Pistachio NYC Cookies!

Thick and delicious pistachio NYC cookies stuffed with a homemade pistachio spread, dotted with white chocolate and chunks of pistachio.

It was only a matter of time, right? I needed to post this recipe. I have made them countless times myself, and so many of my followers have already using my other recipes… they’re delicious!!

NYC Cookies

My New York-style cookies have been a beloved treat for years, and my passion for them remains just as strong as when I first started baking them. To anyone who’s not a fan of cookies, I apologise for the numerous NYC cookie recipes I’ve shared, but honestly, I make no apologies—they’re my obsession and my ultimate indulgence – I posted one last month, and now here is another.

Wondering what defines a “New York-style cookie”? These cookies, inspired by the iconic bakeries of New York, are massive in size and have a one-of-a-kind texture. They’re thick and dense with a crispy edge and a gooey centre that’s simply irresistible. The goal is to create a big, bold cookie experience, and I can’t get enough of them. Sometimes, I even consider hopping on a flight to New York just to taste one again, but I will admit, that’s a bit much!

As I mentioned recently, my original NYC Chocolate Chip Cookies are where it all began. It took many attempts to nail down the perfect recipe, and along the way, I focused on simplifying the process. I wanted to create easy-to-follow cookie recipes with fewer ingredients and steps—making delicious cookies accessible to everyone.

Since then, I’ve shared many more unique and delicious recipes, including some exclusive ones featured in my new book Jane’s Patisserie Classic. You can also find recipes for my Bakewell NYC Cookies, my Toblerone NYC Cookies, or even my Oreo NYC Cookies just to name a few. 

Pistachio bakes

Pistachio is an incredibly versatile ingredient in baking, with uses ranging from ground pistachio flour in cakes and cookies to pistachio pastes, spreads, and extracts for flavouring frostings and fillings.

I have used it a number of time on my blog so far, including the white chocolate pistachio cake, and my regular white chocolate pistachio cookies (these ones, being the levelled up version of course) and I just can’t get enough.

The ‘Dubai chocolate’ trend has without a doubt helped increase the popularity of pistachio based bakes – as well as the number of other coffee shops, bakeries and all sorts producing a pistachio product as quickly as they can. I am here for it, I love pistachio.

Pistachio Spread

So a few weeks ago I shared my homemade pistachio spread recipe. I am fully aware that many shops are selling pistachio spread, and I am 100% here for people buying it, instead of making their own. I have in the past, and I still buy it now!

However, if you want to make your own pistachio spread – you can find my post about that here. It’s a little bitty if you go the entire way and de-skin the pistachios, but it’s so worth it to only use a few ingredients to make a decently sized batch of pistachio spread of high quality.

If, however, you don’t want to make your own – you can buy a delicious one here and it’s lovely. 

It’s an optional extra in these cookies to do a stuffed centre, but as I had already done a basic white chocolate pistachio cookie, I wanted to level these beauties up so that they are even more insane for the ‘NYC’ classification.

Cookie dough

The cookie dough for this recipe is quite similar to the other NYC Cookie recipes I’ve shared on my blog – the basic cookie dough, as you will see can be used in so many variations, but they work for me – so why change it?

• Butter – I use fridge-cold baking spread or room-temperature block butter, but either works well.
• Sugar – A blend of granulated sugar and light brown soft sugar enhances the flavour and gives the cookies a rich taste.
• Egg – I usually bake with medium eggs, but you can substitute with one large egg if that’s what you have on hand.
• Flavours – Vanilla extract is optional but add a wonderful depth of flavour.
• Flour – Always use plain flour for your cookies! Self-raising flour will result in a cake like texture, which you want to avoid.
• Raising Agents – I use both bicarbonate of soda and baking powder. Bicarb is the traditional choice for cookies, while baking powder helps achieve the signature texture of a New York-style cookie.
• Salt – I add sea salt to my cookie dough because it enhances the flavours, but you can skip it or use salted butter if you prefer.

Making the cookies

Make sure to freeze the pistachio spread, if using – whether shop bought or homemade. I just get a spoon and do a heaped spoonful (think a tablespoons worth of spread?) and then plop it onto a lined tray. I then freeze for a MINIMUM of an hour, but you can do this way in advance of that if you prefer.

Beat the butter and sugars together, and then add the egg and flavourings. Mix these together, and then add the dry ingredients; flour, raising agents and salt. This should make a thick cookie dough. I then add my white chocolate chips and chopped pistachios, mix in, and then split into ten portions of dough.

Like my almond croissant versions, the cookie dough itself weighs less than a typical NYC Cookie does because you have to also consider the weight of the filling as well. Normal NYC Cookies typically weight about 120g before baking – these are slightly smaller.

I flatten the cookie dough in my hand, add a scoop of the frozen pistachio spread filling, and wrap the cookie dough around. You then need to chill the cookies again ideally for sixty minutes in the fridge, or 30 minutes in the freezer. This helps prevent the cookies from turning into pancakes.

Baking the cookies

These cookies bake at a higher temperature than some other recipes to prevent them from spreading too much. The intense heat helps “shock” the dough into shape while ensuring they bake through properly. If your oven tends to brown things too quickly, you may need to lower the temperature slightly.

I don’t flatten my cookies before baking, but with the spread inside, this should naturally flatten anyway. If you find your cookies don’t flatten, it’s usually because of either the oven temp is higher than you think, you have rolled the cookie dough too tightly, or the cookie dough has been overworked.

You don’t have to use a pistachio spread inside either – you can leave this out and just make 8 cookies out of the batch, and bake for the same time. You can also use this recipe as a base for other flavours such as hazelnut.

Decoration

Now, I know these cookies are already quite intense in some ways, but that’s what they are meant to be, right?! RIGHT?! Anyway…

I wanted to make these for an occasion for my friend, and in the end – I went for a little decoration on top. All I did was melt some white chocolate, spoon a little on top, and the sprinkle on some chopped pistachios. This is all, obviously, optional – but it’s fun and delicious if you want to make them for a gift or anything.

You can also (also in the cookies themselves) use milk chocolate chunks, or dark chocolate, as well as for the decoration – it’s entirely up to you. White chocolate is naturally quite sweet – but I don’t mind that.

How to make this recipe Free-From

Gluten free – Swap the flour to gluten free plain flour (make sure all other ingredients are gluten free). For texture, you can add 1/4tsp xanthan gum per 150g of flour  if it doesn’t already contain it 

Dairy free – Swap the butter to a dairy free butter, and make sure the chocolate is dairy free. The pistachio spread I make isn’t dairy free, but you may be able to buy one or skip this bit 

Vegan – Same as above, but swap the egg for 75ml of vegan milk 

Tips & Tricks

• These cookies will last for 3-4+ days at room temperature
• You can freeze the baked cookies for 3+ months
• The raw cookie dough will last 48 hours in the fridge before baking
• The raw cookie dough can also freeze for 3+ months. You just need to add 1-2 minutes baking time to bake from frozen
• You can find the homemade pistachio spread recipe here 

Find my other recipes on my Recipes Page!

You can find me on:
Instagram
Facebook
Pinterest
Twitter
Youtube

J x

© Jane’s Patisserie. All images & content are copyright protected. Do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words and credit me, or link back to this post for the recipe.