Name: Sourdough Honey Pistachio Cookies
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 13 min
Total time: 778 min
Ingredients: 100 g Sourdough Starter ((or Sourdough Discard)); 180 g Salted Butter ((Melted)); 140 g Brown Sugar; 80 g White Sugar ((granulated sugar)); 1 Egg ((large egg, around 60 to 70g)); 1 Egg Yolk ((approx. 15g)); 50 g Honey; 5 g Vanilla Extract; 300 g All Purpose Flour; 8 g Baking Soda; 6 g Corn Starch; 3 g Salt; 100 g Pistachios ((roughly chopped)); 5 g Flaky Sea Salt ((smashed with a rolling pin)); 20 g Pistachios ((finely chopped))

These sourdough honey pistachio cookies provide something a little different! Sweet and fragrant notes from the honey, alongside colorful, crunchy pistachios sprinkled with a splash of flakey sea salt for a surprising finish! These sourdough honey pistachio cookies are going to be a family favorite at your house, just like they are in mine!

A large round white plate with a selection of sourdough honey pistachio cookies laid out on it. There is a small dish of honey at the top of the photo, as well as a small bowl of flakey sea salt at the bottom next to a denim blue dish towel.

You might also enjoy this collection of sourdough cookie recipes.

Why You'll Love This Recipe!

Gorgeous Flavor Combination - Honey and pistachio is such a gorgeous flavor combination, it's sweet, a little crunchy ... and then you throw in some flakey sea salt on top and it just takes things to the next level!

Use Active Starter or Discard - You can use whatever you have on hand to create these gorgeously fragrant cookies.

Fermented Cookies - you can ferment this cookie dough in the fridge for up to 48 hours, creating a more complex flavor profile and allowing your sourdough starter to work its magic!

Ingredients

Sourdough Starter - you can use active sourdough starter or sourdough discard to create these delicious sourdough honey and pistachio cookies. You can read more about the difference between sourdough starter and sourdough discard here.
Butter - as always, I've used salted butter. It provides a rich flavor and helps create a soft, tender texture; using it melted encourages a chewier cookie.
Sugar - I've used a mix of brown and white sugars, a little less of each than I normally would because I'm also using honey. Brown sugar adds moisture and a deep, caramel-like sweetness, which enhances the chewiness and complements the honey and pistachios. White sugar contributes to the cookie’s sweetness and helps create crisp edges and a golden finish.
Egg + Egg Yolk - My eggs are large, around 60 to 70g each.
Honey - I've used raw organic honey, it brings a floral sweetness and slight chew to the cookies, pairing beautifully with the nutty pistachios and tangy sourdough.
Vanilla Extract - I've used extract but you can use vanilla paste if you prefer.
All Purpose Flour
Baking Soda - not baking powder, you need to make sure you use the right one in this reicpe.
Corn Starch - creates a soft and delicate texture by tenderizing the flour and reducing gluten development. Also called cornflour depending on your location.
Salt - some of the salt is added in the cookie dough and then flakey sea salt is sprinkled on top for a salty, surprising finish to these cookies.
Pistachios - I've used raw, unsalted pistachios, roughly chopped to bring a unique texture and flavor to these cookies.

How To Make These Sourdough Salted Honey Pistachio Cookies

This simple one bowl recipe has been created using the tried and tested recipe for my sourdough chocolate chip cookies as a basis. Of course, it has been changed to incorporate the delicious flavors of honey and pistachio, which means that the amounts of sugar have been reduced to accomodate this.

Before you start, chop up your pistachios. It's ok if they are just roughly chopped, so some are still whole, some are chopped up more finely. It will give your finished cookies such a great texture and reveal the beautiful purple and green colors of the pistachios.

A grey stoneware bowl of roughly chopped purple and green pistachios. There is a also a small bowl of flaky sea salt.

In a large mixing bowl, combine sourdough starter, melted butter, brown sugar, white sugar, egg + egg yolk, honey and vanilla extract. Whisk together until they resemble runny caramel.

A bowl wet ingredients necessary to make sourdough honey pistachio cookies. The ingredients have been whisked together and look like runny caramel.

Now on top of the wet ingredient mixture, add the all purpose flour, baking soda, cornstarch, salt and roughly chopped pistachios. Stir all together to form a wet cookie dough.

Dry ingredients sitting on top of wet ingredients. You can see the purple and green colors of the pistachios. There is a white spatula in the bowl ready to stir the wet and dry ingredients together.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place into the fridge for 12 to 24 hours to ferment and firm up. I've left the dough for up to 48 hours in the fridge with no issues.

Wet cookie dough for sourdough honey and pistachio cookies in a cream bowl.

The next day, when you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 165C (330F) and line two cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Use a cookie scoop or large spoon to scoop out balls of dough. I have used 35g dough balls for this recipe. Roll each dough ball in some roughly chopped pistachios before placing the dough balls onto the prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle with some flakey sea salt.

Place the cookies into the oven for 12 to 13 minutes at 165C (330F) or until they are golden brown on top but still molten in the centre.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray for around 10 minutes. The cookies will continue to bake for a few minutes after they are removed from the oven and will firm up as they cool. After 10 minutes, carefully transfer to a wire rack and allow them to cool completely.

Flavor Variations

If you want to take these sourdough salted honey pistachio cookies to the next level, why not try adding some of these extra ingredients:

Chocolate Chips - 100g of white or semi sweet chocolate chips brings a creamy sweetness. I love adding white chocolate when gifting these cookies.
Cinnamon - add 1 teaspoon for a warm aromatic twist to these cookies.
Orange zest - the zest of one orange creates a beautiful citrusy brightness (I love this!).
Rose - you can add a handful of organic food grade dried rose petals or ½ teaspoon of rose water to the cookie dough for something a little different. I love adding rose petals if I have some left over when making my rose petal sourdough bread.

How To Store + Freeze

These sourdough honey pistachio cookies are best stored in a cookie tin or glass jar. Storing in plastic will make them too soft and you'll lose the crispy edges. They will last for up to 5 days stored in a cookie tin or jar on the counter.

You can freeze the cookie dough balls and then bake them from frozen if you want to. I snap freeze the cookie dough balls on a tray and then transfer to a zip loc bag once frozen. The cookie dough is good in the freeze for up to 3 months.