A centerpiece you can eat?
Sure. Try dressing your holiday table with this impressive cookie
tree and you'll have dessert prepared ahead of time.
Pistachio
Cookie Tree
- 1 1/2 pounds butter or
margarine brought to room temperature
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large egg yolks
4 teaspoons pistachio or almond extract
7 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups natural California pistachios, finely chopped for dough
2 tubes white decorating icing (4.24 ounces each)
1 cup natural California pistachios, finely chopped for decoration
In-shell pistachios, for tree top decoration
- Cream butter in large
bowl. Beat in sugar, egg yolk and extract. Add flour and 3 cups
pistachios, a portion at a time.
- Roll out portions of dough
on floured board to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into oval "cloud"
shapes of three different sizes, making equal numbers of each
size.* Gently drill hole slightly off-center in each, using a
chopstick or dowel. Place on baking sheets.
- Bake at 350*F (175*C).
for 10 minutes, then cover loosely with foil to prevent excessive
browning. Continue baking for 12 to 14 minutes or until centers
are crisp. Cool on cookie sheets until sturdy enough to move.
Finish cooling on wire racks.
- To assemble tree, pipe
icing onto outer edge of each cookie and sprinkle with pistachios
while icing is still wet. When dry, stack cookies on dowel glued
into hole in wooden base.** Top tree with cardboard star decorated
with in-shell pistachios.
Makes about 20 cookies.
*Suggested measurements:
Cookie "clouds": Roughly 6 1/2 inches, 5 1/2 inches,
and 4 inches across.
Dowel: 10 inches high, 1/4 inch thick;
**Wooden base: 8 inches wide, with 1/4 inch hole in center.
Recipe and photograph provided
courtesy of the California Pistachio Board.
