I have always loved pistachios, even as a kid, when there would be a little gumball like machine, they used to have pistachios and I would always opt for them. My grandmother used to make this EPIC pistachio cake with pistachio pudding and it was my favorite. When I saw that people were using the pudding mixes for cookies, I knew I wanted to make a green jewel! And since we are at the “end of summer” (we live in Texas so we have at least another month) ice cream sammies sounded so good. This recipe is perfect for just good cookies or making them sammies with pistachio ice cream. It’s like pistachio overload - pudding mix, chopped up in them and on top, and the ice cream. Fair warning, these make BIG ice cream sandwiches, my kids needed to store half for the next day. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

Pistachio Cookie Ice Cream Sammies

1 cup (2sticks) unsalted butter, room temp
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package Instant Pistachio pudding
green food coloring, optional
2/3 cup pistachios, chopped, divided
1 1/2 cup white chocolate chips, divided
1 Tablespoon coconut oil
1 pint pistachio ice cream

- Preheat the oven to 350 and prepare two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.

- In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugars until fluffy and lighter in color. Add in the eggs, one at a time until combined and pour in extracts, mixing until all combined.

- In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients - flour, baking soda, salt, and pudding mix. Slowly stir in the dry into the wet mixture and mix only until combined. Add in the green food coloring, as many drops as needed for desired color, and mix until all evenly colored.

- Fold in 1/2 cup chopped pistachios and 1 cup white chocolate chips until they are evenly distributed.

- Using a small cookie scoop, scoop out the cookies, leaving 2” around for spreading. Option to freeze for 30 minutes to help keep the height on the cookies.

- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned on the edges. Let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.

- For the topping, combine the remaining 1/2 cup white chocolate chips and coconut oil and microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring each time until drizzly. Using a fork, drizzle over half of the cookies and sprinkle with remaining chopped pistachios. Let harden completely, placing in refrigerator helps it go faster.

- Set out ice cream for 5-10 minutes to soften then use one scoop onto an undecorated cookie, then top with decorated cookie, carefully squeezing together. Place on cookie sheet and freeze completely, at least 4 hours before serving.

Whenever I bake, I really like to set everything up so I can just read the recipe and follow along without stopping, grabbing, measuring, and getting lost.

Here is the dough, I added a few drops of green food coloring so the cookies were a beautiful shade of light green to match pistachios.

Pour in those white chocolate chips and pistachios right into the batter.

This dough is ready for the cookie sheet!

Throw a couple extra chips on top so you can see them after baking. And get it into the oven!

These are looking so cute but let’s make them a little cuter. Grab your melted white chocolate and extra pistachios

Use a fork or take a plastic bag and cut the smallest of holes in a corner and drizzle it over, only half of the cookies if you are making the sammies though!

Sprinkle those pistachios too, so everyone knows what’s up with these green cookies.

Grab your ice cream and your scooper.

Take an undecorated cookie, scoop of ice cream and then top with the razzle dazzle. That’s it. Make sure to freeze completely and then you can store in a freezer bag for cravings.