These easy bakery-style white chocolate pistachio muffins are moist, tender and absolutely delicious. And topped with pistachio sugar to give a little extra crunch!

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The new year required a light, airy muffin and what better nut to pair with light and airy than delicious pistachio? And then, to take it to the next level, pair it with white chocolate chips.
What are pistachios?
The pistachio nut originates from Central Asia and the Middle East. These beautifully green nuts or seeds form part of the cashew family and are commonly used in ice cream, kulfi, halva, and baklava. They can be enjoyed raw (fresh), or salted and roasted.
Why You Will Love These Pistachio Muffins
- These soft, moist, delicious white chocolate pistachio muffins are super easy to make!
- They make a great addition to the school or work for lunch pack.
- A great treat to add to the weekend brunch table.
- They come together in a few minutes.
- A pistachio muffin would make a great St. Paddy's day snack.
Ingredients
Here are some notes on the ingredients used in this recipe. Please see the recipe card for quantities.
Butter adds flavor, softness, and moisture and sometimes aids in the leavening of baked goods. I use New Zealand butter in my recipes, which has approximately 82% butterfat and can be very yellow (similar to European or Irish butter). Butter cannot be substituted with butter or margarine spreads, but it can be substituted with baking margarine.
Salt is a crucial ingredient in all baked goods. I use table salt in all my recipes. One teaspoon of table salt equals 1.5 teaspoons of Morton Kosher Salt equals 2 teaspoons of Diamond Crystal.
Plain/all-purpose/standard grade flour can be substituted on a 1-to-1 basis for recipes that have ½ to 1 teaspoon of baking powder per 125 grams/1 cup of flour. If the recipe requires more than 1 teaspoon per cup, add the extra baking powder to the recipe to make up the difference. Self-raising/rising flours may already contain salt so this may need to be omitted from the recipe as well.
White sugar gives this muffin sweetness and moisture.
Test the freshness of your baking powder by placing a small amount in a few drops of boiling water. If it bubbles and fizzes, it's good to use!
White chocolate chips complement the pistachios and add a nice little burst of white chocolate flavour to the muffins.
Pistachios - I used raw pistachios that I then toasted in the oven for 5 minutes. You can also use raw pistachios.
Room Temperature Ingredients
Use room-temperature ingredients! Using room temperature ingredients ensures that ingredients in the batter or dough will incorporate easier. Take note that room temperature refers to around 20°C/68F.
- To bring eggs to room temperature quickly, place them into warm water for about 10 to 15 minutes.
- To bring butter to room temperature quickly, cut the butter into cubes and zap it in the microwave at 20% power in 10-second intervals. Or place the cubes in a bowl over warm water (such as with a double boiler) over low heat for 1 minute!
- Milk, buttermilk, and cream can be brought to room temperature by zapping in the microwave at 20% power in 10-second intervals. Or on low heat for a minute or two swirling every 10-15 seconds.
- If the butter is too warm/soft for baking - pop it into the fridge for 20-30 minutes.
Weighing & Measuring Ingredients
Weighing ingredients with a kitchen scale is more accurate than using measuring cups. All my recipes are developed and tested using grams only.
However, I have activated the grams-to-cups conversions on the recipe card. Simply click on "cups". For these conversions, cups are equal to 240mL/8 fl oz, tablespoons are 15mL and teaspoons are 5mL.
How to Make Pistachio Muffins
Step 1 - Preheat & Prep
Preheat the oven to 200°C/390°F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with muffin liners. Place the oven rack in the middle of the oven.
Step 2 - Toast the pistachios
Toss the raw pistachios onto a baking tray and toast in the oven for 3 to 5 minutes. Allow the nuts to cool a bit before roughly chopping using a serrated bread knife.
Step 3 - Combine the dry ingredients
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cornstarch and salt. Whisk to combine. Then toss in the white chocolate chips and chopped pistachios. Mix to coat the nuts and chocolate chips with the flour.
Step 4 - Prepare the wet ingredients
In a mixing bowl melt the butter either in the microwave or in a medium saucepan over low heat. Allow the butter to cool before adding in the eggs, milk, yoghurt, and vanilla. Whisk until completely combined.
Step 5 - Mix the batter
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix through until just combined.
Step 6 - Divide and top the muffins
In a small bowl, combine the raw sugar and 2 tablespoons of chopped pistachios. Mix to combine. Divide the muffin batter between the 12 cupcake liners, filling them almost to the top. Sprinkle the muffins with approximately ¾ to 1 teaspoon of the sugar-pistachio mix.
