These Cherry Pistachio White Chocolate Shortbread Cookies are simple slice & bake cookies made with buttery shortbread, studded with chopped green pistachios & chewy tart cherries. Once baked, they are dipped & drizzled in melted white chocolate with a glitzy sprinkle of sparkling sugar.
Jump to:
- Homemade cookies are the best holiday gift
- Start with a simple shortbread cookie base
- Just a handful of shortbread cookie ingredients
- How to make, slice & bake shortbread cookie dough
- Shape the shortbread cookie logs
- Slice & Bake Shortbread Cookies
- How to decorate shortbread cookies
- Shortbread cookies stay fresh longer
- Recipe
- Comments
Oh holy night, life is chestnuts during the month of December, amiright?! Every year I think I am going to get it together and get ahead of the game and then find myself feeling like I got run over by a reindeer mid-month. If I am colliding with any reindeer, let's hope it's these Reindeer Animal Cookies.
Homemade cookies are the best holiday gift
I am terrible about making holiday plans and the absolute worst at gift giving. I resist for as long as I can and then panic at the last minute. Regrettably, I end up buying desperate gifts that nobody wants in the first place. It's always a mangled mess of madness. But the one thing I am good at prioritizing is holiday cookies, I bake the dickens out of Christmas cookies this time of year and thankfully everybody on my list loves a good cookie.
Jump to:
- Homemade cookies are the best holiday gift
- Start with a simple shortbread cookie base
- Just a handful of shortbread cookie ingredients
- How to make, slice & bake shortbread cookie dough
- Shape the shortbread cookie logs
- Slice & Bake Shortbread Cookies
- How to decorate shortbread cookies
- Shortbread cookies stay fresh longer
- Recipe
- Comments
While we may have visions of adorably shaped gingerbread cookies like my Gingerbread Coconut Llama Cookies. Or intricately decorated sugar cookies like my Christmas Movie Cookies, I realize that's not always in the Christmas cards. Especially during this busy time of year.
Make it festive but keep it easy
So, this year I wanted to make something that is big on festivity for those of us short on time. My new Cherry Pistachio and White Chocolate Shortbread Cookies feature those classic Christmas colors; red, green and white. Featuring red tart cherries
, green pistachios
and white chocolate
. Festive ✔️
The dough whips together in a jiff and can be pre-rolled into dough logs until you're ready to bake. That way you can save yourself time by mixing and rolling the dough, and all you have to do is bake and decorate when you're ready for fresh cookies. Easy ✔️
Start with a simple shortbread cookie base
These Cherry Pistachio White Chocolate Shortbread Cookies begin with the simplest, buttery shortbread base using my go-to, Bob's Red Mill Organic All Purpose Flour
. They get studded with chopped green pistachios
and chewy tart cherries
. Once baked, the shortbread cookies take a quick dip or drizzle in creamy, melted white chocolate
and then get a glitzy sprinkle of sparkling to amp up the fancy festive factor.
Just a handful of shortbread cookie ingredients
- Organic All Purpose Flour from Bob's Red Mill is the reliable base ingredient in these shortbread cookies.
- Unsalted butter is what gives these shortbread cookies their snappy bite and buttery flavor.
- Granulated sugar sweetens the cookies and provides structure to the dough.
- Fine sea salt rounds out the richness of the butter and the sweetness from the sugar. While helping to highlight all of the flavors happening in the cookies.
- Unsalted butter is what gives these shortbread cookies their snappy bite and buttery flavor.
- Almond extract gives the cookies a natural balance of earthy sweetness. The almond flavor pairs beautifully with the dried cherries. Vanilla extract will work too.
- Raw pistachios add a nutty crunch and a festive pop of green.
- Dried tart cherries bring bright tartness and mellow, chewy sweetness. Plus they add to that seasonal color scheme of red, green and white.
- White chocolate coats the cookies in creamy luxury. Adding warm notes of toasty vanilla and an elegant indulgence.
- Sparkling sugar finishes the cookies with a festive fleck of sparkly glamour.
