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Pistachio Pudding Linzer Cookies couldn’t be more adorable or perfect for St. Patrick’s Day. Don’t skimp on the sprinkles!

I am OH so excited for today’s guest post from Megan. She knows you guys love pudding in your baked goods, so she made you something extra special. Thanks, Megan, for filling my shoes today. You’re the best!

Hi My Baking Addiction readers! I’m Megan from Stetted and I am so thrilled to be guest posting for you today while Jamie, Eric, and Elle get situated in their new home!

When Jamie asked me to make something springy, my mind immediately went to St. Patrick’s Day and of course, the color green. Green just so happens to be my favorite color, and my name has Irish origins, so the gears started turning to think of an amazing green dessert. Happily for you all, I decided to not make cabbage cream puffs, and instead I baked up these sweet pistachio pudding Linzer cookies.

Pistachios are a great ingredient to use for making St. Patrick’s Day desserts because they are naturally green and are fairly mild in flavor. In fact, when I was mixing up these cookies I had flashbacks to making spritz Christmas tree cookies as a child — I had never realized my mom’s special ingredient was pistachio pudding! Which is a good thing, because I was convinced all nuts in baked goods were disgusting for at least 18 years. Or not a good thing, considering how many cookies I ate.

Anyway, these aren’t a traditional Irish dessert, but they’re pretty darn cute and are a hit with my kids. Plus you get, as my son calls them, “bonus cookies” thanks to the clover cut-outs!

These cookies are just as easy as a regular sugar cookie, and actually take less work because you roll out the dough before chilling. This makes it much easier to roll out and gets rid of the need for additional flour as well.

I’m calling these Linzer cookies because they’re reminiscent of those famous jammy cookies, but I’ve sandwiched them together with buttercream frosting and highlighted the clover cut-out with sparkly green sprinkles. Because all desserts can use a bit of sparkle, don’t you think?

The frosting is Jamie’s classic buttercream, scaled down. I also used vanilla paste instead of vanilla extract, which adds a bit more flavor and adds lovely vanilla bean speckles to the frosting.

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Pistachio Pudding Linzer Cookies

Yield: about 8 cookie sandwiches

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 8 minutes

Chill Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 8 minutes

Pistachio Pudding Linzer Cookies couldn’t be more adorable or perfect for St. Patrick’s Day. Don’t skimp on the sprinkles!

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Ingredients

For the Cookies

• 1 3.4-ounce box pistachio pudding
• 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) softened unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

For the Frosting

• 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
• 8 ounces powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste (or regular vanilla extract)
• 1 tablespoon 2% milk

To Decorate

• Green sprinkles, optional

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together pudding, butter, and granulated sugar until fluffy.
2. Scrape down sides and beat in egg. Turn the speed down to low and slowly mix in flour and salt until well-combined.
3. Spread dough onto a sheet of parchment paper. Cover with another sheet of parchment, and roll dough to approximately 1/8-inch thick. Transfer dough (on the parchment) to a cookie sheet and freeze for 20 minutes.
4. Once dough has chilled, remove from the freezer and place parchment on counter. Remove the top parchment, flip it over, place it on the dough again, and flip the entire thing over. Remove the parchment that is now on top. (This step will help keep your cookies from sticking to the parchment after cutting.) Cut out rounds using a 3-inch round cutter. For half the cookies, cut out the center shape with a 1.5-inch clover cutter. Place cookies back on baking sheet and put in the freezer.
5. Preheat oven to 350°F. Once the oven has preheated, remove cookies from the freezer, transfer to a clean parchment-lined baking sheet, and bake cookies for 6-8 minutes.
6. Let cookies cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes before removing to a wire rack.
7. Once cookies are completely cooled, make the frosting. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together softened butter and powdered sugar. Add the vanilla paste and milk and beat until frosting is fluffy.
8. To fill the cookies, fit a pastry bag with an M2 tip and fill bag with frosting. Flip over full cookie round and pipe frosting onto bottom, starting from the outside and working your way in, in a circular motion. Top frosted cookie with clover-hole cookie.
9. To add sprinkles, fill clover hole completely with sprinkles. Gently press on sprinkles so they adhere evenly, then tip cookie onto a rimmed plate to remove excess sprinkles.

Notes

• While the first tray of cookies are baking, you can gather together the dough scraps, re-roll, and chill again for a second tray.

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