Pistachio Cookies

One of Auntie Kathie's recipe cards yielded this.

PISTACHIO COOKIES
2 cups unsifted flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
⅔ cup butter, softened, or margarine
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
red or green food coloring
¼ cup shelled pistachios, finely chopped
multicolor nonpareils

In a small bowl, sift flour with baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar, egg and vanilla. With wooden spoon or electric mixer, beat until smooth. Add flour mixture, beating at low speed, just until combined. Turn 1 cup dough into small bowl, add 2 or 3 drops of food coloring and mix well. Add nuts and mix well. On waxed paper, shape dough with your hands into a roll 10" long; place in freezer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, roll remaining dough between 2 sheets of wax paper into a 10x6" rectangle. Place this dough in the freezer 10 minutes. Once dough is chilled, remove top sheet of wax paper.

To form cookies, unwrap and place colored roll lengthwise in center of dough rectangle. With your hands, mold dough rectangle smoothly around colored roll, covering it completely. Roll in nonpareils, wrap in wax paper, and place in the freezer for 20-30 minutes, or until firm enough to slice.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove roll from freezer and unwrap. With a sharp knife, cut roll into slices ⅛" thick. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet and bake 8-10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove cookies to wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 6 dozen cookies.

Contributor: Kathleen Ashton