How to make, slice & bake shortbread cookie dough
The simple shortbread cookie dough only uses a handful of ingredients and mixes up quick and easy in a matter of minutes. Even the decorative elements are basic, so you won't be spending days elaborately decorating each cookie.
Mix the shortbread cookie dough
When making the shortbread cookie dough, start by creaming the butter and sugar together. It's a quick process. Mix in the flour and salt. Then stir in the chopped pistachios and dried tart cherries. That's all it takes.
Shape the shortbread cookie logs
I like mixing it up and shaping these Cherry Pistachio and White Chocolate Shortbread Cookies into a round log or a square log for variation. In just a couple of simple steps, you have 2 different cookie shapes.
- Round Cookies are shaped by gathering the shortbread dough together into a disk. Then rolling it out until it becomes a log shape about 1 ½" in diameter. Roll a sheet of parchment paper around teh dough log, twisting the ends to seal it. Then slide the dough log into a paper towel roll. This helps keeps the cookies from flattening out on one side while they chill. Resulting in perfectly round cookies!
- Square Cookies are shaped similarly to the log. Once you have rolled the dough into a rough log shape, gently pat the dough into the counter. Then rotate it a quarter turn and pat. Keep rotating and patting until you have squared of the edges. Rotate and pat until the cookies are about 1 ½" square. Wrap in a sheet of parchment paper, twist the ends and chill the dough.
Slice & Bake Shortbread Cookies
The cookie dough logs need to chill for at least an hour in the refrigerator or freezer. You have options here. You can either chill them in the fridge if you plan to bake them soon. Or store the cookie dough logs in the freezer to slice and bake at a later date.
When chilled or frozen, the shortbread cookie logs will need to rest on the counter until they soften up slightly. If they are frozen solid, they may start to crumble when you slice into them. Just don't let them sit so long that they are squishy. A few minutes on the counter should soften the dough just enough to slice. Slice each dough log into round or square cookies, about ¼" - ½" thick. I like to rotate the cookie dough log between each slice so they hold their shape really well.
These shortbread cookies don't spread much, so you can fit a good amount of them on a lined baking sheet when baking them. Leave about an inch between each cookie to bake.
How to decorate shortbread cookies
This step couldn't be simpler. Once the shortbread cookies have cooled, they are ready to take the decorative plunge. Simply melt the white chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave until it runs smooth and creamy. Then dunk or drizzle the Cherry Pistachio Shortbread Cookies in the melted white chocolate.
Customize your Cherry Pistachio Shortbread Cookies
Some other great news, these Cherry Pistachio and White Chocolate Shortbread Cookies are totally adaptable. The shortbread cookie base is simple enough that it allows you to swap in other ingredients.
Say you aren't a pistachio person, swap 'em out for another nut. Would you rather go for cranberries
over cherries, done. Dark chocolate
and sea salt
would also make for a fab finish in place of the white chocolate and sparkling sugar
. My point is, you've got options with these simple cookies. Make my Cherry Pistachio and White Chocolate Shortbread Cookies or make them your own by trading in whatever ingredients spark your spirit this holiday season.
Shortbread cookies stay fresh longer
One more super special trick to these Cherry Pistachio White Chocolate Shortbread Cookies is that they stay fresh for days, weeks even! So these babies will last from now until Christmas if you want to package up some pretty cookie boxes for holiday gifts. File these Cherry Pistachio White Chocolate Shortbread Cookies under bake smarter, not harder this holiday season.
This post was made is in partnership with Bob’s Red Mill. Follow Bob’s Red Mill on Instagram and Facebook or check out bobsredmill.com to shop their impressive lineup of whole grains and much more.
Thank you for supporting me and the brands that I love! <3
Recipe
Cherry Pistachio White Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 40 cookies
Description
These Cherry Pistachio White Chocolate Shortbread Cookies are simple slice & bake cookies with buttery shortbread, studded with chopped green pistachios & chewy tart cherries. Once baked, dipped & drizzled in melted white chocolate with a glitzy sprinkle of sparkling sugar.