NOTE: Depending on the size of your cupcake liners (there is a slight variation in volume globally), this batter may make up to 15 muffins.
Step 7 - Bake, cool, and serve
Bake the muffins at 200°C/390°F for 5 minutes. Then turn down the oven to 180°C/355°F and bake for a further 12 to 15 minutes until just baked. Allow the muffins to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before cooling on a wired cooling rack. Serve & Enjoy.
Pro Tips for this Recipe
Ovens & Air Fryers
The temperatures stated are for conventional ovens. For convection, fan-forced, fan-assisted, or air-fryers, the temperature must be reduced by 20°C/25°F.
For baking, make sure the oven is fully preheated, and that the rack is in the middle of the oven. Open the oven as little as possible. For best baking results use an oven thermometer.
Remember that all ovens work slightly differently and bake times may need to be adjusted for your specific oven.
Bakeware
Metal bakeware (if you can, choose light-coloured bakeware for an even better bake) is superior when it comes to baking biscuits, cookies, brownies, muffins and quick bread, scones, cakes. These heat up and cool down faster than glassware. Glassware is heavier, heats up and cools down slower than metal, and is more suited for bread puddings, pies, crisps, crumbles, and cobblers.
Baking Tall Moist Muffins
- A hot preheated oven is key to a great oven spring and tall bakery-style muffins.
- Mix the ingredients until just combined and no more!
- Do not overbake the muffins. Once the temperature has been turned down, check the muffins at the 12-minute mark. If the toothpick/cake tester comes out mostly clean the muffins are done.
- Check more than 1 muffin when testing the doneness - to make sure that you haven't just hit a pocket of chocolate.
Storage and Freezing
These pistachio muffins can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days. If you stick them in the fridge, for up to a week. To freshen up the muffin, pop them in the microwave for 10 seconds.
Pistachio Muffin FAQ
A hot preheated oven gives muffins their beautiful tall bakery-style domes. The blast of heat really activates the leaveners in the muffins. Use fresh baking soda or baking powder.
The combination of butter, eggs, milk and yoghurt keeps these muffins moist. But the muffin batter should be treated tenderly and just mixed and no more.
This really depends on how salty the pistachios are. I recommend raw pistachios in order to control the saltiness of the batter. However, if using salted pistachios, unsalted butter is a must, and I would not add additional salt to the batter.
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📖 Recipe
Pistachio Muffins
Ingredients
Muffin
- 300 grams plain flour (all-purpose/standard grade)
- 50 grams cornstarch
- 150 grams white sugar (caster/granulated)
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 200 grams white chocolate chips
- 95 grams pistachios (chopped)
- 125 grams butter
- 2 eggs (medium/large/size 6)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 125 grams milk
- 125 grams Greek yogurt (sour cream)
Pistachio Sugar
- 3 tablespoons raw sugar
- 2 tablespoons pistachios (chopped)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/390°F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with muffin liners. Place the oven rack in the middle of the oven.
- Toss the raw pistachios onto a baking tray and toast in the oven for 3 to 5 minutes. Allow the nuts to cool a bit before roughly chopping using a serrated bread knife.95 grams pistachios
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cornstarch and salt. Whisk to combine. Then toss in the white chocolate chips and chopped pistachios. Mix to coat the nuts and chocolate chips with the flour.300 grams plain flour,50 grams cornstarch,150 grams white sugar,3 teaspoons baking powder,½ teaspoon salt,200 grams white chocolate chips,95 grams pistachios
- In a mixing bowl melt the butter either in the microwave or in a medium saucepan over low heat. Allow the butter to cool before adding in the eggs, milk, yoghurt, and vanilla. Whisk until completely combined.125 grams butter,2 eggs,2 teaspoons vanilla extract,125 grams milk,125 grams Greek yogurt
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix through until just combined.
- In a small bowl, combine the raw sugar and 2 tablespoons of chopped pistachios. Mix to combine. Divide the muffin batter between the 12 cupcake liners, filling them almost to the top. Sprinkle the muffins with approximately ¾ to 1 teaspoon of the sugar-pistachio mix.3 tablespoons raw sugar,2 tablespoons pistachios
- Bake the muffins at 200°C/390°F for 5 minutes. Then turn down the oven to 180°C/355°F and bake for a further 12 to 15 minutes until just baked. Allow the muffins to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before cooling on a wired cooling rack. Serve & Enjoy.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is an estimate. If scaling the recipe remember to scale your cook and bakeware accordingly. As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs,I earn from qualifying purchases.
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