These slightly salty and funky Pistachio Cranberry Cookies are made with brown butter and a secret ingredient that makes them super addictive! (Jump directly to the recipe.)
Everyone has his or her own traditions for the holidays. For me, it’s throwing our annual holiday party, completely with numerous baked goods and a glazed ham. This year, we opted to go with a Star Wars themed holiday party (based on the much maligned Star Wars Holiday Special that aired back in 1978) because the new Star Wars movie, episode 7: the Force Awakens, was released this past weekend. Also my partner AJ is obsessed with Star Wars. This was the perfect excuse for me to photoshop our heads on top of Luke and Han Solo for our invite, a job that I did a little TOO well because most people didn’t even notice us in the photo. I also baked 16 different desserts including one of my new favorites, Pistachio Cranberry Cookies with Brown Butter. These salty sweet funky bombs are awesome. Seriously.
The party started at 5pm and, as usual, AJ and I weren’t ready. But for whatever reason, this year pretty much EVERYONE decided to show up exactly at 5pm. By 5:15 we had a packed place and I was still running around plating food. Does this happen to you guys? It was rather insane! I barely had a chance to put down the last plate of brownies before folks started digging in. And I thought I was doing so well with my timing. But apparently not.
The party was awesome though. Less folks than previous years, I was able to actually say hello to most folks and have an actual conversation with a number of people I hadn’t send all year long! 2015 has been a bit of a lost year for me, with the cookbook writing and AJ’s cycling accident. But I’m really hoping 2016 will be the year that I reclaim my life. The party was part of that plan by getting me back into baking for baking sake. I had a great time with the desserts and making up names for a few of them to give them a Star Wars name to fit the theme of the party.
- R2-D2 Pandowdy (Pear and Blueberry Pandowdy)
- Gingerbread Cookies
- Jar Jar Binks Bars (Blondie Bars)
- Meyer Lemon Pistachio Crust Cheesecake
- Landspeeder Pie (Apple Slab Pie)
- Caramel Cream Cheese Brownies
- Dagobah Swamp Cake (Vanilla and Butterscotch Lapsang Souchang Layer Cake)
- Pumpkin Spice Chocolate and Vanilla Marble Bundt Cake
- Darth Malt Chocolate Cake
- Lemon Blackberry Chess Pie
- Death Star Lemon Shaker Tart
- Oatmeal Wookie Cookies
- Salted Caramel Bars
- Pistachio Cranberry Cookies with Brown Butter
- Apple Cranberry Pumpkin Biscuits Cobbler
- Mexican Chocolate Pecan Pie
Of course I also had a selection of cheeses from Kerrygold who generously donated cheese and butter for this party! I adore Kerrygold when I bake and their cheese is just fantastic. And there were olives from Mezzetta as well, which was lovely. They had sent me some samples last month and I was excited to share them with everyone at the party. And, of course, AJ’s ham, which people were raving about. AJ is always baffled by this as he just buys it at Costco but apparently people have never had a Costco ham before? I overheard someone say that it was the best ham he had ever had. Ha!
Before I knew it though, the party was over. Folks had left to go off to dinner or to another party and AJ and I were left to our own devices, to clean up and snack on leftovers. Another party, another year gone by. And this past weekend we saw annual holiday party. Happy Life Day Everyone!
Pistachio Cranberry Cookies with Brown Butte
By Irvin Lin
These little cookies have a salty funky undertone that is just subtle enough to keep people guessing as to what the secret ingredient is. But not too funky that it turns people off! For those people who love that combination of salty and sweet this holiday cookie is perfect. The secret is to use a small bit of miso paste, which sounds totally weird but works really well with the brown butter and the pistachio. Use mellow white miso paste (shiromiso) though. The darker red type (akamiso or inakamiso) is too salty and assertive for this cookie.
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups (245 g) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup powdered non-fat dry milk
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
10 tablespoons (140 g or 1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup (275 g) packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon white miso paste (see headnote above)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup pistachios (shelled)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicon mat.
2. Place the flour, milk, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl and stir vigorously with a balloon whisk until well blended and all the ingredients are evenly distributed.
3. Place the butter in a large pan and cook over medium-high heat until the butter has melted and started to foam. Lower the heat to medium-low and continue to cook until the fat solids start to brown. Turn off the heat and continue to swirl the butter in the pan until the residual heat of the pan turns the fat solids golden brown and the butter starts to smell nutty. Pour the browned butter into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the brown sugar to the bowl and beat until the sides of the bowl are cool to the touch, about 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Add the egg, miso paste and vanilla extract to the bowl and beat to blend. Add half the dry ingredients, beating to incorporate before adding the second half the dry ingredients. The dough should be stiff. Add the pistachios and dried cranberries and beat just to mix in.
4. Spoon out heaping tablespoons of the dough and roll them into balls. They should be the size of a big walnut. Place on the baking sheet and repeat. Bake in the oven 9 to 11 minutes or until the dough just starts to brown around the edges, don’t over bake. Remove from oven and let sit on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 32 cookies.
