A not-too-sweet, crumbly key lime shortbread cookie loaded with finely chopped pistachios finished with a tart key lime glaze and sprinkle with finely chopped pistachios.
Recently, Diamond Nuts/Diamond of California sent me some of their wonderful unsalted, shelled pistachios, which are perfect for baking, to create a St. Patrick’s Day recipe. I was thinking of fun ways to use the green nuts and remembered the fabulous Lemon Shortbread cookies I made several times last summer. I decided to change if up for St. Patrick’s Day and use key limes instead of lemons, a fun shamrock shape, and use pistachios in the dough as well as to decorate the tops of the cookies.
Pistachios are a member of the cashew family and have a earthy, rich, buttery flavor. They add an extra layer of richness and a wonderful texture to this shortbread cookie. I used my mini food processor to finely chop the nuts, but they were also easy to chop with a knife.
Dipping the cookies in the glaze is the easiest way to glaze them. Just use a wide bowl, dip the cookie half way into the glaze and let some drip off before putting the cookies back on the cooling rack. Sprinkle on the pistachios while the glaze is still wet so they’ll stick to the glaze.
Once you’ve cut the first batch, just gather up the dough and roll it out again and make more cookies. The dough isn’t fussy, and I thought my second batch almost looked better than my first.
I thought the white icing really highlighted the green pistachios, but you could add a little bit of green food coloring to the glaze if you want even more green for the holiday. These cookies are easy to make and a fun alternative to traditional sugar cookies for St. Patrick’s Day or change up the shape and they’d also be perfect for really any holiday.
Pistachio Key Lime Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon key lime zest
- ¾ cup unsalted shelled Diamond of California Pistachios, finely chopped
- 1 ½ cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons fresh key lime juice
Instructions
- In a small bowl, sift together flour, cornstarch and salt and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in vanilla and lime zest.
- Gradually mix in the dry ingredients until well blended. Stir in pistachios (reserve a little bit to decorate the cookies if desired.)
- Shape the dough in to a flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate one hour.
- Preheat oven to 350º.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to ¼ inch thick. Cut the dough in to desired shapes. Place the cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets or cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.
- Bake until lightly browned on the bottom about 10-12 minutes. Don't over bake. Cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet and then remove to a wire rack to cool.
- Icing
- Whisk together powdered sugar and lime juice to create a thin glaze. Spread the glaze on each cookie and sprinkle with additional finely chopped pistachios.
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Diamond of California, but all opinions expressed are always my own. You can also find Diamond Nuts on Facebook and Pinterest.
Barbara B Christian
I made these cookies today and they were delicious. But, I have to say the dough was VERY dry and therefore extremely hard to roll out and cut into shapes!!!
Barbara Schieving
Hi Barbara – glad you enjoyed the cookies. Sometimes how you measure the flour and make a big difference. Next time you make them, you may want to add a little less flour.
Barbara B Christian
Thanks. I will try that next time!
Carol at Wild Goose Tea
One my all time things I like to cook too is cookies! Everyone loves cookies. Unfortunately some of us love EVERY cookie. Ha! Butter type cookies are among my favorite. Lime is one of my ‘new’ favorite or preferred flavors of late. So I am on it for these babies!
Kate@Diethood
These are so perfect and so beautiful!!
erika
I love these cookies, pistachio and above all the glaze. Thanks
Nutmeg Nanny
These cookies are so fun 🙂 I love pistachios!
Serena | Serena Bakes Simply From Scratch
I saw these floating around google plus and they look amazing! I love the green from the pistachios and key lime juice instead of food coloring! Gorgeous!
Maureen | Orgasmic Chef
I have a confession. Bless me father, etc. I LOVE pistachios and one day midway in my previous marriage we were at the grocery store and pistachios were on sale. I looked at him and said with a cheeky grin, “You know these are an aphrodisiac, don’t you?”
That man bought me a bag of pistachios every week for years. I never said a word. I just ate or cooked with them.
Your cookies are gorgeous!
Emily
Oh my! These look fun AND delicious! Love pistachio!
Melissa @ My Recent Favorite Books
These are gorgeous!! Perfect for St. Patricks Day!
Jenn @ Deliciously Sprinkled
These cookies look delicious and perfect for St. Patrick’s Day! Pinned 🙂
Claire @ Claire K Creations
These look great Barbara. Great idea sprinkling the nuts on the icing too. The perfect st patty’s day treat!
mikky
Barbara,
These cookies look delicious! I pretty much love all pistachio flavored cookies, such a fantastic flavour. Funny enough I never though of making them for St.Patricks day, thanks for the idea.
Wish I could bite into one of these right now. They look so yummy.
Best,
mikky
http://www.todaloos.com
alison @ Ingredients, Inc.
LOVE THESE BARBARA!
Kim Beaulieu
I am such a pistachio fanatic so I totally need to try these. Such adorable cookies and I can just imagine the flavour spectrum on these. Can’t wait to try them.
Deb
Pistachio and lime is such a tempting flavor pairing! Nestled in a buttery shortbread cookie I might have to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day a “wee” bit early this year!
Aggie
Barbara you’ve managed to combine two of my favorite things into a cookie! These are adorable!
Maggie Unzueta @ Mama Maggie's Kitchen
How cute are these! Perfect for St. Patty’s Day… and pistachio, YUM!
Renee @ CreativeMamaMessyHouse
I bet my husband would like these! He loves pistachios, but doesn’t like chocolate. My kids would like them too!
2 Sisters Recipes
Barbara these look wonderful! this recipe is a keeper in my book! Thanks for sharing.
xxoo Anna and Liz
Rosa
Pretty! Those cookies surely taste delicious.
Cheers,
Rosa