Inspired by the classic Italian spumoni ice cream, these chewy Spumoni cookies burst with chocolate chips, dried cherries, and pistachios. They're a festive treat perfect for holidays, parties, or any occasion!
Jump to:
🗝️ Recipe's key points
- A delicious twist to classic spumoni ice cream! These spumoni chocolate chip cookies replicate the same irresistible flavors in easy cookie form - perfect as a sweet treat or dessert.
- These Italian spumoni cookies are the perfect addition to your Christmas dessert table. With easy pantry-staple ingredients, you can also enjoy them year-round.
- Easily adapt these chewy homemade spumoni cookies with simple ingredients variations to suit your preferences.
Whether you stick to this recipe or make it your own, these Italian-inspired cookies are a wonderfully simple and delicious way to enjoy the beloved flavors of spumoni any time of year.
🛒 Ingredients
This is an overview of the ingredients. You'll find the full measurements and instructions in the recipe card (printable) at the bottom of the page.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
- Flour – I always use all-purpose flour for baking. It's particularly good for these homemade spumoni cookies. I haven't tried this recipe with any other variety of flour.
- Baking soda – Helps prevent these spumoni cookies from spreading too much while baking.
- Kosher salt – Helps to balance the sweetness and the other flavors. Omit the salt if you choose to use salted butter in the cookie dough.
- Butter – Use unsalted butter for greater control and soften it first at room temperature before mixing with the rest of the ingredients.
- Light brown sugar – This adds depth of flavor and a chewy center.
- Granulated sugar – Provides sweetness and contrasting crisp edges to these spumoni chocolate chip cookies.
- Vanilla & Almond extracts – Use pure vanilla extract for the best flavor. I love the combination of both extracts in these Italian-inspired cookies, but you could omit the almond, if you prefer.
- Eggs – Allow to reach room temperature.
- Bittersweet chocolate chips – I prefer the Ghirardelli brand, but feel free to use another brand. The bittersweet chocolate chips create a deep chocolate flavor, but semi-sweet chocolate chips also work.
- Pistachios – You can ditch any green food coloring as these chopped pistachios add a natural pop of vibrant green as well as a delicious texture and flavor. Toast the nuts for deeper flavor or leave them as is.
- Dried cherries – I've deviated slightly from traditional spumoni by using dried cherries instead of maraschino cherries and/or red food coloring. While you could use dried cranberries in a pinch, they'll definitely alter the flavor of these Italian spumoni cookies.
🗒 Instructions
This is an overview of the instructions. Full instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of the page.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside. Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with fitted paddle attachment, combine the softened butter and sugars.
- Beat on medium speed for about 3 minutes, or until lightly fluffy, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Beat in the extracts.
- Reduce the speed to medium-low and add the eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl again. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture until just combined.
- At this step, you can either bake the cookies straight away or cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for up to 1 hour.
- Add the chopped pistachios to the bowl of cookie dough.
- Add the dried cherries and chocolate chips. Fold in until evenly distributed throughout the cookie dough.
- Use a large cookie scoop to scoop out heaping mounds of cookie dough, and roll into balls. Place the cookie balls on the prepared baking sheet with about 2 inches of space between each cookie to allow for spreading.
- Bake one sheet of these spumoni cookies for about 12-13 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges and soft in the center. Remove the cookies from the oven and while still warm, press extra chocolate chips, pistachios, and/or cherries on the tops. Allow the cookies to cool for 20 minutes on the baking sheets before serving.
🥫 Storage
Store these easy spumoni cookies in an airtight container for up to one week. You can also freeze the cookies after they have been baked in a freezer-safe container for up to three months.
The rolled cookie balls can also be stored in the fridge (for 1-2 days) or in the freezer (for 1-2 months) to be baked another day. Make sure that any chilled cookie balls are allowed to sit at room temperature before baking or bake them a few minutes longer.
📚 Variations
- Omit the nuts when catering to allergies.
- Dried cranberries can be used instead of dried cherries, although this will alter the taste of the cookies slightly. Use maraschino cherries for a much sweeter version!
