Soft & pillowy with a nutty undertone is what I have for the 3rd day of the Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies. Add these Mascarpone Pistachio Cookies to your holiday baking this year. Mascarpone often gets overlooked in baking in favour of the more popular cream cheese. But it’s adds a bit of a sophisticated touch and a subtle flavour that’s feels a bit more grown up. Add pistachios and you’ve got yourself an exotic Christmas cookie!
Let’s get into the holiday spirit today and take a look at these delicious Mascarpone PIstachio Cookies. I have to say, they were really fantastic. I’ll be adding them each year as they are just that good! A grown up cookie.
These are a pretty basic but sophisticated cookie at the same time. Kind of like a Pecan Oatmeal Cookie for grownups! Keep reading to see how they come together.
Ingredients For The Mascarpone Pistachio Cookies
Remember, the full recipe and ingredients will always be found in the recipe card at the end of the post.
Let’s start with pistachios
- Roughly chop up the pistachios after you chop them. You can chop them as big or as small as you like
Optional. You can choose to toast the nuts before using. Yes, this does give them more flavour for sure. I didn’t do it for this recipe but have toasted nuts for lots of recipes before. If you are going down that route, here’s what you need to do. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the nuts on a large baking tray so they are not overlapping. Bake them in the oven for about 5 – 7 minutes. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn. Let them cool before adding them to the batter if you chose to toast them.
Make The cookie Dough
- Okay, so here you can see the cookie dough all put together. I combined the dry ingredients in a bowl and set them aside. In my mixing bowl, I gently whisked the mascarpone, butter and sugar together. Then I added the vanilla and eggs and mixed until it just came together. You’re not looking to mix the batter too long. Then the dry ingredients were added until combined. And finally those nuts. Remember if you choose to toast the nuts, let them cool completely before adding to the cookie dough.
- I refrigerated the dough for about an hour. Do I really need to do this? Well, it depends what kind of cookie you are looking for. By chilling the dough the fat in the cookie stays solid for longer and the cookie will spread out less. If you don’t chill the dough, it will likely spread quickly and become a thinner cookie. These cookies are meant to be pillowy, soft with a cross between a cookie and cake texture. If you don’t chill the dough they will still taste good, but have a completely different texture.
Put your cookies on the baking trays in mounds
- Once you have chilled dough, you can mound them onto the baking tray. You can choose to use a small ice cream scoop or a teaspoon. Or if you prefer, you can roll them into little balls. They might stick to your hands. You can dust your hands lightly with flour to help prevent this from happening.
- Bake these for around 12 minutes. They will spread slightly when cooking, become a little golden and rise a little. You’ll want to take them out when they are quire soft. These cookies will firm up as they cool.
A great grown up cookie
They are a little spongy but dense at the same time if that makes sense. The mascarpone adds a subtle flavour and the pistachios are just fantastic. A great snacking cookie with a cup of tea or coffee.
At first glance, they might not look like much, but they are pretty darn tasty. It’s easy to over look the “less attractive” cookies on a platter in choice of the attention seeking glittery ones. But sometimes looks don’t count…hahaha.
I was surprised to see that these were one of my husband’s favourites. He always roots for the underdog. I’m only saying they were his favourite based on how many he ate. As in, almost all of them.
Thanks for stopping by today and hoping your getting baking inspired and feeling a bit festive. I know, it’s only early days yet. Shhhh, but I haven’t done any baking yet. As the cookies I have been working on for this collection, we’ve been eating as I’ve baked them through the past six weeks. I’ll bake a few things for us come the next few weeks.
Today, I want to leave you with Rockin Around the Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee. Another classic and favourite Christmas tune. But if I have to confess, I love most of the old school Christmas music. There’s some of the newer songs I don’t mind as well, but I prefer the classics. And when I say classics, I mean anything before 1990!
Have a great Tuesday and don’t forget to check back tomorrow to see what Christmas treat I have in store.
Mascarpone Pistachio Cookies
Ingredients
- 8 ounces Mascarpone cheese
- 1/2 Cup butter softened
- 1 Cup sugar
- Pinch salt
- 1 Teaspoon vanilla
- 2 Eggs large and at room temperature
- 2 1/2 Cups flour
- 1 Teaspoon baking soda
- 1 Cup pistachios shelled and roughly chopped
Instructions
- Combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your electric mixer, add the mascarpone cheese, butter and sugar. Mix on low speed until just combined, about a minute. Beat in the vanilla extract and then add the eggs one at a time, mixing to just combine after each addition.
- Add the flour and stir until just combined. Stir in the pistachios. Cover and refrigerated dough for and hour.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Spoon small mounds on a baking tray. Or alternatively you can roll them into balls to make them more of a uniform shape. Bake for about 12 minutes.
- Cool on tray for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Repeat for all cookies.
- Will keep in an airtight container for about 3 days.
*A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.
thanks for stopping by and hope to see you soon!
