This recipe has been sitting in my cook this next notebook for six years. What a slacker I am! Well, I finally have made these wonderful balls of pure delight and I can truthfully tell you that I waited six years too long. They are just perfect for the holidays, but really you can eat them all year long just because they will make you very happy. They’ll just melt in your mouth and you will have to have another and another. Have lots of company when they come out of the oven is all I have to say. You will love them because they are so good and there is really no way to mess these up unless you cook them too long.
The story about the pistachios is something that you should pay attention unless you like shelling these little things. At my Publix they had no shelled unsalted pistachios. I was so sad because I spent 1 hour shelling them. It was not a fun job. So before you make this recipe find yourself some shelled unsalted pistachios and your life will be easier. Enough said.
I have been making a recipe similar to this since college, but I have never used the mixer. Why not? Don’t know? Just thought you could not I guess. You will love the ease of using the mixer and the results are magnificent. The only glitch that I found was chopping the pistachios. I loved the way that Bon Appetit photographed the cookies with the red and green. It was so holiday. Not only did I have to shell the nuts, but I also had to make sure that the skin was removed from the pistachios so that their true color could show. The recipe was not very specific about the size of the chopped nuts. I made the erroneous mistake of chopping in my small blender. Don’t do this. Chop them on a cutting board with a knife. This is a more controllable chop. Then the true red and green colors will surely show when you bite into that wonderful cookie. You should really try these for the holidays. Don’t wait six years. What a waste of a good cookie!
Pistachio and Cherry Mexican Wedding Cookies from Bon Appetit December 2006
Yield 60 cookies
Ingredients:
- 2 cups or 4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar and more for coating
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup shelled unsalted pistachios roughly chopped
- 1 cup dried tart cherries or dried cranberries ( I used cherries)
- 3 1/3 cups sifted cake flour
- 1 2/3 cups sifted all purpose flour
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or butter the pan.
- Using an electric mixer, beat 2 cups butter and 1 cup powdered sugar until fluffy.
- Beat in vanilla and salt.
- Add pistachios and cherries.
- Using a spatula, stir in all flour. DO NOT overmix the dough.
- Shape dough by generous tablespoonfuls into football-shaped oval.
- Place on prepared cookie sheet about 1 inch apart.
- Bake cookies 1 sheet at a time for about 15 minutes just until bottoms begin to brown.
- Cool on sheet for 10 minutes before coating.
- Pour generous amount of powdered sugar into medium bowl.
- Working with 5 to 6 warm cookies at a time gently turn to coat thickly.
- Transfer to waxed paper. Let the cookies soak up some sugar.
- Repeat coating.
- Cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days, but will not last that long because everyone will enjoy them quickly.
- One Year Ago Chocolate Toffee Bark
- Two Year Ago Sweet Potato Casserole
- Three Years Ago Ziti with Sausage and Broccoli
The Teacher Cooks 
They have to soak in sugar.
Chop the pistachios with a knife, not with a food processor.
I learned you should not overmix the dough.
I learned that adding salt will help enhance the sweet flavour, and to never overmix the dough because it changes it’s consistency.
i learned that it is pretty much impossible to mess these up unless you cook them for too long
I learned that you can use wax paper for verious reasons.
I learned that chopping nuts on a cutting board is easier than using a blender.
I learned that you can stir flour with a spatula and that you do not need to over mix the dough.
the cooks loook fantasik
i didnt know you can use cherries or cranberries in this!
Dont chop the chopped nuts in a small blender. Chop them on a chopping block for a more controllable chop.
they look like x-mas cookies
WHen you chop them on a cutting board it makes the knife more controllable
find unshelled pistachios
You can make a mistake by chopping the nuts up in a small blender. Chop them on a cutting board with a knife, it’s more controllable chop.
I learned that you can’t store the cookies for long because they spoil quickly and you do NOT need to overmix the dough.
I learned to let them Cool on sheet for 10 minutes before coating.
they can stay fresh in a container up to four days
I Always Thought That Coating The Cookies While They Were Hot Was Better Than Once They’re Cool So That They Stick
be sure not to overmix the dough; this will cause dough to become tough and will form gluten
for this i learned thatr you have to cool it down for about 10 minutes before you coat it and i cant over mix the dough.
Dont over mix the dough.
Give the cookies time to absorb the sugar
I learned that you should NOT overmix the dough.
i dont know what this is.
when you cook and you write down the recipe in your notebook years later you forget how good they taste so you should look at all your recipes.
Well I guess hard work isn’t always need I agree that buying pistachios at Publix that have no shell and are unsalted is much easier than braking one by one
Make sure not to overmix the dough