today we’re talking COOKIES! in the shape of adorable little tree stumps.
this beauty of a recipe has been lightly adapted (but mostly republished) from the martha stewart living test kitchen on the occasion of tu b’shevat 2019 / 5780, with a zillion little notes from yours truly in the margins.
so, what to say about these pretty cookies? well, for starters, they are crispy and thin—like, tate’s cookies level crispy. if you’re into that sort of thing, then you are in luck.
they’re also SO satisfying to make. slicing into those swirly faux-bois layers is an absolute joy. and, of course, the design of the final cookies is very fun to stare at. particularly if you don’t get out much.
you can find the full recipe below (scroll past the ~9348520 photos and you’ll find it!). and chag sameach (almost)!!
tree ring shortbread cookies with pistachio “moss”
lightly adapted from martha stewart living on the occasion of tu b’shvat 2020 / 5780, with a zillion little notes from yours truly in the margins!
makes about 36 cookies.
what you’ll need:
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder
- 3 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, melted
- 1/4 cup finely chopped pistachios (i used my mini food processor!)
what you’ll do:
- in a medium bowl, whisk together flour and salt.
- in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. stop mixer and add flour mixture; mix on low speed until just combined. remove half the dough; divide into two equal pieces, wrap in plastic, and set aside while you make the chocolate dough.
- in a small bowl, stir together cocoa, espresso, and 2 tablespoons hot water. add cocoa mixture to remaining cookie dough and mix on low speed until color is uniform, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
- place half the chocolate dough on a sheet of parchment and cover with a sheet of plastic wrap. roll dough into a 14-by-10-inch rectangle beneath the plastic wrap (dough will be very thin but can be easily patched if it tears, and actually, i personally found the tears to be quite becoming in the final cookie because they really helped that “faux bois” effect. you’ll see—but the point is, don’t worry too much about little tears or “extra-thin” dough). set aside, still covered with plastic. repeat rolling process with remaining chocolate dough and both pieces of vanilla dough.
- place one sheet of chocolate dough on work surface and remove plastic. remove plastic from one sheet of vanilla dough and invert, still attached to its parchment backing, onto chocolate dough, pressing not-so-gently with the palm of your hand to adhere. in fact, you want to really get all those air bubbles out in this step—as if you’re applying a temporary tattoo (only analogy i can think of that really makes this idea clear, ha!). gently peel back parchment paper to remove; if the dough sticks to the parchment, carefully lay the parchment + dough back as they were, press more to remove any air bubbles and really get the vanilla and chocolate layers to be “one,” and then try again.
- continue layering with remaining chocolate and vanilla doughs.
- position dough with one short side parallel to edge of your work surface, then roll the dough into a tight spiral (this means that the FIRST tuck into that roll of yours should be as tight as possible!). wrap log in parchment. martha’s original recipe suggests placing the dough in a cardboard paper-towel tube that has been cut open from end to end in order to help retain the round shape of the log of dough, but i didn’t find that to be necessary. refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight.
- preheat oven to 325 degrees. line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment. trim ends from dough. slice dough 1/4 inch thick. roll each cookie between sheets of parchment into an oblong disk about 3 inches long and 1/8 inch thick; transfer to prepared sheets. bake until crisp, 8 to 12 minutes. transfer sheets to wire racks and let cool completely. working with one cookie at a time, dip the very outer edge of one side in melted chocolate (don’t dip too far!), then press the cookie gently into your bowl of pistachios to coat. transfer to fresh parchment-lined baking sheets and let stand until chocolate is set, 45 to 60 minutes.