Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies: nuts

Welcome to our Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies link up! For the next two weeks, join us every day and add your favorite cookie recipe for that day’s theme. Please follow Lisa and Lindsay and check out some new blogs! Happy baking!

We recently discovered that C has a minor tree-nut allergy, so suddenly my ability to bake with nuts is quite limited! Unless, of course, I am baking something that I don't want to eat... then I can load it up with walnuts, pecans, and hazelnuts, and keep it all for myself. Not that I would ever do that...!!

In looking for a tree-nut-free recipe to use last year, my mom and I came across Pistachio-Cherry-Chocolate Cookies in an America's Test Kitchen: Christmas Cookies cookbook that my mom had stashed away. What a delightful combination of flavors! We adored these cookies last year, and knew we had to make them again this year. I had co-workers asking me months ago if I planned to bake these again - they are definitely a hit!

We have adapted the original recipe just slightly in order to make the production a little simpler. Other than that, we just followed the recipe!

Pistachio-Cherry-Chocolate Cookies
from America's Test Kitchen
Makes about 40 cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup superfine sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 16 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces and softened
• 1 1/4 cups shelled pistachios, toasted and chopped fine
• 1/3 cup dried cherries, chopped fine
• 1 ounce cream cheese, softened
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Directions

1. Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, mix flour, sugar, and salt on low speed until combined. Add butter and stir until mixture is crumbly.
2. Stir in pistachios, cherries, cream cheese, and vanilla, and mix until well incorporated, but do not over mix - just until dough starts to come together in large chunks.
3. Place dough on a piece of plastic wrap and knead by hand until it starts to come together and all mix-ins are well-incorporated.
4. Split dough into two equal chunks, form into discs, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least one hour.
5. Once dough is chilled, preheat oven to 375*.
6. Take dough out of fridge and form balls using approximately 1 tablespoon of dough per cookie. Flatten balls into cookie shapes and place on parchment-paper-lined cookie sheets - do not overcrowd cookie sheets!
7. Bake one cookie sheet at a time on the middle rack in the oven, for 9-10 minutes per tray, rotating tray halfway through baking.
8. Once cookies are cooled, melt chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Use a spoon to lightly drizzle chocolate over cookies, or dip cookies halfway into chocolate to coat. (The drizzle method is much faster and easier, but doesn't give the same visual appeal.)