This Chocolate Cherry Pistachio Pecan Cookie recipe combines some of my favorite ingredients into an easy-to-make chewy oatmeal cookie with a sweet and salty kick!
I’ve talked about my love for recipes with simple flavors. My family calls me the “Mayor of Vanilla-town” because of it.
For instance, I typically prefer a well executed sugar cookie over some double chocolate something-or-other stuffed with gloopity-glop. Of course, I’m kidding here… but you get my point.
But a few weeks back, I saw a cookie online that was an oatmeal-type cookie that had pistachios, chocolate, and dried cherries in it and it intrigued me.
Now, y’all know I’m not a huge raisin fan, so oatmeal raisin cookies are usually not at the top of my list. But I love dried cranberries and dried cherries and having never had a cookie with dried cherries, I knew I wanted to try them.
Being that the place advertising this cookie was more than 500 miles from my house, and since our private jet was in the shop for repairs, I knew I was on my own to create something similar if I wanted to taste it. Jetting down to try it just wasn’t in the cards. (Of course, I’m kidding about the jet, too!)
I knew I wanted the cookie to have oatmeal flavor, but not comprised solely of oats. Being the pecan-loving Southern boy I am, I knew my favorite tree nut had to make an appearance, too.
And I knew I wanted them to be a nice balance of salty and sweet – that’s my favorite flavor combo.
Some testing and tweaking and a whole lot of cookie tasting later, I landed on this version that I have to admit I’m pretty dang proud of.
Playing around with the ratio of flour to oatmeal and choosing quick cooking oats for a finer texture hit the mark for me and landed somewhere between a chocolate chip cookie and an oatmeal cookie.
Opting for brown sugar gave me that deep molasses-y flavor and the chewiness I wanted.
Now what can I say about dried cherries, pecans, pistachios, and chocolate chips? Well, they’re delicious… and even better together. A sprinkle of flake salt on the top of each cookie before it gets baked and the sweet and salty flavor combo was achieved!
In fact, these cookies have me rethinking this whole “simple flavors” thing. 😆
Quick Cookie Tip
Starting with butter that’s soft and cool but not room temperature will keep cookies from spreading. The softer the butter, the quicker it will melt in the oven. I recommend starting with butter that’s been sitting on the counter for about 10 minutes.
If you’re using a stand mixer, you can use butter straight out of the fridge as the power of the stand mixer will get the butter pliable quickly.
If your butter gets too soft, chill the dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes to get the butter to firm back up.
Recipe Card
Chocolate Cherry Pistachio Pecan Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, slightly softened
- 1 1/2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking power
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
- 1 cup dried cherries, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
- 1/2 cup roasted pistachios
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- flake salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Use a mixer to cream the butter and brown sugar together – about 1 minute. Add the egg and vanilla and mix to combine.
- In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Ad the dry mixture to the butter mixture and mix on low to combine. Add the oats and mix to combine. Add the cherries, pecans, pistachios, and chocolate chips. Mix to combine.
- Use a 1/4 cup dry measuring cup to portion the dough out into 16 to 18 equal portions. Roll the dough into a ball (about 2-inches) and place it on the baking sheet. Space the dough balls about 3 inches part and press each ball to about 1 inch thick. Sprinkle with a generous pinch of flake salt.
- Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until the edges are brown but the center of each cookie still is shiny/wet. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before sliding the parchment, with the cookies on it, to a wire rack to cool completely. Work in batches to bake all the cookies. Store in airtight container.
Notes
* If nutritional values are provided, they are an estimate and will vary depending on the brands used. The values do not include optional ingredients or when ingredients are added to taste. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, I recommend grabbing your favorite brands and plugging those ingredients into an online nutritional calculator.
rose333
I only have large flake oats. Would this be a good substitution for the quick oats?
The large flake oats are a bit thicker and take a bit longer to cook. If you’re ok with a chewier texture from the oatmeal, that should probably work.
rose333
thanks!
Sandy E
VERY GOOD. Turned out PERFECT!!!
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed them!
Aileen
Wow, Stacey, these look so delicious! What a flavor combo! I’m going to save this recipe because I want to make it sometime.
Thanks, Aileen! I hope you’ll enjoy them!