Salted Honey Pistachio Cookies

These delectable salted honey pistachio cookies are the perfect treat with the ideal balance of sweet and salty flavors. Every bite is blissful. The subtle hint of citrus adds a refreshing touch, making it a perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea.

Inspiration:

My original plan was to update my pistachio shortbread photos & surprise my husband with some cooookies. Shortbread is his favorite cookie, which is probably why I love baking them so much. I even have a dedicated section on my blog for botanical shortbread flavors. When I started gathering my ingredients, I had an idea to make pistachio shortbread with a salted honey icing. But, a hint of citrus sounded like it would take it over the top. So, I decided to save remaking my traditional pistachio shortbread for another day, and try these instead.

We all really loved them and will enjoy baking them again over the holidays. They would make a beautiful and unique treat for a cookie exchange along with our Pine Needle Shortbread, and Citrus + Herbal Shortbread.

Ingredients:

Pistachio shortbread:

• 1 cup butter softened (unsalted) (225 grams)
• ½ cup icing / powdered sugar (60 grams)
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• ½ cup corn starch (68 grams)
• 1 pinch salt
• 2 cups all purpose flour (260 grams)
• 2 tablespoons roasted salted pistachios
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• Zest of one medium-sized orange; save juice for icing, optional

Salted honey icing:

• Lemon Honey Glaze
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Juice of one orange, freshly squeezed

Optional: Additional crushed pistachios for topping over icing

Tools:

• Kitchen aid mixer or hand mixer for creaming butter
• I used an embossed rolling pin and a round cookie cutter to make them pretty
• Rolling pin for rolling out cookie dough before cutting
• Parchment paper
• Baking tray
• Sifter for icing sugar removes lumps in powdered sugar for smooth icing.
• Citrus zester
• Food paint brush to paint on icing optional; you can dip them into icing if preferred.
• Grinder, food processor, blender, or just a sharp knife to finely chop pistachios.

How to make them:

• In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, crushed pistachios, granulated sugar, and powdered sugar until light and fluffy.

• Sift and stir in the flour, cornstarch and salt until your dough is well blended. You will likely need to use your hands to form a ball. The dough will be somewhat soft.
• Cover your dough with plastic or beeswax wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes - 1 hour.

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (176 degrees C).
• Line the cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• Roll the dough out to ¼ inch thickness on a lightly floured surface.

• Cut into rectangles 1 ½x2 inches in size or cut into shapes using a cookie cutter.
• Place cookies 1 inch apart on the lined cookie sheets.
• Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven or until golden at the edges.
• Cool on wire racks. While they cool, make the icing.

Salted honey icing:

• Sift powdered sugar into a medium-sized bowl
• Add honey, salt and orange juice together.
• Mix until icing is formed. If it's too thick for your liking, add a drizzle more of honey or milk of choice. If you want it thicker, add another tablespoon of powdered sugar.
• Paint your icing onto your cooled shortbread cookies and let the icing solidify at room temperature.

Our tips for perfect shortbread:

1. Choose high quality butter: with so few ingredients, choosing quality butter is important. 
2. Measure ingredients properly:  I know not every home baker is going to want to weigh their ingredients. I blogged for years before even considering it! But, now that I weigh my ingredients, I never make a recipe without grams because just a little too much or too little of any one ingredient can really throw off a recipe. And if I'm going through all the trouble to bake, I want to make sure it comes out just as I expected. Here is a great kitchen scale I recommend. If you don't use a kitchen scale, spoon and level your flour for increased likelihood of accuracy.
3. Chill before baking...sometimes: This recipe has very specific ratios with less butter so that it doesn't bubble and spread, in my experience the dough usually doesn't have to be chilled before baking. However, if I've over-handled it or kept it out too long, it still will become very soft and difficult to manage while rolling or cutting shapes. If your shortbread feels too soft, no need to worry. Just pop in the fridge for 20 minutes or so, or until you're ready to bake. 
4. Bake until golden: Despite the recommended baking time, it's best to let the shortbread get slightly golden before removing it from the oven. This ensures they are fully crisp and will continue to harden as they chill for easy handling.

Variations:

I have not personally tested these variations, but they should work just fine as they are 1:1 substitutes.

• To make these cookies gluten free, swap the all purpose flour with your favorite 1:1 gluten free flour, like King Arthur's 1:1 gluten free flour.
• To make these vegan, replace the butter with your favorite dairy-free butter and swap honey with agave.