Hello December! I'm welcoming the new month with open arms. I love the holidays and all the festive celebrations, sparkling lights, family time, and food that the month brings. Cookies are at the very top of that list. And these Wonderful Pistachio flour sugar cookies are the best I've had ever. Yes, I called it. Best Christmas cookie ever. The kind you'll want to bring to every gathering and give to everyone you know.
Tomorrow morning, I’m headed off to Chicago with a tin of these cookies packed in my carry-on suitcase. It will be a three-day whirlwind of visiting family, eating as much as possible, and trying not to freeze, with a photo shoot at the newest Stumptown Coffee in the middle of it all. It has been years since I’ve been to Chicago, the city where my father was born and raised, and I'm excited to be there again, pistachio cookies in hand.
There is a delicious simplicity to sugar cookies, but the addition of pistachio flour gives them a nutty complexity that plays well with vanilla icing. But these are actually delicious without frosting as well. Trust me, I ate my fill during this summertime photo shoot that pulled out all the holiday stops.
Working with The Wonderful Company these past couple of years has been amazing. They are a dream client in so many ways, and I love how they always encourage me to make favorites even just a little healthier. I've sung praises of ivory wheat flour before and it doesn't disappoint in this recipe. We made a sugar cookie delicious enough to eat without frosting, but also experimented with using healthier toppings with icing instead of sugar-packed, often artificially flavored and colored sprinkles. Our favorites were dried fruit (cranberries, cherries, apricots, currants), dried flowers (lavender buds and rose petals) and, of course, pistachios chopped in varying degrees of coarseness. Now, off to make another batch before zipping up my suitcase. You'll find the recipe at the end of the post, enjoy!
Pistachio Flour Sugar Cookies
Makes approximately 25 cookies
Recipe in collaboration with Brenna Wilson
Ingredients:
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups ivory wheat flour
½ cup pistachio meal/flour (approx. ¾ cup lightly salted Wonderful Pistachios, shelled)
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp sea salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1-2 Tbsp milk
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
To make pistachio meal, put the shelled pistachios in a food processor. Pulse pistachios until the texture of coarse sand then set aside.
In a medium bowl, mix ivory wheat flour, unbleached all-purpose flour, pistachio meal (flour), baking powder, and sea salt.
In a mixer, cream butter and sugar until smooth. Then add vanilla and eggs to the wet mixture and beat until fluffy. Mix in dry ingredients on low speed until fully incorporated.
On two separate sheets of plastic wrap, scrape out the dough. Divide in two and wrap in the plastic. Pat dough into one inch discs. Chill dough for at least three hours and up to two days.
Heat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Working with one disc at a time, roll dough on a floured surface until about ¼ inch thick. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters and place on baking sheets about two inches apart. Repeat process, chilling dough in between cookie batches. Bake cookies 7-9 minutes until golden brown on the edges.
Cool cookies completely on a rack before you start frosting them. In a small bowl, combine the milk and confectioner’s sugar. Mix until smooth. Scoop into a squeeze bottle or piping bag, then outline the cookie with icing about ¼” from the edge of the cookie.
Once the lining is dried, fill the rest of the cookie with frosting. Decorate the cookies with icing, chopped and ground pistachios, dried fruit, or dried flowers or just enjoy them frosting free!
This post was created in partnership with The Wonderful Co. Thanks for reading!