Wow, I have really been on a kick with long-name recipes lately, but I can’t help it!! These cookies have a lot to give and I couldn’t leave a single thing out. So I’d like to present Honeynut Cookies with Pistachio Chocolate and Cranberry Swirl, my latest favorite cookies, because wow are they delicious.
The holiday season is upon us (my favorite season!!) and if you are looking for something that tastes festive, these cookies have it all. Tart cranberry swirl, a perfectly sweet and soft squash base that has a hint of baking spices, and then a crunchy, nutty pistachio swirl that gives you a subtle crunchy and a light chocolatey flavor. So you get chocolate, but not *too* much chocolate, you know?
Overall, they are my holiday dream cookie. Great for gatherings, great for cookie swaps, but perfect for everyday. I keep a few of them frozen and then microwave them – AND OH WHAT A TREAT IT IS.
Table of contents
- Why these honeynut cookies are worth making
- Why use honeynut purée vs. pumpkin purée
- Homemade cranberry sauce vs. jarred jams
- Tips and tricks for swirling the cranberry sauce into this honeynut cookie dough
- Storage suggestions and reheating tips for these honeynut cookies
- Why does this recipe use grams?
- Looking for other holiday cookies?
Why these honeynut cookies are worth making
My first reason, there’s a lot to love! These cookies have:
- A honeynut or pumpkin base that keeps the dough soft, autumnal and perfectly moist.
- A pistachio-chocolate crumble that melts into little pools of nuttiness and richness. It’s just the right amount of chocolate, IMO.
- A tart cranberry swirl that brightens up every bite with color, tartness, and a festive note.
It’s like all your favorite holiday things mixed together – soft pumpkin cookies, pistachio bark, and cranberry jam. But all layered together in one chewy, glossy cookie.
Even better: the prep work is minimal. You roast a squash (or skip that if you’re using purée), simmer a quick cranberry jam, pulse together pistachios and chocolate, and then mix everything up in one bowl with a hand mixer. No stand mixer required! Which is big for us.
Why use honeynut purée vs. pumpkin purée
There are pros and cons to using either variation, which is why I provided both options!
The perks of honeynut purée is that you are really going to maximize your flavor. Honeynuts are naturally concentrated in flavor (it’s because of how the seed was designed, it’s a very cool fact about its agricultural breeding), so they are sweet, custardy, and like butternut squash times ten. The one downside is you have to roast them to get that sweet purée, so it does take a bit more time.
The good thing about using pumpkin purée is the ease! You can get it from almost any grocery store and the canned brands (I like Libby’s) are pretty phenomenal. What you sacrifice in flavor is minimal, and it will cut your prep time for this recipe down by 40 minutes.
You can absolutely swap one for the other here — just use the same weight (150 grams or about 2/3 cup).
Homemade cranberry sauce vs. jarred jams
This recipe has a lot of steps, so I get it – for a cookie it can be a lot! One of the bigger parts of this recipe is making your own cranberry sauce to swirl into the cookie. It only takes ten minutes, but I get it if you want to go the store-bought route.
If you are going the store bought route, choose a jam that has some acid or tartness to it. Think: a sour cherry jam or a cranberry relish. Also, plan to use 1/3 cup or 85 grams of the jam.
Tips and tricks for swirling the cranberry sauce into this honeynut cookie dough
The cranberry sauce can be easily overmixed into this dough, but don’t stress it! I recommend folding the cranberry sauce in in 4-5 big folds, so that it is evenly distributed but still looks like a ribbon throughout the cookie.
The only thing you risk if you over-mix is a softer cookie with pillowy edges, so if you want that thin, crispy-edged look, try to only do a few folds here.
Storage suggestions and reheating tips for these honeynut cookies
These cookies store beautifully, you can keep them at room temperature or even freeze them for a quick reheat. Here are my favorite options:
- Room temperature: Store in an airtight container for up to 3–4 days. The moisture from the squash keeps them soft, and you can always pop them in the oven for a few minutes at 400°F to re-crisp the edges.
- Fridge: For a slightly denser, fudgier texture, refrigerate for up to a week. I like to pull them out and eat them cold, or use the microwave to get them nice and gooey again.
- Freezer: You can freeze both the baked cookies or the unbaked dough balls.
- Baked cookies: layer them in a ziploc bag or container for up to 6 months. I love to pull them out and microwave them for a quick and gooey cookie.
- Dough balls: freeze raw, then bake straight from frozen — just add 2 minutes to your bake time.
Tip: If you chill the dough overnight before baking, you’ll get a flatter cookie with chewier texture. The dough hydrates, the sugar dissolves more evenly, and the flavors meld. It’s good (but not mandatory) to be patient.
Why does this recipe use grams?
