Christmas Star Cookies

5 from 1 vote

These Christmas Star Cookies are an impressive addition to your Christmas dessert table - baked to golden brown perfection, they’re dipped in white chocolate, then sprinkled with pistachios and silver sugar pearls on top! These cookies are so easy and fun to make, they may even become a new Christmas tradition!

Prep Time10

Cook Time8

Chilling Time20

Total Time38

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: cookies

Calories: 201kcal

Author: Amy Nash

Ingredients

¾ cup salted butter, room temperature (170g)
½ cup granulated sugar (100g)
3 egg yolks
1½ teaspoons lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1¼ cups cornstarch (180g)
1 cup all-purpose flour (120g)
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
7 oz high quality white chocolate, chopped (200g)
6–8 tablespoons sliced pistachios
Wilton metallic sugar pearls, for decorating

Instructions

Combine butter, egg, and sugar. Place the butter, egg yolks, and sugar into a large mixing bowl.
Cream together and add flavoring. Beat on medium speed with a hand mixer for 2-3 minutes until light. Add the vanilla extract and lemon zest and mix until combined.
Add dry ingredients. Add the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.
Make into dough. Mix just until combined and the dough forms.
Roll, chill, and cut the dough. Transfer the dough to a silicone mat or large cutting board and roll out to ¼-inch thickness with a rolling pin. Cover the rolled-out dough with plastic wrap and freeze for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Use a star-shaped cookie cutter to cut shapes out of the sugar cookie dough and transfer these to the prepared baking sheet using a thin metal spatula.
Bake cookies and cool. Bake for 8–10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow the cookies to fully cool on the baking sheet before decorating.
Melt chocolate. Melt the white chocolate in the microwave in 20-second intervals, stirring in between to avoid burning. You can use the "melt chocolate" setting on your microwave if it has one. Alternatively, place the chocolate in a heat-safe medium bowl over a pan of simmering water, keeping the bottom of the bowl from touching the water, and stir the chocolate until fully melted.
Coat cookies in chocolate. Dip the top of each cookie into the melted white chocolate.
Decorate cookies. Place the dipped cookies back onto the cookie sheet, then sprinkle with the sliced pistachios and decorate with metallic sugar pearls.
Chill cookies. Refrigerate for 10–15 minutes. The chill time is important to ensure the chocolate is set properly so that the decorations remain in place.

Notes

NOTES

Storage & Make Ahead

Make Ahead: Tightly wrap the dough in plastic wrap, place it in a ziploc bag, and store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Bring the dough to room temperature before rolling and cutting it.
Store: Store your Christmas Star Cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 4–5 days. In the refrigerator, they can last up to two weeks.
Freeze: Freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months, with a piece of parchment paper between each layer to prevent the cookies from sticking together.

Nutrition