I love a good sugar cookie recipe because I enjoy spicing things up wherever possible! I submitted one of my go to cookies during the holidays for NBC Asian America's segment for great cookie recipes for Santa! Like I told NBC, I love this recipe because you can get great flavors and a festive look without the gross unnatural food coloring that usually will go with Christmas goodies.
Just remember that the key to those great sugar cookie shapes are to keep your dough AS COLD AS POSSIBLE. Which means you will be mixing and chilling... rolling and chilling... cutting and chilling.. chilling and chilling... then chill before baking! When in doubt, chill away!
See the article it was featured in on NBC News here and below.
Cranberry Pistachio Matcha Cookies
Makes 3-4 Dozen cookies depending on cookie cutters
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 teaspoons culinary matcha powder
- ½ cup pistachios, roughly chopped
- 1 cup dried cranberries, chopped
- ¼ cup fresh orange juice
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, cold
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 ounces of white chocolate, melted
1. In a small saucepan, add chopped cranberries and orange juice. Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Stir and cook while simmering for a minute or two. Remove from heat and set aside. After mixture cools down, strain the juice out of the berries.
2. In a medium bowl, add flour, salt, matcha powder and chopped pistachios and whisk together until incorporated then set aside.
3. In a stand mixer bowl, add butter and sugar. Cream together with a paddle attachment on medium speed for a few minutes.
4. With a rubber spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl then turn mixer back on and beat in egg and vanilla extract until light and fluffy, another 2-3 minutes.
5. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again, turn the mixer on low then add in cranberries and the dry mixture a cup at a time until all the ingredients are mixed together. Don’t over mix. You should see cranberries speckled throughout and the dough should be a nice green color.
6. Remove ½ of the cookie dough from the mixer bowl, form into a disc then wrap in plastic wrap. Repeat with the other portion of dough. Place into the freezer for 15 minutes to harden the dough quickly. If you aren’t in a hurry, place into the fridge for 35-40 minutes.
7. Preheat oven to 325°F.
8. Prepare your cookie sheet pans by lining with parchment paper. Place 1 disc of cookie dough on top and then add another piece of parchment paper on top so dough is sandwiched between the paper.
9. Roll out dough so it is 1/4” thick. To ensure the dough rolls out evenly, I like to use ¼” wooden dowels on either side of the dough so the rolling pin will be even and stop before it gets too thin.
10. Place the dough and sheet pan back into the freezer for 10 minutes to chill. Repeat with the other disc.
11. After the flattened dough is hard, start to cut out your desired cookie shapes! I love using this recipe with a Christmas tree cookie cutter because of the fun green color. After cutting as many as you can, collect scraps, chill in the freezer and repeat steps 8-11 to use up remaining dough.
12. Layout cut cookies on parchment paper lined sheet at least 1 inch apart. Cookies will be very nice and cold so shouldn’t spread much by the time you are baking them.
13. Bake for 13-15 minutes until the edges start to slightly brown and will be hard to touch. Let cookies cool on the sheet for 10 minutes then finish cooling on wire racks.
14. Once cookies have cooled completely, melt white chocolate either on a double boiler or with a microwave. If you’re doing it with a microwave, place chocolate into a glass bowl uncovered on high for 45-60 seconds stirring once, until chocolate can be stirred smooth.
15. Make sure there is sheet pan under the wire rack before decorating with chocolate.
16. Place chocolate into a piping bag or a ziplock bag. Cut off a small corner of the bag then squeeze with a quick waving motion across the cookie.
17. Let white chocolate set in the fridge if in a hurry or set out for a few hours. Store dried cookies in an air-tight container for a week.