- For sweeter cookies, use semi-sweet chocolate chips. You could also use white chocolate chips for a bolder variation of these homemade spumoni cookies.
- Drizzle melted chocolate over the tops of these pistachio cherry chocolate cookies for added decadence.
- Ditch the almond extract and only use vanilla, if you prefer.
👩🏻🍳 Tips
- To make sure that you have nice and fluffy cookies, you will want to use room-temperature butter. The softened butter will fluff up nicely when you beat it.
- Be careful to not overmix the batter once you add the flour. Mix it until just combined so that you don't have tough cookies.
- Instead of parchment paper, you could also use a silicone baking mat if you have one on hand.
- I prefer to use a cookie scoop for accurately measuring the heaping of cookie dough. It helps to ensure uniform-sized cookies that will bake evenly.
- To make it easier, press extra chocolate chips, chopped pistachios, or dried cherries onto the tops of the cookies while they are warm.
- If you make these Italian spumoni cookies the same size as I do, you will have about ¼ cup of dough. This will make a total of 2 dozen cookies.
- It's best to use 2 baking sheets for these cookies for better temperature control. If you use one baking sheet, it will be warm from the oven and can cause the cookies to spread more.
- If you decide to chill the cookie dough before baking, don't leave it in the fridge for more than 1 hour. The dough will get hard and be hard to scoop.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets to set before transferring to a cooling rack. I like to carefully tuck in any edges that may have spread too much while baking for a perfectly round cookie!
🤔 FAQs
Spumoni is a classic Italian ice cream made with layers of pistachio, cherry, and chocolate. These cookies take inspiration from those flavors, mixing chocolate chips, cherries, and pistachios into one delicious bite.
Yes! You can use maraschino cherries, although they are sweeter than the dried cherries. We prefer the tart taste of the dried cherries but the option is yours.
Toasting the pistachios isn’t required, but it really brings out their nutty flavor and adds an extra crunch. If you have a few extra minutes, it’s worth the step!
Absolutely. You can freeze the dough balls before baking. Just bake them a few minutes longer if they are frozen. You can also freeze baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Not at all! While they look festive on a Christmas cookie tray, they’re perfect year-round. Think Valentine’s Day with the cherries, St. Patrick’s Day with the pistachios, or even just a fun weekend baking project.
📗 Related Recipes
If you're excited about this Christmas spumoni cookie recipe for holiday baking, you're not the only one! Here are some other holiday-inspired cookies I highly recommend:
- White Chocolate Chip Cookies - Soft, chewy white chocolate chip cookies are topped with crushed candy canes for a festive crunch and minty flavor.
- Chocolate Peppermint Cookies - Rich, soft-centered chocolate cookies are finished with white chocolate and candy canes for a crispy, holiday-inspired treat.
- Chocolate Drizzled Pistachio Cookies - Indulgent pistachio cookies drizzled with chocolate are a perfect combination for your holiday dessert tray.
🍽 What to serve with spumoni ice cream cookies
Enjoy these pistachio cherry chocolate cookies for parties and holidays alongside a scoop of classic spumoni gelato to keep with the theme or this Cherry Amaretto No-Churn Ice Cream or Chocolate Chip Ice Cream!
It's the perfect holiday treat or dessert to follow a festive lineup of Italian Venison Wellington, Italian Peas and Mushrooms, and Roasted Rosemary Potatoes with Garlic.
🔪 All Our Way recommends the following
The following are affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
You’ll need the following items to make this recipe successfully.
- Mixing bowl – For combining the cookie dough ingredients.
- Hand mixer – Great for achieving well combined dough. You could also use a bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment.
- Large cookie dough scoop – For creating uniform-sized Spumoni chocolate chip cookies.
- Dry measuring cup spoons – To accurately measure dry ingredients.
- Digital scale or dry measuring cups – Perfect for precision ingredient measurements, whether wet or dry.
- Parchment paper – Prevents the cookies from sticking to the baking sheet and helps with cleanup.
