This cookie serves as the perfect vehicle for a cookie decorating party or as a thoughtful hostess gift. These colorful, white chocolate, cranberry and pistachio cookie wreaths will make an impression at any holiday party. The richness of the white chocolate covered cookie is balanced by the savory crunch of the pistachios and the tart, chewy cranberries. We suggest you do the baking the night before so that the evening can be devoted to decorating and champagne! We suggest Bedell Sparkling Rose with these.
Ingredients:
1 cup salted butter (softened)
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup white chocolate melts
1/2 cup pistachios
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Preparation:
A few hours before beginning baking, take a half pound of butter (two sticks) and leave out at room temperature until softened. Otherwise you will not be able to cream the ingredients properly.
One hour prior to baking, preheat oven to 375 degrees and line baking trays with parchment paper. Set up your mixing bowls or standing mixer.
Sift together the flour and baking powder and set aside.
Begin the recipe by creaming together the butter and icing sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, continue beating until well combined.
Add the sifted dry ingredients little by little to the butter mixture, beating until it forms a dough.
Working with a 1/4 of the dough at a time, place between 2 sheets of parchment paper and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness.
Cut out the wreaths using a large fluted round cookie cutter for the outside and a smaller circle, flower or star burst cookie cutter for the middle.
Transfer the cut cookie shapes to the lined baking tray (1 inch apart) using a knife or spatula. If the cookies are too soft to move, place them in the freezer for a minute until they are firm enough to transfer.
Bake the cookies until they are just lightly golden, about 10 minutes. The time will vary oven to oven so keep an eye on the first tray to see how long they take. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow to cool completely on trays.
While the cookies are cooling, prepare the decorations
Roughly chop the pistachios and cranberries into smaller pieces and set aside.
Pour the white chocolate drops into microwave safe bowl, microwave the chocolate 20 seconds at a time until melted and smooth.
Have all wire racks and everything placed and at hand as you will need to work quickly. The point is that you need to dip all the cookies and lay out on wire rack — then come back around and sprinkle with the cranberries and pistachios before the chocolate sets so they stick. Dip the tops of the cooled wreath cookies (they cannot be at all warm) one at a time into the white chocolate. Place on a wire rack and come back around and sprinkle the cookie with a mixture of cranberries and pistachios; allow to set before packaging. Watch this video for a demonstration on how to decorate these cookie wreaths!
