Pistachio and Chocolate Leprechaun Cookies – Perfect for St. Patrick’s Day!
St. Patrick’s Day Leprechaun Cookies
I can’t believe St. Patrick’s Day is almost here! I love to celebrate the holiday because I love any excuse to throw a party. These pistachio cookies were perfect to celebrate along with some of this pistachio bread recipe and a rainbow fruit platter.
While I love my pistachio cookies with cherries, these ones chocolate chips, M&M’s and nuts can’t be beat.
They are my family’s favorite St. Patrick’s day treat. They’re full of decadent dark chocolate chips, crunchy walnuts, green M&Ms and pistachio! I created these leprechaun cookies to have a hint of green (no pinching here!) as well as have irresistible in flavor.
How to Make Pistachio and Leprechaun Cookies
- Cream butter and sugar. In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars in a large bowl. Add extracts and pudding mix then eggs one at a time. Beat for 1 minute.
- Make cookie dough. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt then add to sugar mixture a little at a time, mixing thoroughly. Add a drop or two of green food coloring, if desired. Stir in chocolate chips, green M&Ms and chopped walnuts or pistachios.
- Bake. Using a medium cookie scoop or Tablespoon, drop cookies on baking sheet. Bake at 375°F for 8-10 minutes or until edges are turning slightly golden.
- Enjoy. Let cool on the pan a couple minutes then move to a cooling rack. Enjoy the St. Patrick’s Day cookies!
Mix-in’s for Cookies
A few notes on the mix-ins for these leprechaun cookies below!
- Pudding: I include pistachio pudding because it gives a subtle pistachio flavor and hint of green, we use it in this pistachio pudding dessert, too! I use vanilla pudding in these chocolate chip pudding cookies, so that is an option as well.
- Green food coloring: You can also add a drop or two of green food coloring to the batter for even more green coloring.
- Nuts: I love the crunch that the chopped walnuts give to these cookies but of course they can be left out or swapped for another favorite.
- Chocolate: Dark chocolate chips really contrast the sweet pistachio flavor but milk or white chips would be fabulous as well. Just be sure to include green chocolate candies, the leprechaun loves those!
These St. Patrick Day cookies don’t take hours to make, in fact they’re ready within one hour so it’s the perfect after-school snack recipe!
Consider packaging these up with a fun black and white striped bow and green shamrock gift tag to give as teacher’s gifts, neighbor’s gifts, party favors, etc!
Or just make a big ol’ batch for your family to enjoy during movie night along with a homemade shamrock shake for St. Patrick’s Day! However you enjoy these leprechaun cookies, they are a real treat.
More fun St. Patrick’s Day favorites include chocolate mint brownies, Irish soda bread and rainbow cupcakes.
More St. Patrick’s Day Recipes
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Pistachio Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 3.4 ounces package instant pistachio pudding (dry mix)
- 2 eggs
- 2 ¼ cups cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ½ cup green M&Ms
- ½ cup chopped walnuts , or pistachios
- green food coloring , optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375° F. In an electric mixer with paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars. Add extracts and pudding mix and eggs one at a time. Beat for 1 minute.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to sugar mixture one a little at a time, mixing thoroughly between each addition. Add a drop or two of green food coloring at this point if you want a stronger green color. Stir in chocolate chips, green M&Ms and chopped walnuts or pistachios.
- Using a medium cookie scoop or Tablespoon, drop cookies on baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges are turning slightly golden.
- Let cool on the pan a couple minutes then move to a cooling rack.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Recipe Contributed by Courtney Whitmore from Pizzazzerie
Categorized as: American, Chocolate, Cookies, Desserts, Holiday Cookies, Kid-Friendly, Vegetarian
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook and shares easy family-friendly recipes and desserts for every occasion.
These cookies are delicious!! We’re just finishing eating my first batch,xwhich is a week old, and they’re still soft and so tasty. I am going to use vanilla pudding and 1 cup of dark chocolate chips. This recipe will now be our favorite soft chocolate chip cookie recipe, in addition to St. Patrick’s Day!
I’m so happy to hear this, Judy! So glad your family enjoyed them so much :)
These cookies are delicious and so pretty with the green M&Ms. Glad I added the food color at the start batter is very heavy to add near the end.
I’m so glad you loved them! Thanks for your comment, Ila!
Making this today Do you grease the baking sheet?
I like to line mine with parchment paper or a baking mat :)
These are great, remind me of the cookies I used to beg for at Shaw’s when I was younger! I skipped the chocolate (I didn’t want them to be super sweet) and they were very good. Only comment, and not bad, is 24 cookies isn’t accurate unless you’re making HUGE cookies. I made 24 with rounded tablespoonfuls and still had plenty of dough to freeze for another time.
Thanks so much for the comment! I usually use a large cookie scoop to scoop the cookies, which is about 3 Tablespoons. So the cookies are on the larger size :)
Can mint chocolate m&m’s be used? Can’t find green ones unless buying in bulk.
I think that would taste delicious!
Awsome
What type of green food coloring would you recommend?
I like Wilton or Americolor food gel :)
What if you don’t have a mixer with a paddle attachment?
An electric hand mixer will work too :)
Just made these today doubled the recipe because we have cookie monsters in this house, made over 100 cookies! They are a keeper and will be adding them to the Christmas cookie tray!
Love it! I’m so glad the cookies were a hit with your family, Jessica!
I made two batches one with walnuts and the other one with more pistachios. My family enjoyed both 😊
Yum – that sounds delicious! So glad your family loved them!
what do you use to measure how much mixture to put on cookie sheet for each cookie?
I use a large cookie scoop (about 3 tablespoons)
Is there a typo with the listing of the pudding? Is it 1 box of pudding or two as it is listing twice on your recipe??
Hi Misty! I just updated the recipe, thanks for catching that. It is just 1 box of pudding.
I make these every year for our ward missionaries and I’ve always had comments about how yummy they are!! Thank you!!
why walnuts and not more pistachios?
You could definitely add more pistachios! I just like the flavor of mixing the nuts. :)
Made theses today and shared them with my neighbor. They were a big hit. Didn’t have m&ms but they were fine without them. Yum!
We tried these for St. Patrick’s Day and they were a huge hit. Thanks for the delicious recipe!
These look delicious! :)
These cookies look so yummy! I was wondering if it would be okay to substitute instant Vanilla pudding and add green food coloring to cookie batter in place of the pistachio pudding? My son has an allergy to pistachios. Love your recipes and crafts! Thanks :)
It will have a different taste of course, but that should turn out great! :)
These look yummy! Thanks for the recipe!