Customizing the cookie dough is as easy as swapping the almond butter for another nut butter. A food processor is all you need to grind pistachios into a fine powder that adds a delightful nutty flavour to simple buttercream.
- Prep time 30 minutes
- Total time 1 hour & 15 minutes
- Credits : Canadian Living Magazine
Ingredients
Topping:
Nutty Cookie Dough:
Pistachio Cream:
Method
Nutty Cookie Dough: In large bowl, beat butter with sugar until fluffy; beat in almond butter, vanilla and almond extract. In separate bowl, whisk flour with salt; stir into butter mixture in 2 additions. Knead gently just until dough comes together.
Roll by 2 tsp into balls. Arrange, 2 inches (5 cm) apart, on parchment paper–lined rimless baking sheets; using lightly floured bottom of flat glass or bowl, flatten each cookie into 1 1/2-inch (4 cm) wide round. Pinch together any cracks around edge. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, in 350°F (180°C) oven until no longer shiny, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool on pans for 3 minutes; transfer directly to racks to cool completely.
Topping: Place icing sugar in small bowl; gradually stir in enough hot water to make thick but spreadable icing. Spread about 1/4 tsp over tops of half of the cookies, leaving thin border along edge. Sprinkle with pistachios. Let stand until dry, about 20 minutes.
Pistachio Cream: In food processor, pulse pistachios until finely ground. In bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy; beat in pistachios. Beat in icing sugar, alternating with cream, making 2 additions of each. Using food colouring, tint mixture green. Spoon into piping bag fitted with small star tip; pipe onto bottoms of unglazed cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, glaze side up. (Make-ahead: Layer between waxed paper in airtight container; refrigerate for up to 2 days.)
Tip from The Test Kitchen: To blanch shelled pistachios, cook them in a saucepan of boiling water for one minute, then drain and rinse with cold water. Use a tea towel to rub off the skins.
Makes about 35 sandwich cookies.
Nutritional facts per sandwich cookie: about
- Sodium 26 mg
- Sugars 14 g
- Protein 2 g
- Calories 163.0
- Total fat 8 g
- Potassium 40 mg
- Cholesterol 17 mg
- Saturated fat 4 g
- Total carbohydrate 21 g
%RDI
- Iron 4.0
- Folate 7.0
- Calcium 1.0
- Vitamin A 6.0
