These are actually my new go-to Christmas cookies. I’ve lost count of how many batches I’ve made. Last year I got obsessed baking everything under the sun with pistachios including this insanely good Pistachio Brittle. Then I found a recipe for pretty green Pistachio Cookies. Super cute, right? Also, insanely delicious. However, the recipe I found urged you to use a sugar cookie mix to make the cookies and that’s really not my style. Especially when there are all of seven ingredients in a traditional sugar cookie and they take maybe 5 minutes to whip up. 
So I simply substituted a cookie mix for my favorite chewy sugar cookie recipe. A package of pistachio pudding gives this dough a nice light green tint, but if you want to really amp up the festive hue then I suggest adding in a few additional drops of green food coloring. The contrast between the minty colored cookie and the bright gem tones of the cranberries is really lovely. Plus they taste ridiculously good. Santa will definitely not be gifting you with any naughty coal in your stocking if you leave a plate of these nifty treats out for him and his eight tiny reindeer. 
Pistachio-Cranberry Christmas Cookies Makes 30 cookies Loosely based on the Cran-Pistachio cookie recipe 1 cup butter, unsalted 1 cup white sugar 2 eggs, lightly beaten 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 3.4 oz package Pistachio Pudding mix 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 3 cups flour (Note: the dough will be VERY stiff kind of like play-doh) 1/2 cup dried cranberries 1 cup chocolate chips Optional: Substitute out 1/2 cup of chocolate chips for 1/2 cup of chopped pistachio nuts. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Mix in the eggs one at a time and then add the vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, dry pudding mix, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture and combine. Pour in the cranberries and chocolate chips and process until they are evenly distributed throughout the batter. The dough will be VERY stiff. Using a 1 1/2 ounce (3 tablespoon) sized cookie scoop shape the cookies and place them on a greased cookies sheet (or preferably use a silpat). Using the flattened bottom of a measuring cup or drinking glass gently press the cookies to flatten them slightly. Bake for 12-14 minutes until the bottoms are lightly browned. Allow the cookies to settle on the baking sheet for 2 minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. 