- Baking trays – Use more than one baking tray for this cookie recipe.
📞 Chiacchierata (chat)
And there you have it, miei amici — Spumoni Chocolate Chip Cookies that add a touch of Italian ice cream magic to your cucina (kitchen). These cookies are colorful, chewy, and filled with everything we love: chocolate, cherries, and pistachios. They’re the kind of treat that disappears faster than you can bake them!
My Mamma always made a batch of these at Natale and shared them with our neighbors. It was her way of spreading a little dolcezza (sweetness), and I carry on the tradition today. Whether you’re baking them for Christmas, a cookie exchange, or just to treat yourself, they’re bound to bring smiles.
So grab your cucchiaio (spoon), scoop up that dough, and get baking. Buon appetito — and don’t forget to share a few with your neighbors, too. After all, cookies this good are meant to be shared!
Tutti a tavolo, è pronto!
If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.
What's new? Check out my All Our Way Store on Amazon. We'll be adding more items we love and use or wish we had to make cooking fun and easy.
📖 Recipe
Spumoni Ice Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies – A Cookie Jar Favorite
Equipment Needed
- Electric Hand Mixer or Stand Mixer
Ingredients
- 2¾ cups all-purpose flour 330g
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter 227g at room temperature
- 1 cup light brown sugar 213g packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar 99g
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract optional
- 2 eggs large eggs, room temperature
- 11 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips 312g
- 1½ cups chopped pistachios
- ¾ cup dried cherries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set it aside.
- In a stand mixer bowl with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a handheld mixer, combine the butter and both sugars. Beat on medium speed for about 3 minutes. The mixture should be light and fluffy. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed.
- Beat in the vanilla and almond extract.
- Lower the mixer speed to medium-low. Add the eggs one at a time. Beat well after each egg. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture, beating until just combined. Mix in the chocolate chips, pistachios, and cherries, just until evenly combined.
- You can bake right away. Or, you can cover the dough and refrigerate it for up to 1 hour. Do not refrigerate it longer, or the dough will get too hard to scoop.
- Using a large spring-loaded cookie scoop, scoop heaping 3 tablespoon-sized mounds (80g) of cookie dough and roll them into a ball. Place the dough ball on the prepared sheet. Repeat this process with all the dough, leaving 2 inches of space between each cookie.
- Bake one sheet at a time for 12 to 13 minutes, or until golden on the edges but still soft in the center.
- Take the cookies out of the oven. Use a spatula to gently tuck in any edges that spread too much while baking. This will help make a perfectly round cookie.
- Press extra chocolate chips, cherries, and pistachios on top, if desired. Cool cookies on the baking sheet for 20 minutes before placing them on a wire rack to serve or move.
Notes
👩🏻🍳 Tips
-
To make sure that you have nice and fluffy cookies, you will want to use room-temperature butter. The softened butter will fluff up nicely when you beat it.
-
Be careful to not overmix the batter once you add the flour. Mix it until just combined so that you don't have tough cookies.
-
Instead of parchment paper, you could also use a silicone baking mat if you have one on hand.
-
I prefer to use a cookie scoop for accurately measuring the heaping of cookie dough. It helps to ensure uniform-sized cookies that will bake evenly.
-
To make it easier, press extra chocolate chips, chopped pistachios, or dried cherries onto the tops of the cookies while they are warm.
-
If you make these Italian spumoni cookies the same size as I do, you will have about ¼ cup of dough. This will make a total of 2 dozen cookies.
-
It's best to use 2 baking sheets for these cookies for better temperature control. If you use one baking sheet, it will be warm from the oven and can cause the cookies to spread more.
-
If you decide to chill the cookie dough before baking, do not leave it in the fridge for more than 1 hour. The dough will get hard and be hard to scoop.
-
Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets to set before transferring to a cooling rack. I like to carefully tuck in any edges that may have spread too much while baking for a perfectly round cookie!
Nutrition
Sign up for the emails and never miss another recipe!!
We'll never share your email or send you spam. Promise
