I sort of feel like pistachio is severely underrated in the baking world. I think we get so caught up in salting our caramels and adding Nutella in every conceivable way that we forget that simple and ridiculously delicious flavors like this exist. So, allow me remind you with these out of this world sandwich cookies. They are chewy and crunchy and creamy and chocolate-y, full of pistachio flavor and are definitely a refreshing change to your everyday cookie. Also, they are DELISH. So delish, my husband literally licked the plate he ate his on. So there, these are plate-licking good cookies. For reals.
Double Chocolate Pistachio Cream Sandwich Cookies
Cookie Ingredients
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1/2 cup flour
3 tbsp unsweetened baking cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
Dash salt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Pistachio Cream Ingredients
1 box (3.4 oz) dry pistachio instant pudding mix (not sugar-free!)
6 tbsp milk
2 1/2 oz butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup roasted, salted pistachios, coarsely chopped (for decoration)
6 tbsp milk
2 1/2 oz butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup roasted, salted pistachios, coarsely chopped (for decoration)
To make the cookies:
Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, beat brown sugar and butter with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, or mix with spoon. Beat in vanilla and egg white. Stir in flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chips. Onto ungreased cookie sheet, drop dough by teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart. Bake 8 to 9 minutes or until set (do not overbake). Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.
To make the frosting and assemble cookies:
Sift the dry pudding mix into a large mixing bowl. Add the milk to the pudding mix and whisk briefly, then let it sit for 5 minutes to absorb the milk and reduce the graininess of the sugar in the mix. After 5 minutes, add the butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt to the mixing bowl. Mix everything together with a paddle attachment on low speed, until the powdered sugar is absorbed. Raise the speed the medium-high and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy. Adjust the texture by adding more powdered sugar if it is too runny, or more milk if it is too stiff.
To assemble the cookies, spread a generous layer of frosting on the bottom of one cookie, and press the bottom of another cookie on top. Press down until the frosting comes all the way out to the edges. Immediately roll the edges in some chopped pistachios, and repeat until all sandwich cookies are assembled.
Recipe adapted from Sugarhero and Betty Crocker.
Happy Baking!
ox/Liz
