- Welcome back to The Baking Journal.

Today, we're making one of my favorite recipes, lemon pistachio shortbread cookies.

(soft upbeat music) These tender shortbread cookies have a delicious lemon flavor as well as the savory, pistachio salty kind of crunch and we are going to take you through every step in this episode from making the dough to rolling it out, baking the cookies and decorating.

As you can see, I have all of my dry ingredients measured out for the cookies.

We'll start with whisking together three and one third cups of all-purpose flour with two thirds cup of finely chopped pistachios, one and one fourth teaspoons of salt, one teaspoon of cardamom and a half a teaspoon of cinnamon.

If you've never tried cardamom, it is a really tasty spice.

It has peppery notes, along with a floral citrusy flavor.

Next up in the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, start to beat three sticks of softened butter with one cup of granulated sugar on medium speed until it's pale and fluffy.

That should take about three minutes.

Scrape down the bowl and add two tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice, one tablespoon of amaretto liqueur, two teaspoons of vanilla extract, and one tablespoon of lemon zest.

Give that a really good mix to get everything combined and scrape down the bowl again.

Now, with the mixer on low, mix in the dry ingredients, a third at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl with each addition.

The dough is going to be really stiff and the mixer is definitely working hard.

Once everything is nicely combined, dump the cookie dough out on a piece of plastic wrap.

The dough is gonna be crumbly at this point, but don't worry.

Bring the dough together as best you can, and then divide it into two pieces.

Wrap each piece in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes.

This dough can last for a few days in the fridge if you don't plan on making the cookies right away.

Once the dough is chilled, roll it out to one fourth inch thickness and using your favorite cookie cutter, start cutting out your shapes.

I'm using a snowflake shape today.

Place them on a parchment lined cookie sheet and chill the cookies for 15 minutes.

While they're in the fridge, reheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for anywhere from seven to 11 minutes, depending on the size of your cookies.

You want these to be slightly brown on the edges only, just like this.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes and then transfer them to a rack to cool completely.

While the cookies are cooling, let's make the royal icing for decorating our snowflakes.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together three cups of powdered sugar, three tablespoons meringue powder, two tablespoons of amaretto liqueur, and two tablespoons of warm water.

Mix that at low speed for eight minutes.

Turn off the mixer and let the icing sit for 10 minutes or so to let any air bubbles rise to the surface.

Now, coax that icing into a piping bag.

I'm using a small round tip to pipe the decorations.

Did you notice how I folded the tip in the bottom of the jar?

I did that so I could fill the piping bag and not have icing start to run out through the tip before I was ready to decorate.

Now, just release your inner artist and start decorating the cookies.

Don't worry if the design isn't perfect, and just remember with snowflakes, no two are ever the same.

I'm topping the cookies with a little bit of edible glitter, which gives the snowflakes a fresh snow effect.

Look at how fabulous those turned out.

Let them dry for at least a few hours before storing.

Here we have them.

Oh my gosh, I've been smelling these delicious cookies and I can't wait to give them a try.

(soft upbeat music) Oh my goodness.

The butteriness of the shortbread just pairs beautifully with the lemon.

And then you add that crunchy saltiness from the pistachio nuts, and it is just a golden combination.

I really love these cookies and I crave them pretty often.

Thank goodness they're easy to make.

I hope you enjoyed watching and learning how to make one of my favorite shortbread cookie recipes.

For more delicious recipes, don't forget to subscribe and hit that like button.

Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time on another episode of The Baking Journal.

(soft upbeat music)