Pistachio Cookies
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- Food Processer
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup raw and unsalted pistachios, finely grounded *If using salted pistachios, then do not use salted butter or add salt. *You can add more or less depending on your taste for pistachios
- 1 cup granulated white sugar
- 1 stick of salted butter *if using unsalted, then you need ½ tsp of salt
- 1 cup whole milk ricotta
- 2 envelopes of vanillina (italian vanilla powder) if you do not have, you can use 2 tsp of vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 2 cup flour
- ½ tbs panediangeli or ½ tbs baking powder
Topping
- Confectionary Sugar
- Milk
- Pistachios
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°
- In a food processor, grind pistachios to small and chopped, but not a powder.
- In a stand mixer, beat sugar and butter till well combined. The color should be a light and pale.
- On a slow speed, mix in vanillina, ricotta, pistachios, and egg.
- In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients – flour, panedeangeli, and if using salt.
- The dough will start to form and once all is combined, swipe sides, mix once more, and then start to form cookies.
- Using a tablespoon, measure out a piece of dough and then roll it into a ball and place on a parchement lined baking sheet. **The smaller the cookies, the more cookies youll get, but if you want to speed up make them larger. **If you run your hands under warm water before rolling, the balls will be smoother, you would have to do it every so often because the dough is sticky!
- Bake in preheated oven for 15-17 min (timing depends on your oven, mine took about 17 minutes the goal is for the bottom to be golden brown but the tops to be soft.)
Topping
- Add about a handful of pistachios into a ziplock bag.
- Then with a rolling pin, or anything smash worthy, and take out all your anger and crush the pistachios. I like a few chunks, and using some of the finely ground ones.
- In a small bowl, add confectionary sugar – there are no measurements here because it is judgement based. Then, add milk a tablespoon or two at a time till the consistency you like is reached
- If you like a thicker coating, use less milk, but remember it will be sweeter. Then sprinkle some of the crushed pistachios on the top.
Video
A Note About The Recipe
First things first, lets get the minute details addressed first. If you watched the video, you will see way more ingredients, and that is because I doubled it. I needed more cookies. But if you are making a small batch, then this will do just fine.
Secondly – the salt. You need to be able to control the salt levels here, I wrote some notes under the ingredients but I will try to break it down for you more clearly here.
Unsalted Butter + Raw Unsalted Pistachios then add 1 tsp Salt
Unsalted Butter + Salted Pistachios then NO salt.
Salted Butter + Raw Unsalted Pistachios then NO salt.
Lastly, you can tweak the recipe to add more or less pistachios to your own liking. This does not taste like a carvel pistachio ice cream. It tastes like real pistachios.
I am LIVING for these Cookies!
This was my very first time making these cookies and I was inspired by a recipe from Cooking with Nonna, one of my favorite recipes for Italian American things. As with each recipe, I try to add or change some things to fit to my liking and I was nervous that I would mess these up. I baked about 50 of them, then pan handled them out and stared at people eating them like the true psycho that I am. I made my aunts, neighbors, cousins, and friends all take a little “muzzicuni” (bite in sicilian) and tell me their honest opinion. It was like one of those cartoon movie scenes where you see peoples eyes get larger, and I knew, this recipe was a hit. And, if they pass the Zia test, then I KNOW I did good.
It is very reminiscent of my nonnas ricotta cookies in the sense that it is light and fluffy and uses the same confectionary sugar topping. So I get to keep some of that nostalgia, but adding my own little twist which makes me feel like a real baker! I would absolutely love if you try this recipe out and let me know what YOU think, because all input can be useful.
Happy Baking and Buon Natale!