Ingredients
CHERRY PISTACHIO WHITE CHOCOLATE SHORTBREAD COOKIES
- 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter (- at room temperature)
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons almond extract
- ¾ cup raw pistachios (- roughly chopped)
- ¾ cup dried tart cherries (- roughly chopped)
- 6 ounces white chocolate
- 2-3 tablespoons Bob's Red Mill Sparkling Sugar (or demerara sugar)
Instructions
- Measure flour and salt into a mixing bowl and whisk together.
- With the paddle attachment on a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on a medium high speed for about 5 minutes, until fluffy, airy and lighter in color. Be sure to stop your mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times so you are sure to incorporate all of the sugar into the butter.
- Add the almond extract and cream until blended.
- With the mixer on a low stir, slowly add the dry ingredients until just incorporated. Stir in the chopped pistachios and chopped dried cherries until mixed in.
- Turn out the dough onto a clean, lightly floured surface. Gently gather the dough together into a disk by gently patting, not kneading the dough, and pat to flatten the top. Once you have a round disk shape, use a knife or a bench knife to cut directly in half and set aside.
- Clean your work surface with a bench knife, then lay down a sheet of parchment paper. If you have a couple of empty paper towel rolls handy, have them available. Drop one of your dough halves on the parchment paper and use your hands to shape a rough log shape, roll into a smooth log until it is about 1 -1 1⁄2” in diameter (eyeball it to about the size of your empty paper towel roll).
- Wrap the parchment paper around your dough log, lengthwise. Then twist each end of the paper into pigtails in opposite directions (one towards you and one away from you) to form a locking mechanism. With each twist, the dough will compress and becomes smoothed out (think of it like a sausage in a casing). Roll from the center outward until you feel that you have a smooth, cylindrical log. Now you can get tricky (optionally) and stuff that dough log into an empty paper towel roll, it should be a snug fit but should slide in and out easily.
*The idea behind the paper towel roll is that your dough is going to hold its cylindrical shape while it chills instead of having a flat bottom. - For the second square log, gather your dough and pat it together into a rectangular shape, squaring off the edges. Press into the counter to square off the edges and turn the log ¼ turn (instead of rolling) patting gently on the top to create an even surface. Keep rotating and patting until the log is about 1 -1 1⁄2” around and square. Wrap in parchment as you did with the round log.
- Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour, if not 2. This allows the dough to set up and hold its shape nicely when baking. *You can also freeze the dough at this point. Just remember to defrost it overnight in the fridge or at room temperature for about an hour before slicing and baking.
- Preheat oven to 325° F.
- Remove dough logs from the fridge and unroll on a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, slice the log into 1⁄4” - 1⁄2” thick cookies. You should get about 16-20 cookies per log. Arrange them on a Silpat mat or parchment paper lined baking sheet in a 3 x 4 pattern, evenly spaced.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the bake. They should come out with a golden ring around the edge and be firm to the touch with just a bit of give in the center.
Allow to cool either right on the trays or on a cooling rack. - Roughly chop the white chocolate bars. Using a double boiler (or using a heatproof bowl over a saucepan), melt the white chocolate chunks over just simmering water (not boiling), stirring occasionally until smooth.
- For the dip method - gently dip the cookies halfway into the melted white chocolate, at an angle, to coat. Set the cookies backside down, with the chocolate side facing up, on a baking sheet with a cooling rack to set. Sprinkle with sparkling sugar while the chocolate is still tacky.
- For the drizzle method - Place the cookies on a cooking rack and use the whisk to wave the melted white chocolate back and fourth over the cookies creating a messy drizzle. Sprinkle with sparkling sugar while the chocolate is still tacky.
- Let sit for an hour so the chocolate has time to set before serving.
Notes
This recipe if highly adaptable, feel free to make it your own by swapping in different nuts or dried fruit. You could also use dark or milk chocolate in place of white chocolate. Cranberry and hazelnut with dark chocolate would be really yummy.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Cookies
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