Gingerbread Pinecone Cookies

Step 1

In a large bowl, thoroughly whisk together the flour, soda, salt and spices. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, sugar, molasses and eggs. Mix well. Add four cups of flour mixture and mix until just combined. Add in additional flour while mixing on low until a firm non-sticky dough forms. Turn mixture out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly.

Step 2

Oil the cookie mold with cooking spray. Press small pieces of cookie dough into the carved cavity until it is evenly filled. Remove the dough from the mold and weigh it on a scale (mine was 2.50 oz.). Using that weight, portion the remaining dough into balls that each weigh the same.

Step 3

Re-grease the mold. Flatten a dough ball and press it into the cavity so that it slightly overflows the edges of the pinecone design. Using a finger, push the overflowing edges back so you can see the edges of the pinecone shape. This ensures the dough gets pressed into the fine edges of the mold, which gives the finest edge when unmolded.

Step 4

Next, whack the mold on a work surface at the pinecone tip edge. And I mean really whack it hard. You may have to do this a few times before the dough starts to loosen. When the dough starts falling out, just let gravity do its thing and wait for it to relax out of the mold and onto the work surface.

Step 5

Transfer the cookie to a parchment-lined baking sheet using a cookie spatula. Be careful not to stretch or distort the pinecones too much as you move them. It's very easy to do so. I used a large cookie spatula at the large end of the pinecone, with my free hand as under support to the pinecone tip. Gently lay the cookie onto the sheet without stretching or pulling it.

Step 6

Re-grease the mold and repeat the filling and unmolding process with the remaining pieces of dough. Chill molded cookies in the freezer on the pans for 10 minutes.

Step 7

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Step 8

Bake for 12 minutes for cookies with soft middles (best for sandwiches). For cookies that snap, bake for 16 minutes. (See recipe notes for more on bake times.) Remove cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Step 9

Stand each cookie upright with one hand and sieve a little confectioners’ sugar on with the other. The protruding pinecone scales will catch the sugar and give the cookies a snowy effect.

Step 10

In the bowl of an electric mixer, place the butter and pistachio paste; beat until combined. Add powdered sugar. Beat on low speed until just combined.

Step 11

Add milk or cream a little at a time until the mixture thins slightly (about 2-4 tablespoons, more or less depending on the cornstarch content in the powdered sugar). Add the salt and beat on high speed until the mixture is fluffy and pale yellow-green in color. Cover the buttercream with a damp towel to prevent crusting. Transfer the buttercream to a large piping bag fitted with the closed star tip.

Step 12

Pipe thick swirls of buttercream onto the flat side of one pinecone cookie.

Step 13

Sprinkle with chopped pistachios. Top with a second pinecone cookie.