Chocolate Pistachio Christmas Tree Cookies
A crisp, chocolate cookie dough, dipped in semi-sweet chocolate and crushed pistachios
Servings: 45 cookies
Ingredients
For the Cookie Base
- 1 cup butter
- 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg (beaten)
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3/4 cups finely chopped pistachios
For Decorating
- 1 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup ground pistachios
Instructions
Bake the Cookies
- In a medium saucepan, combine the butter and brown sugar. Cook over medium heat until the butter is just melted.
- Remove from heat, and stir in the vanilla. Allow the mixture to stand for 15 minutes to cool slightly.
- Stir in the beaten egg.
- Add the flour and cocoa powder and stir until just combined.
- Stir in the finely chopped pistachios.
- Divide the dough in half, shape each half into a disc, then tightly wrap the discs in plastic wrap. Chill the dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
- Pre-heat your oven to 350°F.
- Take one disc and roll into out onto a lightly floured surface to about 1/4 inch thickness.
- Use a tree shaped cookie cutter (or another shape if you prefer) to cut all your cookies out of the dough. Re-roll any dough scraps and continue cutting out your shapes until all the dough is used up. Repeat this process with the second half of the dough.
- Place the dough cut outs onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper, spaced out 1 inch apart.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes until the edges start to firm.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the tray for 5 minutes, before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Decorate the Cookies
- Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler, or in the microwave (see notes below).
- Dip half of each cookie into the melted chocolate and shake of any excess chocolate.
- Immediately dip the edge of the cookie into the ground pistachios.
- Place the cookies onto a clean sheet of parchment paper and leave them to set at room temperature until firm.
Notes
- Recipe modified slightly from Better Homes & Garden
- Regarding melting the chocolate: If you don't have a double boiler, you can make your own by filling a small saucepan with some water, and resting a heat proof bowl over top of the saucepan. Make sure the bottom of the bowl sits higher than the surface of the water, so that it isn't directly touching. Add the chocolate chips to the bowl, and then heat the saucepan over medium-low heat. The steam heat from the water will warm the bowl, and the chocolate will melt. For these cookies, this is a better method than just microwaving the chocolate, as there will be continuous heat keeping the chocolate warm, so it doesn't set while you're trying to dip your cookies. Try to keep the temperature as low as possible so your chocolate doesn't get too hot.