It’s official! The holidays are here! We started decorating the house today, went to a glögg party and I “baked” the first cookies of the season. Using the term “baked” very, very loosely. My friend Debbie served these at a book group this past year and I’ve been badgering her for the recipe ever since. I decided they would be the cookie I’d take to the AWC Holiday Cookie Exchange, and when I called her a couple of weeks ago to remind her, she said, “Darn! I was hoping you’d forgotten about them, because I was going to make you a tin of them for Christmas!”
“But that’s okay,” I said. “I’m going to give these AWAY, so I’ll need MORE. Plus, when would I ever refuse cookies? Never! That’s when!” So she caved in and gave me the recipe, and I went grocery shopping yesterday (after cleaning and setting the table and before my pre-party NAP) and bought the ingredients. Except our local grocery store didn’t have one of them, so I had to drive into Lund to the big mega-everything grocery store to get them.
SO GOOD. And SO easy! And I actually had enough that I can take some extras with me to give to the poor people who didn’t sign up for the cookie exchange, AND take some to work AND still have some for us at home. They’re so festive with the white, red & green!
Cranberry Pistachio Bark
500 grams quality white chocolate
250 ml. dried cranberries
240 ml. unsalted shelled pistachios
Roast pistachios at 180C for 5-7 minutes. Set aside to cool. Melt chocolate in the top of a double boiler or on low heat (keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn). Stir cranberries and pistachios into melted chocolate. Pour onto foil-lined (25 x 38 cm) edged cookie sheet. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, then break into pieces. Makes about 750 grams.
I made 2 batches, and used an extra small bag of pistachios and cranberries each, and another 100 grams of white chocolate. I had to make 72 cookies, but since this was broken into pieces like brittle, I had probably twice that. It makes a LOT of cookies! De-double-licious!