetness, use salted. Depends on your tastebuds!
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
I have made at least 8 batches of these pistachio wonders over the years and they are always a hit, not to mention foolproof. Even people who don’t like cookies will go for one of these. Deep chocolate flavor, salty nuttiness, and a little crunch of sugar around the outside. An “adult” cookie but still hits the spot. Great way to show off a high quality bar of dark chocolate. I will keep making these every year.
Hi Sally,
Could I make dough ahead of time and place in the freezer?
Can’t wait to try them!
Hi Mari, you absolutely can. Instructions are in the Notes section of the recipe card. Enjoy!
I was anxious to make them I didn’t read the entire recipe
Your recipes are the best!!! Family, friends, and co-workers always enjoy your recipes!!!!
Thank you!!
This recipe looks amazing, could it be made with brown butter? Do you think it would deepen the richness?
Brown butter would be wonderful here!
Loved this recipe. I admit I did make a small change. I used a mix of dark chocolate chips and Espresso chips. It made a great combination. My husband loved them and the neighbor was in love with the different flavors and textures. Will defiantly make again. I have to work on my rolling out the log, not so perfect but who really cares when they taste that good.
Hi there, Sally! I adore your website. Thank you so much for your generosity in sharing your wonderful recipes. Quick question, can I turn this into a regular rollout cookie and just cut it with cookie cutters instead of doing it as a slice and bake? I’m kind of new to the whole cookie thing, so I don’t know if a slice and bake recipes bakes up the same as a roll out recipe.. I hope you’re doing well and take good care!
Hi Valerie, We do not recommend using this recipe for shaped/cookie cutter shortbread cookies. It won’t hold an intricate shape in the oven.
Understand that this type of recipe isn’t workable for cookie cutters, but can you chill the mixture and use a cookie scoop to make the cookies? .
Hi Elise, for a drop cookie we’d recommend these pistachio cookies instead. You can swap the white chocolate chips with chocolate chunks and omit the cranberries.
Made these to put into cookie tins and my family demanded their own batch. This is such a perfect cookie-buttery, chocolatey, pistachio-y and just the right amount of salt. Definitely a new favorite!
Just wondering whether it’s better to use unsalted pistachios
Hi Joanna, you can use salted or unsalted. This would depend on how salty you want your cookies. We use salted. See recipe notes for more details!
I just made these, and they are phenomenal. They most definitely will have a permanent spot in my recipe book!
Quick question…is the coarse sugar that you use to roll the cookies “turbinado” sugar from Sugar in the Raw? I couldn’t find a “coarse” sugar from them. Thanks!!
Hi Mindi, yes! Turbinado sugar works wonderfully for rolling. Hope you enjoy these!
I love this recipe as is, but sometimes I switch it up a little by replacing part of the vanilla with orange extract and adding some orange rind. A great recipe either way!
These were soooooo good!!! I loved them so much, they’ll be made again and again!
Sorry this might be a dumb question – do I remove the pistachios from the shells before chopping them in the food processor? Thank you!
Yes, make sure you remove the shells.
These are so good, Sally! Everyone loved these cookies and begged me to make them again.
I used semisweet chocolate chips as they were all I had. I also halved the salt and left out the salt topping as sweet-salty isn’t my cup of tea. I think dark chocolate chunks would be a divine combination for these cookies. Love them!
Made a batch of these for my sister, for Easter. I subbed toasted pecans for hazelnuts, used 70% dark chocolate, and added some toffee bits. Grown-ups cookies, I called them. So delicious, thanks for another great recipe. Looking forward to trying other combos, too.
These look amazing!! Just wondering if I can substitute the AP flour with almond flour instead?
Hi Ameera! I don’t recommend it.