Pistachio Shortbread Cookies (2024)

These Pistachio Shortbread Cookies are made with 5 ingredients only! They are buttery, tender, snappy, and loaded with pistachios.

These Pistachio Shortbread Cookies are the perfect holiday cookies. They are so easy to make with just 5 ingredients. Plus, they taste amazing and look beautiful.

These are also make-ahead and freezer-friendly. The cookie dough can be made and rolled into a log, stashed in the fridge or freezer, and then sliced and baked as needed.

Ingredients You Need

• Salted butter. I like to use salted butter for this recipe because it tastes more savory than unsalted butter. You can also substitute salted butter with unsalted butter. Make sure to add 1/4 teaspoon of salt to enhance the flavor.
• Confectioners’ sugar. To sweeten the cookies. Confectioners’ sugar gives a softer and, melt-in-your-mouth texture to your cookies. Do not substitute it with granulated sugar or the cookies will be dense and coarse.
• Vanilla extract.To enhance the flavor.
• Cake flour. Cake flour is a lower-protein flour. It has about 7-9% protein compared to the 10-12% protein in all-purpose flour. Using cake flour will make the cookies crisper, lighter, and more tender. You can also substitute cake flour with all-purpose flour but the cookies will turn a little bit denser.
• Pistachios.You can use both raw or roasted pistachios for this recipe. I prefer to use raw pistachios because they give a more vibrant green color to the cookies.

The Best Flour to Make Shortbread Cookies

You can use both all-purpose or cake flour for shortbread cookies. I personally like to use cake flour because it gives light, crisp, and tender textures to the cookies. If you use all-purpose flour, I find them softer and chewier than the ones made with cake flour.

If you don’t have cake flour but still want these lighter cookies, try converting from all-purpose flour to cake flour. Take one cup of all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled. Remove 2 tablespoons, and then add two tablespoons of cornstarch to the all-purpose flour.

Variations

You can try adding other mix-ins to the dough, such as dried cranberries or chopped almonds. When adding extra mix-ins, reduce the amount of pistachios accordingly. You can also add more flavor to the dough, like adding orange zest for a hint of citrus.

Make Ahead

The cookie dough can be made and rolled into a log, stashed in the fridge or freezer, and then sliced and baked as needed. The log can be refrigerated up to 3 days in advance. Meanwhile, feel free to also freeze the log of dough for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight and then bake as directed.

More Shortbread Cookies Recipes

• Zebra-Striped Matcha Shortbread Cookies
• Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies
• Maple Pecan Shortbread Cookies
• Lemon Thyme Shortbread Cookies
• Masala Chai Shortbread Cookies