Elegant butter cookies with a pistachio twist...

Jeff went through that Holiday magazine that we have been plowing through recently and decided to mark specific recipes he thought that he would really like just in case I wanted to bake anything. I didn't notice what he did until this morning, so I flipped through a few pages and figured I could make the Pistachio Moments since he added a few !!! to the tag he used.

These are really just those basic butter cookies, commonly twice-rolled in confectioners' sugar, except these have the more unusual addition of chopped pistachios added to the dough. The recipe doesn't call for refrigerating the dough, but I found it a little sticky when I was trying to roll the dough into balls. To keep them from making my hands a mess, every two or three balls I would re-dust my hands with just a little bit of flour and that made a big difference.

The cookies are baked until the centers are set, yet the only color on them should be a light golden just around the edges. You have a couple options when the cookies are done - if you want to stay traditional, gently toss the warm cookies in confectioners' sugar and then let cool on a rack. The confectioners' sugar will melt a little since the cookies are warm, so you will need to re-coat them once more when they have completely cooked for that complete snowy appearance.

For option number two, you can let the cookies cool completely naked and then drizzle a bit of melted white chocolate on top. Before the chocolate sets, you can sprinkle the tops with chopped pistachios to let people know what nut is inside the cookies. These tender cookies literally melt in your mouth - the chopped pistachios inside add a slight crunch without interfering with that rich buttery flavor.

I did decorate half with the confectioners' sugar and the other half with the white chocolate and chopped pistachios. For a finishing touch, I placed them in small candy cups as we are giving away some of them as part of a gift (yes, Jeff has already hoarded more than his fair share for himself as the recipe makes a lot of cookies!). I asked Jeff which coating he liked better and he couldn't decide - I couldn't either as they were both equally good!

Recipes
Pistachio Moments