Pistachio Wedding Cookies

Italian wedding cookies, Russian tea cakes, Mexican wedding buttons, whatever you want to call them, wedding cookies are my favorite.  They are salty, butter, and sweet all at the same time. With such a huge flavor profile to live up to, they are not a low fat or healthy cookie by any means. But that's ok, sometimes we deserve to indulge. And if I'm going to indulge, these cookies are my favorite. These are so easy too! 

1 1/2 sticks of room temperature butter

1/4 cup white sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 box pistachio instant pudding mix (3.4 ounces)

1 3/4 cup white flour

1/2 tsp salt 

1/4 cup powdered sugar

Mix your butter and white sugar in a mixer until fluffy. Add vanilla, pudding mix, flour, and salt. My son loved this cookie mix because its eggless, so I actually let him lick the beater! Roll your dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for an hour or longer. 

Preheat oven to 350. Roll your dough into small 1 inch balls. Bake for 8 minutes. Wait for cookies to be warm, but not completely cool, and sprinkle with powdered sugar. If they are too hot when you sprinkle them with sugar the sugar will melt. 

Bread Pudding

Stop. Before you scroll to the next post, hear me out. Most people turn their noses up at bread pudding. But they haven't tried this version. It's so good that when my husband made it for desert on Christmas Eve that my truck driving, deer hunting, MMA fighter brother in law went home and baked it on his own the next day. He said it was the best desert he had ever tasted. 

Sorry I didn't get a photo of the whole dish, but it got devoured before I could get my camera out. 

Ingredients;

• 1 loaf of french bread, cut into chunks. Best if it's day old or stale. 
• 4 c milk (use whole for added deliciousness)
• 2 c white sugar
• 1 stick melted butter
• 3 eggs (lightly beaten) plus 3 egg whites
• 2 t vanilla
• 1 c raisins
• 1 c chopped pecans
• 2 t cinnamon
• 1 t nutmeg

DIRECTIONS

FOR THE BREAD PUDDING

• 1

  Preheat oven to 350F and butter a 9x13 baking dish. Pour sugar and spices over bread in a large bowl. Pour melted butter over the bread and mix. Mix in milk, whole eggs, and vanilla.

• 2

  Beat egg whites to stiff peaks and fold in. Fold in nuts and raisins. Pour into prepared pan and bake for about an hour and fifteen minutes, until the pudding is puffed up and the top is golden brown. Serve warm.

• 3

  If you want to prep this ahead of time, bake for 40 minutes, cool, refrigerate uncovered overnight, then cover tightly and freeze. To finish, thaw and then bake an hour at 350F.

WHISKEY SAUCE

Cream 1 stick butter and 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until the butter is absorbed. Remove from heat and mix in 2 egg yolks. Gradually stir in 1/2 cup bourbon, stirring constantly. The mixture will thicken as it cools. Serve warm over bread pudding.

We didn't have whiskey so my husband used water and it worked great.