Christmas Pistachio Cookies
Christmas is approaching, only four days left and it’s the perfect time to make Christmas Cookies to prepare Christmas Cookie boxes to gift to family and friends.
Today I propose an easy recipe, we will prepare one pistachio-based dough with which we will make many varieties of cookies; I will show you just a few and you will have to use your creativity to create unique and inimitable cookies.
To prepare the basic shortcrust pastry, I used the 100% Sciara pistachio paste, divided it into three parts and added cocoa, pistachio granules, and orange zest; in just a few minutes I created 3 different bases with a delicious taste. You can further flavor them by adding spices, citrus zest, or chocolate chips.
In my opinion, the best gifts are those made by hand and giving a tray or box full of homemade sweets is priceless, plus I find it extremely relaxing, almost therapeutic.
Before proceeding with the preparation of the shortcrust pastry, here are some pistachio-based holiday ideas. If you don’t know Sciara products, I recommend trying them, I have been using them for many years and they are really excellent.
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 1.1 kg of cookies
- Cooking methods: Electric oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 519.34 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 60.56 (g) of which sugars 25.44 (g)
- Proteins 9.08 (g)
- Fat 28.17 (g) of which saturated 14.23 (g)of which unsaturated 10.61 (g)
- Fibers 2.46 (g)
- Sodium 9.95 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 100 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour (for shortcrust, the classic all-purpose supermarket flour)
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 3.5 oz pistachio paste (100% Sciara)
- 7.4 oz egg yolks
- Half pod vanilla
- 2 tbsps unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3.5 oz dark chocolate chips
- 3.5 oz pistachio granules (Sciara)
- 1 tsp orange zest (grated)
Tools
- 1 Stand mixer
- 1 Pastry board
- 12 Cookie cutters
- 1 Baking sheet
- 1 Bowl
Procedure
Before proceeding with the preparation of the shortcrust, leave the butter at room temperature for 10 minutes.
Split the vanilla pod and extract the seeds.
In a stand mixer with a K-beater or flat beater, add the cubed butter, pistachio paste, powdered sugar, vanilla seeds, and mix until combined. Add the yolks, one at a time, and let them incorporate.
If you don’t have a stand mixer, knead the dough in a bowl using an electric mixer.
To avoid repeating the process, we prepare one dough:
weigh the mixture (it’s 655 g), take a third (i.e., 215 g) and place it in a bowl, this way we can prepare the chocolate shortcrust separately without starting the process from the beginning.
For the cocoa shortcrust
In the bowl with a third of the dough, add 2 tablespoons of cocoa and 1.25 cups of flour, quickly incorporate, form a dough, wrap it in cling film and let it rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
For the pistachio shortcrust and variants
In the stand mixer, add the remaining flour (2.75 cups), quickly incorporate, and form a dough. Before placing the shortcrust in the fridge, you can flavor it as desired. I divided it into three parts (without weighing) and added pistachio granules to the first part, chocolate chips to the second part, and orange zest to the third part, formed three doughs, wrapped them in cling film, and let them rest in the fridge.
How to speed up the cooling of the shortcrust?
If you are short on time and want to cool the shortcrust quickly, roll it out between two sheets of baking paper to a thickness of 0.2 inches, place it on a cutting board, and put it in the fridge.
After resting in the fridge, you need to make the shortcrust pliable, it’s a simple and quick operation but necessary, take the first dough and knead it quickly by hand to make it workable. Repeat the operation with all the doughs. At this point, you’re ready to roll it out and make the cookies.
Roll out the shortcrust to a thickness of 0.2 inches and make the cookies with the shapes you prefer.
Place the cookies on a baking tray lined with baking paper and continue in the same way with the other doughs.
While the oven is heating, place the baking sheet in the fridge, cooling them before baking helps keep a perfect shape.
Bake the Christmas cookies in a preheated static oven at 340°F for about 10/12 minutes. Keep in mind that baking times vary based on the thickness of the cookies and the power of your oven.
Remove them from the oven and let them cool.
To decorate them, use melted chocolate, colorful sprinkles, and jams to your taste, I used raspberry jam which pairs divinely with pistachio.
The Christmas Pistachio Cookies are ready!
Here are some…
Tips
Storage
You can store the cookies for 2 weeks in a tin box.
If you fill them with jam, the shortcrust will tend to absorb the water contained in the jam, making them soft. I recommend filling them just before serving.
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