Baking is a very finicky and exact science. The only way to ensure complete accuracy is through measuring by weight, and not volume. As much as I wish I could give you multiple ways to measure ingredients, in this recipe measuring by cups might cause some volatility and miss-matched results. I want to ensure you get the best results with this brown butter banana bread recipe (and I want to keep this recipe fool-proof!) so I highly recommend getting a small affordable kitchen scale if you want to move forward with this particular recipe!
Looking for other holiday cookies?
Here are a few crowd-favorites from the blog!
Brown Butter and Bread Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
Pumpkin Miso Caramel Cookies
Tiramisu Cookies
And that’s it for these Honeynut Cookies with Pistachio Chocolate and Cranberry Swirl!
If you make it, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It’s my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you all are making.
And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you <3
Equipment
- 1 Spatula
Ingredients
- 1 small honeynut squash, or 2/3 cup pumpkin purée, 5.3 ounces / 150 grams
- 3/4 cup cranberries, 3 ounces / 85 grams, See Note*
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1.75 ounces / 50 grams
- 1/2 cup roasted salted pistachios, 2 ounces / 58 grams
- 1 bar of dark chocolate, 3.2 ounces / 90 grams
- 16 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, 8 ounces / 226 grams
- 1/3 cup and 1 tablespoon packed dark brown sugar, 2.8 ounces / 80 grams
- 1 cup granulated sugar, 7 ounces / 200 grams
- 2 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour, 9.9 ounces / 280 grams
- 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Evenly stagger two racks in the oven and preheat to 400°F.
- Pierce the honeynut squash a few times with a knife, then add it to a baking sheet and roast for 30-40 minutes at 400°F, or until soft. If you are using canned purée, skip this step.
- When the squash is done, remove it from the oven and decrease the oven temperature to 350°F convection (375°F standard).
- While the squash is roasting, prepare the other fillings. Add the cranberries, 1/4 cup (60g) water and 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar to a small pot or sauté pan. Bring the mixture to a simmer and simmer for 5-10 minutes, until the cranberries have burst and the sauce is thickened. Set this aside.
- Roughly chop up the 1/2 cup (58g) of pistachios and 90 grams of chocolate. Mix them together with your hands. Set aside a few tablespoons of the mixture for topping the cookies.
- To a large bowl, add the butter, 1/3 cup and 1 tablespoon (80g) of brown sugar, 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar, and 2/3 cup (150g) of your cooked honeynut squash or pumpkin purée. Use an electric mixer to mix this until it is fluffy and smooth, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add the 2 cups (280g) of flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger to the bowl. Mix with the electric mixer until everything is well combined and a smooth dough has formed.
- Add in the pistachio chocolate and use a spatula to mix it into the dough.
- Pour in the cranberry sauce, use a spatula to do a few big "folds" so the cranberry sauce is a ribbon throughout the dough. Be sure not to overmix!
- Use a 3-tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop the dough into 20-24 balls. You can either chill the dough overnight for an extra-chewy cookie, or you can bake the cookies immediately for 12-13 minutes at 350°F convection. Before baking, press a few pieces of the reserved chopped chocolate and pistachios on the top.
- When they are out of the oven, immediately give the pan a smack on the counter to help the cookies deflate. They will flatten out more as they cool. Let them cool until they are firm enough to handle, then enjoy!
Comments
I can’t wait to make these! I have a basic question, should I use salted or unsalted pistachios?
I used salted and mine came out delicious!
I’ve watched so many of your youtube shorts and came across this recipe yesterday. I logged it into my “oh wow if I ever see the special ingredients at the store i’ll try this some day” AND THERE IT WAS at costco, a 3 pack of honeynut squash.
This is my first recipe of yours I’ve made and its a 10/10. Genius to make every flavor “small” so that they all blend together. Would recommend to anyone who likes cookies, they feel like the holiday season without punching you in the face XD
Really delicious, I shall be making many more batches during the holidays! The only things I did differently from the recipe were omitting the chocolate (& consequently slightly increasing the amount of pistachios) and reducing the sugar by 50 g. However, the cookies turned out quite cakey and soft. Is that how they are supposed to turn out?
sugar contributes to cookie’s structure and texture. this is likely why yours are cakey – you reduced the ingredient.
Not Justine but I would imagine unsalted! Since the recipe already has salt in it.
Just made these for an adult PJ party. The gals are gonna flip. Didn’t have time to go to the “good” grocery store and they were out of cranberries at my neighborhood shop so I used frozen cherries instead. A little longer cook time on the stove to get them broken down and thickened, but the result is phenomenal. Thanks for the fun recipe!!!
So glad you made it and I hope they love them!!
This recipe looks so delicious but I’d like to omit the pistachios because of allergies, should I increase any other ingredient? I’m worried that it’ll affect the texture negatively.
Made your cookies this morning. Used butternut squash and pecans! Absolute perfection! Like ALL your recipes! Thank you!
Love this and am so happy you made them!
