These are just lovely! Buttery, nutty and so right for the holiday season. If you’re partial to shortbread and you love pistachios, I think you’re going to fall head over heels for these simple, melt-in-your-mouth cookies!

I absolutely love the sweet, unfussiness of shortbread and I’ve got quite a few here on the blog to prove it, like these Brown Sugar Pecan ones, Raspberry, Chocolate-Dipped Shortbread Hearts, Lemon Poppy Seed, Chocolate Shortbread Hearts, Peanut Butter and Blackberry Jam and British Wheatmeal versions and I think you should make them all, but first, try these Pistachio ones.

They’re just the thing to go with a cup of tea or coffee on a cold winter day.

If you can keep your hands off them, they actually last for quite some time!

And while you do have to go the rolling route, the dough is very easy and forgiving, especially if you use waxed or parchment paper—no stickiness!

Plus, the cookies cut out neatly and transfer to the baking sheets easily too!

So stock up on the butter and pistachios, pour yourself a mug of tea and revel in the fact that it’s COOKIE SEASON!!!!

Pistachio Shortbread Cookies

Makes about 4 dozen cookies

You will need a food processor as well as an electric mixer for this.

Prep Time: 20 minutes; Bake Time: 15-18 minutes

Ingredients

• ½ cup shelled, unsalted pistachios

• ¾ cup sugar, divided

• 1 ⅔ unbleached, all-purpose flour

• ¼ cup cornstarch

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• ¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

• 1 large egg yolk

The Recipe

1. Center rack in your oven and preheat to 325ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

2. Place the pistachios and ¼ cup of the sugar in the bowl of a food processor and process together until the nuts are finely ground. This should take about 30 seconds. Add the flour, cornstarch and salt and pulse until blended. Set aside.

3. Use an electric mixer to cream together the butter and remaining ½ cup sugar at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in the egg yolk and mix on low speed, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed with a rubber spatula. Add in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until combined.

4. Turn the dough out onto a board or clean counter and knead a few times until smooth. Divide the dough in half and flatten each half into a disk.

5. Place one of the pieces on top of a piece of parchment or waxed paper and place another piece of the paper on top of it. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to about ⅛ inch thickness. Carefully peel off the top piece of paper to loosen it from the dough and then place it back down again, loosely. Flip the dough over and peel off the second piece of paper (which is now the top).

6. Use a 2-inch scalloped or plain round cookie cutter to cut out as many cookies as possible from the rolled out dough and transfer them to the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about ½ inch apart. Gather together the scraps and reroll them between the two sheets of paper you just used. Cut out more cookies and place them on the sheet.

7. Bake one sheet at a time, for 15-18 minutes, just until the cookies are lightly colored around the edges. The centers will look pale still. Transfer the cookies to a wire baking rack to finish cooling completely. Repeat Steps 5 & 6 until all of the dough has been used up.

8. Cookies keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Enjoy!

Note: Recipe adapted from The Good Cookie by Tish Boyle. I cooked these considerably longer than the original recipe.