Photos don’t even do these cookies justice. This is cookie perfection: salty, sweet, chocolatey. The perfect combination! Is this my new favorite cookie recipe?! Here buttery sugar cookies are topped with rich dark chocolate ganache and topped with crunchy salted pistachios. Pure bliss!
I don’t know why it’s never occurred to me to top sugar cookies with ganache. I have been missing out! I gave a lot of people these cookies to try and everybody had the same feedback, “This is the best cookie ever!”
I cut the sugar cookie dough into rounds using a biscuit cutter. These cookies feel easier to me than traditional sugar cookies because ganache is quicker to make than frosting and of course spooning it on is a lot faster than decorating sugar cookies. (Which I love to do for holidays but not on a Tuesday!) The number of cookies will of course depend on the size of your cookies but I got 45 good sized cookies out of this and had exactly the right amount of ganache.
You want to spoon the ganache directly on the center of the cookies, letting it ooze out to the edges. Start with less than you think you need; you can always add more ganache but you don’t want it running off the edges. And yes, the ganache sets to where you can easily stack the cookies on top of each other. I put the cookies back on cookie sheets after they’ve cooled to assemble, then popped the cookie sheets in the fridge for ten minutes to set the ganache.
These cookies were at their best the first two days because the pistachios lose their crunch after days in ganache but they were still soft and delicious for about five days. Good luck not eating them before then!
Chocolate Pistachio CookiesFor the cookies:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
8 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate bars
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup roasted salted pistachios, chopped
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar on high. Mix in egg and vanilla extract. Add flour, baking powder, and salt and mix just until combined.
- Divide dough in half and flatten into disks. Wrap each disk with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a floured surface, roll portions of dough out to about 1/4″ thickness. Use a large round cookie cutter to cut out cookies. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes, let cool for one minute on the cookie sheet, then remove from sheet and cool completely.
- To make the ganache, chop the chocolate and set in a heat-proof bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it’s bubbling around the edges, then pour over chopped chocolate and let stand for 2-3 minutes before whisking until smooth. Spoon a bit of ganache in the center of each cookies, letting it ooze towards the edges.
- Sprinkle with chopped pistachios, then refrigerate the cookies for 10-15 minutes to set the ganache. Store at room temperature.
Happy baking,
Chocolate and pistachios . . . wonderful!
Made these for a dinner party and they flew off the table!
Another amazing recipe!
Yay! I’m so happy to hear that ❤️