Soft, chewy and festive pistachio cookies are easy to make with instant pistachio pudding mix. A little green food coloring makes them perfect for Christmas or St. Patrick's Day!
½cupmaraschino cherries, chopped finely (see note)
Optional: green food coloring
Instructions
Beat the butter in a large bowl with a mixer, until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, almond extract and pudding mix and beat until combined. Add food coloring now if you prefer a darker green. Next add in the flour and mix until combined.
Gently mix in the chopped cherries into the dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 15 minutes or until slightly firm. Alternatively you could refrigerate the dough for an hour, or overnight
Preheat oven to 350°F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Take a medium scoop or about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Gently flatten dough balls with your palm or the bottom of a cup. Place cookie on the cookie sheet and repeat with the remaining dough.
Bake for 9-11 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for 3-5 minutes. Once completely cooled sprinkle cookies with dust with powdered sugar.
Notes
Cherries: The cherries can be left out of desired. When using, make sure to finely chop the maraschino cherries. Use a paper towel to pat the cherries to remove all of the juice and excess liquid. You want to make sure you dry all of the red juice or you may turn your cookies a not so pretty color. You can also place the chopped cherries in the freezer for 15-20 minutes to make sure they don't stain the dough. You can definitely leave the cherries out of this recipe if you prefer the pistachio cookies plain.