Cranberry Pistachio Cookies

Last weekend, as part of our Advent Conspiracy celebration, I decided we would spend the afternoon baking for the girl's Sunday School teachers. I planned on making a pistachio cookie recipe that I had seen on Pinterest, but when I went to get started, I discovered it required a sugar cookie mix, which I didn't have! Instead, I adapted a recipe from allrecipes.com to use the ingredients that I DID have.

My family really liked these. (Yes, "liked." They are long gone!) They turned out very moist and flavorful, and the salt from the pistachios gave them that great salty/sweet factor! The best thing about this recipe is that you don't have to give a cookie mix any credit!

My adjusted recipe is as follows,

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 (3.5 ounce) package instant pistachio pudding mix
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup chopped pistachios
• 1 cup dried cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add pudding mix, eggs and vanilla. Combine flour and baking soda; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Fold in pistachios and cranberries
3. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned.