Pistachio Croissant Cookies
By Jessie
Updated: July 7, 2025
Rate This Recipe
By: Jessie
Updated: July 7, 2025
Rate This Recipe:

These pistachio croissant inspired cookies are about to become your new obsession! This recipe takes the viral Almond Croissant Cookies recipe and puts an even trendier pistachio twist on it. They’re soft and buttery, with a molten pistachio cream centre, and crisp crunchy edges – just like a pistachio croissant! Plus I added white chocolate chunks for a creamy indulgence, and topped them with more pistachio cream, crunchy pistachios and a dusting of icing sugar for that signature croissant look.
About these Pistachio Croissant Cookies
- FLAVOUR: Nutty pistachio meets buttery cookie, meets creamy white chocolate. YUM!
- TEXTURE: Just like a pistachio croissant, these cookies have crisp edges, a soft and squidgy centre, and a smooth and creamy pistachio filling.
- SKILL: Beginner-friendly. If you can scoop and wrap cookie dough, you’re well away!
- SERVES: 9-10 generously sized, thick Levain bakery-style cookies.
Your Ingredients List
- Unsalted butter: Gives the cookies a rich, buttery flavour and soft texture.
- Light brown & white caster sugar: A mix for perfect chewiness and just the right amount of sweetness.
- Eggs: Helps bind the dough and keep it soft.
- Vanilla extract: Enhances the flavours and brings everything together.
- Self-raising flour & plain flour: The mix creates just the right amount of rise and structure.
- Salt & cornflour: A tiny pinch of salt balances the sweetness, and cornflour keeps the cookies soft.
- White chocolate: Creamy, sweet, and pairs beautifully with pistachios. You could swap for milk or dark chocolate if preffered.
- Pistachio cream: The star of the show! Used for the filling and the dreamy drizzle on top. Choosing a good-quality jar of pistachio cream is key, I used Black Milk which worked perfectly. Remember to keep the pistachio cream in the fridge until you start the recipe so it’s not too thin.
- Chopped pistachios & icing sugar: To give your cookies that bakery-style croissant appearance.

How To Fill The Cookies With Pistachio Cream
Once you’ve made the cookie dough, it’s time for the fun part… filling the cookies with the pistachio cream. It’s super easy to do, especially with these helpful tips:
- Freeze the pistachio cream – Drop spoonfuls onto a baking tray and freeze for 30 minutes. This keeps the filling firm when shaping the cookies.
- Shape the cookie dough – Weigh out 100g of cookie dough and press it out in the palm of your hands to create a well in the middle. Then you want to place a frozen pistachio cream ‘puddle’ in the centre of the cookie dough. Make sure you take the pistachio cream puddles out of the freezer one by one so they don’t start to melt.
- Seal & roll – Wrap the dough around the filling, ensuring it’s completely sealed in to prevent the cream from leaking out of the cookie in the oven.


Tips for Baking these Pistachio Croissant Cookies
Baking these cookies is all about little tricks that make a big difference. Follow these tips, and you’ll be on your way to pistachio cookie heaven!
- Don’t skip freezing the pistachio cream – If it’s not frozen, it will melt into the dough rather than staying as a gooey centre, which is definitely the best bit so is worth the extra step!
- Bake them at a higher temperature – For this recipe, you will need to bake the cookies at a higher temperature than usual at 200°C fan. This will reduce the spread and give your cookies a crisp outside and a soft middle, just like the texture of a croissant.
- Underbake for a soft and gooey middle – You only need to bake these for 10 minutes tops! I know this doesn’t seem like a long time but the high baking temperature will cook these cookies quickly and they will continue to cook through as they cool down. So to make sure you get that soft and gooey middle, we want to underbake them slightly.
- Shape using a cookie cutter – For that perfectly round shape swirl a large round cutter around the cookies as soon as they come out of the oven, then leave them to set & cool down before decorating.

