Italian Spumoni Cookies (Cherry, Vanilla, and Pistachio)

Today I’m happy to be bringing you a new favorite Christmas cookie. Let me present to you the Italian Spumoni Cookie.

Layers of cherry, vanilla and pistachio make up this delicious holiday cookie. While quite crisp after cooling, they will soften just a bit if you store them in a Tupperware or Ziploc overnight.

Personally I have usually seen the spumoni flavor combination as cherry, chocolate and pistachio, but after researching it I found that vanilla is also used and is labelled as spumoni as well. I find the red, white and green to be very festive for the holiday season. Adorable and they taste wonderful to boot. I adore cherry and pistachio so this cookie is right up my alley.

Italian Spumoni Cookies

Ali @ Jamhands.net

Let me present to you the Italian Spumoni Cookie. Layers of cherry, vanilla and pistachio make up this delicious holiday cookie. 

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 14 minutes mins

Chill Time 2 hours hrs

Total Time 2 hours hrs 44 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, Italian

Servings 36 cookies

Calories 109 kcal

Equipment

• baking sheets
• parchment paper
• cling wrap

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 cup butter softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. almond extract
• 2 ½ cup flour
• ½ tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• ⅓ cup chopped maraschino cherries drained
• 5-6 drops red food coloring
• ⅓ cup chopped pistachio nuts optional, I skipped
• 3 tbsp. pistachio pudding mix
• 5-6 drops green food coloring

Instructions

 

• In a large mixing bowl, combine butter, sugar, egg, and the extracts. Beat at medium speed until creamy. Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat until well-blended. Divide dough into thirds. Add chopped maraschino cherries and red food coloring to one of the thirds. Mix well by hand.
• (Note: I found it necessary to add a spoonful of flour to the cherry dough as it was very wet.) Add pistachio nuts (if using), pistachio pudding mix, and green food coloring to another third of the dough. Mix well by hand.
• Shape each third of dough on separate sheets of parchment paper into logs approximately 1 1/2 inch in diameter and approximately 16 inches long. Flatten each log into a rectangle approximately 4 inches wide. You will have 3 rectangles of 4×16. Layer the dough on a single piece of plastic food wrap by lining up the rectangles and flipping them one on top of the other. Start with pistachio as the bottom layer, flip the plain layer on top of pistachio, and flip the maraschino cherry layer on top of the plain layer.
• At this point you have one slab of dough, colored green, white and red. Next cut the dough in half so each piece is 2×16-inches. Place one half of dough on top of the other half, creating two sets of green, white and red patterns. Trim any long edges so you have a nice, clean edge all around your dough. Wrap securely in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.
• Note: To make it easier to handle, I would recommend cutting the finished dough log into two equal sized pieces of 8 inches, as 16 inches is very long and hard to handle.
• When the dough is chilled well, preheat your oven to 375-f degrees. Cut the rectangle of dough into 1/4 inch slices. Place slices 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until the dough no longer looks “wet.” (Note: my cookie edges never turned brown.) Cool completely. The cookies are crisp after cooling but will soften up a bit if you store them in a Tupperware overnight or in a Ziploc bag.

Notes

Recipe adapted from The Gold Lining Girl

Nutrition

Calories: 109kcalCarbohydrates: 14gProtein: 1gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.3gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 19mgSodium: 94mgPotassium: 14mgFiber: 0.3gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 166IUCalcium: 9mgIron: 0.4mg

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