These are SO good. They’re very unique I don’t think I’ve ever had a cookie like them… and the actual dough itself is delicious but the add-ins are obviously elite. Thanks Justine!
So so happy you like them!!
Hey Justine – for those of us with conventional ovens, how long would you recommend a bake time?
Whenever it’s convection, just increase the temp by 25 degrees if you are using a regular oven 🙂 (I’ll start stipulating that in future blog posts!)
Question for you, can I make the cranberry sauce a few days ahead of making the cookies? Assuming it would work and to just refrigerate the sauce until I am ready to bake. Thanks!
Hello! Apologies for my delay, but absolutely! Cranberry sauce can luckily keep well for up to two weeks in the fridge.
I did a lot of substitutions for what I had on hand (ie – sweet potato for the squash, pecans for the chocolate and pistachios) and they were delightful! I would say my consistency and texture was more muffin top-ish than cookie but a holiday treat all the same! Any recs for not having the cranberry sauce ‘bleed’ during baking? Made them a bit messy (but worth the stained hands)
Hi Rachel! So glad you liked it 🙂 My best suggestion to avoid cranberry sauce bleeds is to just barely mix it in when you first add it to the dough – you’ll want like one to two huge swirls. Then when you scoop it, the cranberry sauce will be more *enveloped* by the dough, so there will be less bleeding out onto the pan (if any!).
Mine turned out more cake-y instead of the think chewy ones. I chilled it in the fridge before baking. I have a few more remaining that are still in the fridge and wondering if there’s a way to bake them (lower temp? pressing it flat before baking?) to get them to be flatter?
Hey AP! Were you measuring by weight? I find when you add too much flour the cakiness will increase. It could also be the distribution of the cranberry sauce that may impact the height of the cookies (but it really shouldn’t). My best suggestion would be using a scale to make sure the sugar to flour ratio is good and then the cookies will come out perfectly flat 🙂
Hi Justine!
So so SO excited to make these cookies. Do you feel I could make them the night before presenting them? And if I am unable to find honeynut squash, would using butternut squash be an okay substitution? Thankful for your inventive recipes!! Xxxx
Hi Jordan! Absolutely, I’d just suggest baking them instead of fridge-ing them, since others have had some issues when they’ve chilled the dough. Butternut squash would be fine, but pumpkin puree would be better 🙂
Tasty thank you! I used delicata squash because that’s what I had I think they still came out just a bit more crumbly or like fall apart maybe I should have added an egg? But didn’t want to throw the whole recipe off so I didn’t.
I’m glad you didn’t! I think it was just the delicata squash, they tend to be much starchier (like a potato) so they don’t have as much moisture as honeynut or canned pumpkin. If you make it again try those and you shouldn’t have any issues <3
Want to try making these with the squash, but have so many questions about the roasting process. Do you roast it whole or cut it in half and scoop out the seeds first? Do you add any oil or seasoning when roasting? Do you recommend measuring out the pulp after roasting, since squash can vary in size (and you were so precise on other measurements)? Thanks.
Hi LM, since honeynuts are so small, I just roast them whole and scoop out the pulp! Do not add any oil or seasoning. In the recipe instructions it gives you the exact measurement for the pulp, 2/3 cup, and if you need a weight, that’s in the ingredients list, too!
Made these a couple of weeks ago and they were delicious! The flavor was 10/10. I wasn’t sure if there would be too many flavors, but the finely pulsed pistachio and chocolate made for a very cohesive taste, and the cranberry sauce swirl added a delightful brightness. The cranberry sauce was very easy to make, but in a pinch, I think it could probably be substituted with canned cranberry sauce. The canned version would likely be sweeter, so maybe consider adding some acid, such as lemon or orange juice, to brighten it if you go that route. Like another person, these came out very soft and cakey for me, which is not my preferred cookie texture. My local store did not have honeynut squash, so I ended up using canned pumpkin. Maybe that contributed to it being more cakey? I can’t recall if I measured or weighed the ingredients, but even when I measure, I scoop the flour into the measuring cup to avoid packing, so I don’t think that would have made too much of a difference. The flavor was good enough to warrant trying again; next time I’ll try weighing. Are there any other suggestions to make the cookie more chewy and crisp around the edges?
These are cool cookies!
I successfully made the gluten free using bobs 1:1 replacement gf flour. I added an egg (maybe I’m blind but I didn’t see an egg in the recipe and with GF it helps with structure). My gluten eating friends never even knew they were GF.
I baked them for over 20mins tho to get them really chewy. At even 15mins they were pretty gooey still but I did make them quite big.
I’m docking a star bc I think it could have used twice as much cranberry and chocolate. So next time I’ll do that 🙂
I made these to use up leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving and they were so good!! I did misread the oven temp instructions though, the recipe starts at 400 to roast the squash but since I was using pumpkin purée, I accidentally skipped the step later that said to decrease to 350 to bake the cookies, so calling that out for the ADHD gals like me lol
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