Decorating Your Pistachio Croissant Cookies
It’s the finishing touches that give these cookies a bakery-style pistachio croissant look. The decoration is super quick and simple, and all you need is pistachio cream, pistachio nuts, and icing sugar:
- First, microwave the jar of pistachio cream, without the lid, for 10 seconds to melt it slightly.
- Drizzle or pipe the melted pistachio cream over the cookies.
- Sprinkle with finely chopped pistachios for some crunch and colour.
- Dust with icing sugar to give them that classic croissant-style finish.
Recipe FAQ’s
Choose a good quality pistachio cream spread. I used Black Milk, it’s creamy, smoth and delicious! Perfect for these cookies.
Make sure the pistachio cream is frozen solid beforehand and fully sealed inside the dough before baking.
Yes absolutely! Dark or m ilk chocolate will add a lovely rich and slihgtly bitter contrast to the sweet pistachio filling.
Definitely, but the gooey centre works best with larger cookies. If making smaller ones, use less dough, a smaller amount of pistachio cream and reduce the baking time by a couple of minutes.
Yes you can! Keep the rolled cookie dough balls wrapped individually in the freezer and bake them as and when you fancy a cookie. Bear in mind that the longer they are frozen for the less they will spread.
They are best eaten straightaway, but you can keep them in an airtight container at room temperature for 3–4 days, or in the fridge if you prefer them firmer.
It won’t fully harden, it will just return to a spread consistency. You can microwave the baked cookies for 10-15 seconds to warm them up and melt the pistachio cream again.

Pistachio Croissant Cookies (Thick NYC Style)
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Print Pin Rate this RecipeIngredients
For the cookie dough:
- 180 grams Cold unsalted butter
- 180 grams Light brown sugar
- 80 grams White caster sugar
- 2 medium Eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 200 grams Self-raising flour
- 200 grams Plain flour
- ¾ teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Cornflour
- 150 grams White chocolate chopped into chunks
For the filling:
- 200 grams Pistachio cream keep in the fridge. Most jars are roughly 200-250g.
For the decoration:
- 20-30 grams Pistachio cream
- 20 grams Unsalted pistachios finely chopped
- Icing sugar for dusting
Instructions
Start by freezing the pistachio cream filling:
- Line a flat baking tray (one that will fit inside your freezer) with greaseproof paper. Drop 10 heaped teaspoons of pistachio cream on top, leaving space between each. Cover with clingfilm and freeze for 30 minutes.200 grams Pistachio cream
Meanwhile, prep the cookie dough:
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan) / 220°C (conventional). Line a large baking sheet with greaseproof paper.
- Measure the butter onto a plate and microwave for 10 seconds, just to soften it a little. Cut it into cubes and place in a large mixing bowl with both sugars.180 grams Cold unsalted butter, 180 grams Light brown sugar, 80 grams White caster sugar
- Beat using an electric mixer or wooden spoon until just combined (small flecks of butter are fine). Try not to over-mix at this stage otherwise the butter will become too soft.
- Add one whole egg (yolk and white), and one egg yolk (discard the white). Add the vanilla extract. Mix to combine.2 medium Eggs, 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- In a separate bowl, whisk the self-raising flour, plain flour, salt and cornflour to combine.200 grams Self-raising flour, 200 grams Plain flour, 1 teaspoon Cornflour, ¾ teaspoon Salt
- Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and fold to make a thick cookie dough.
- Fold in the white chocolate chunks.150 grams White chocolate
Fill and roll:
- Weigh out 100g of the cookie dough. Shape it into a bowl and place a frozen pistachio puddle inside.
- Wrap the dough around the pistachio cream and shape it into a ball. Work quickly so the filling doesn't melt. Place on the baking tray and repeat until all the cookie dough is used up. You should be able to make 10 cookies. It helps to take the pistachio puddles out of the freezer one by one so they stay frozen.
Bake:
- Bake 4-5 cookies at a time for 10 minutes until lightly golden on the outside. Scoot into shape using a round cookie cutter if needed. Leave to cool for 30 minutes on the baking sheet.
Decorate:
- Remove the lid off the pistachio cream and pop the jar in the microwave for 10 seconds, just to melt it slightly.20-30 grams Pistachio cream
- Drizzle or pipe the melted spread over the cookies and sprinkle over the chopped pistachios. Dust with icing sugar, then tuck in and enjoy!20 grams Unsalted pistachios, Icing sugar
Hi. I’m in the U.S. is cornflour in the UK the same as cornstarch here in the U.S.
Hi Rita, yes that’s correct 🙂
Marvelous pistacho Cookies 😍
Thank you!
I have a question regarding the oven you mentioned 200 C fan for 10 mins. What about the temperature and the time for a conventional oven ? Thanks!
Hello, the conversion is 200°C fan = 220°C conventional. The baking time would stay the same 🙂
Sound so delicious! I’m pistachio obsessed and want to incorporate pistachio into the dough as well. Do you think I could sub some of the flour for ground pistachios? Thinking maybe 20-30% but don’t want to mess up the recipe
That’s such a fab idea Leah! Yes you could definitely sub some of the flour, because the ground pistachios will soak up some of the moisture and give the cookies structure. I would start with 20% – best to be on the safe side!