If you like these pistachio cranberry cookies, check out some other cookies that I have on my blog:
Chocolate and Chocolate Chip Pistachio Cookies
Chocolate Crackle CookiesSpeculaas
The Best Christmas Cookie (Glazed Cookies with Orange, Cinnamon and Cloves)
White Chocolate Peppermint Cookies with Sea Salt
Eggnog Cookies
And check out some holiday cookies from around the web:
Nutmeg Nanny’s Molasses Ginger Raisin Cookies
Evil Shenanigans’ Mocha Mint Cookie Cups
Cafe Delites’ Nutella Stuffed Deep Dish Gingerbread Cookie
Melanie Makes’ Cheesecake Stuffed Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
A Latte Food’s Hot Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies
Roxana says
Your holiday party sounds and looks like it was so much fun, and these cookies look wonderful! Love those cranberries and pistachios together! 🙂
Heather (Delicious Not Gorgeous) says
it took me a minute to find you on the star wars invite (i found aj immediately but you were a lot harder). and i’m in awe of the sheer volume you had- i’m betting most people have trouble eating a portion of 16 desserts, much less making that many!
Amy says
Great party, you are blessed to have this many good friends. Happy Holidays to everyone.
Kari says
This is such a great party idea!
Kari
http://www.sweetteasweetie.com
Tyler says
What difference these cookies, I never imagined a combination of these, I try to cook these cookies, thank you
Jane says
Super tasty and funny cookies!
Junior says
Essa festa parece que foi maravilhosa, vou tentar fazer esses biscoitos
Mary says
Wonderful recipe! I love cookies.
Jesse says
Loved it! I happened to find your blog searching.
Paula Soares says
It looks all so delicious!
maria says
Nossa! Parece ser tudo delicioso. Vou fazer a receita de biscoito de cranberry mas não sei o que é miso branco e nem onde encontrar.
Gertrudes Navarro says
WOW!
This sounds very, very delicious!!!
Ana Maria says
Great recipe for parties!
My children will love
Kris Karsten says
I love this recipe!
Next holiday I’m going to make this recipe
Bianca says
Love this! So delicious!
Michelle says
Delicious! An amazing idea for party!
I have to make make this recipe now =)
Hellen says
It sounds super tasty and an esy recipe!
Jessy Pshsicmyan says
Can I use peanut instead of pistachio?
Thank you
Ashley Thompson says
Delicious, excellent recipe, thank you and congratulations!!!
Patrick says
Receitas Maravilhosas
curso de brigadeiro gourmet says
Sensacional receita. Amei. Muito obrigado por compartilhar !
como fazer brigadeiros gourmet says
Esse biscoito é demais parece delicioso se tivesse os dotes culinários faria como não tenho vou pedir a minha ssogra que faça algo assim para mim.
marisa says
Delicious, excellent recipe, very good
joao vieira says
Simply the best photo i’ve ever seen.
Thanks for sharing this.
clique aqui says
I’m going to make this recipe also for the family’s Easter party, it’s something different, I believe it will please everyone’s taste.
Sofia Silva says
I’m going to do it too.
Fabricio Souza says
Nossa maravilho artigo. Adorei pois tenho um site sobre doces e vou apredendo com outros artigos.
abraços
FABRICIO SOUZA
Madoca says
I loved the way I feel today and having this different and so nice recipe was the differential of my day.
Ketlynn says
Thank You, what difference these cookies, I never imagined a combination of these, I try to cook these cookies.
Curso de Linguiça Artesanal says
Sensacional a receita vou tentar fazer
pam says
Amazing recipe, I need to put it into practice.
Sofia Silva says
This recipe is really good. I’m going to do it too.
Amanda says
very beautiful
Roberta Augusta says
sensacional !
Sofia Silva says
unbelievable
Carlos says
Really delicious too good recipe
Karen says
Cool, great idea!
Martha Jesus says
Looks amazing. I need to try. Thanks for sharing
Sophie says
Wow what a delight, these pistachio cranberry cakes with brown bute. I loved their recipe, it seems to be easy to make and very tasty. Thanks so much for sharing.
Doce Receita says
We also love it here in Brazil.
Marina says
I loved this recipe of pistachio cranberry cakes with brown bute. very easy to make and very tasty. Thanks for sharing. Doces gourmet
melina says
I loved this recipe of pistachio cranberry cakes with brown bute. very easy to make and very tasty. Thanks for sharing.
Diego says
We also love it here in Brazil, I loved this recipe of pistachio cranberry cakes with brown bute. very easy to make and very tasty. Thanks for sharing. Brigadeiros Gourmet
Cristiane says
We also love it here in Brazil, I loved this recipe of pistachio cranberry cakes with brown bute. very easy to make and very tasty. Thanks for sharing.
Como fazer Brigadeiro e beijinho
Eliane says
We also love it here in Brazil, I loved this recipe of pistachio cranberry cakes with brown bute. very easy to make and very tasty. Thanks for sharing. Brigadeiros Gourmet
Thamires says
I Love to find you recipe, thanks for share.
Leonardo Leite says
Very beautiful your candy table, I will make some PISTACHIO CRANBERRY COOKIES in my house!
Juliana says
amazing recipe,thanks for the tip
bruna says
i love cookies so much
so yummis
Mara santos says
ow nice, i love it
igor says
Thank you for sharing. Hugs from Brazil. Brigadeiros Gourmet
igor says
Thank you for sharing. Hugs from Brazil. Brigadeiros Gourmet
Luan says
Artigo maravilhoso! adorei!
Mariana Gomes says
Vou fazer essa receita também para a festa de Páscoa da família
Fernando says
Nossa! Parece ser tudo delicioso. Vou fazer a receita de biscoito de cranberry mas não sei o que é miso branco e nem onde encontrar.
Eduarda says
Delicious recipe