25 Days of Christmas Baking Day 4: Cherry Pistachio Melt-aways

I have never really gotten the pistachio dessert thing.  Pistachios should be salty and break your fingernails off as your try to shell them. But I found this on a list of Christmas cookies, and thought I would try them.  The majority of survey respondents (lab staff) put them in their top five.  For some day-shift employees (who didn't get to try every single available option) they were even No. 1.

So, here they are.  Cherry Pistachio Melt-aways.  This recipe comes from The Girl Who Ate Everything, via the I Heart Naptime blog.  Also, I am much less concerned about cookie appearance than the writer of the recipe, so I don't stress that much about getting all the juice for the cherries.  If they end up slightly dish-water brown, there are worse things in the world.  And I didn't sprinkle more powdered sugar on at the end, as that seems like a completely extraneous activity to me.

(Don't you like my official cookie-photography plate? It's the prettiest plate I own, okay?)


Cherry Pistachio Melt-aways

Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant pistachio pudding mix
  • 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
  • (optional) green food coloring
  • 1/2 cup maraschino cherries, chopped finely
Instructions
  1. With a stand mixer, beat the butter until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, pudding mix, and flour. Mix until combined. The mixture may seem dry at first but will come together after beating.
  2. Add the almond extract and green food coloring if you want the cookies with a brighter green color.
  3. Finely chop the maraschino cherries. Using a paper towel pat the cherries removing all of the juice and excess liquid. You want to make sure you dry all of the red juice or you may turn your cookies a not so pretty color. Gently mix in the chopped cherries.
  4. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 30-60 minutes or until firm.
  5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
  6. Take a tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball. Place cookie on the cookie sheet and repeat with the remaining dough.
  7. Bake for 9-11 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet. Once completely cooled sprinkle cookies with additional powdered sugar.

Comments

Carol said…
These sound different and interesting enough that I might try to gluten free them! Thanks for the great ideas! And that is a really pretty plate! :)
December 4, 2014 at 9:55 AM
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