Pistachio Chocolate Cookies
I have lost count the number of times I’ve made the cookies this year. If you are having trouble buying pistachios or find them extra expensive this year, I apologise. Okay, maybe it’s not me, maybe it’s the worldwide Dubai chocolate craze.
The recipe is basically a riff off a Nigella Lawson recipe. Recipes never come out of thin air; we are inspired by mere fact of existing in the world. Hers feature white chocolate, milk chocolate is more up my alley. She calls for both ground and whole pistachio kernels but I find it easier to source whole kernels and blitz them to achieve a similar result. I omit her vanilla extract completely as I honestly don’t think it really adds anything to a baked product — controversial, I know.
ingredients
- 200g pistachio kernels
- 100g salted butter
- 100g caster sugar
- 125g brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 150g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 125g milk chocolate chunks/chips (not melts)
Using a food processor, blitz the pistachios so they’re approximately half rough chopped and the other half more finely ground. Put this to one side.
Cream together the butter and both sugars until well combined. Scrape down the sides and agg the egg then pulse until mixed.
Work in the sifted flour and baking powder then remove the blade and stir in the nuts and chocolate. Chill the dough for a minimum of 30 minutes which makes it easier to handle and portion.
Form the dough into a log and freeze if wishing to keep longer than a week or cut into 2cm slices and place on a baking sheet.
Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 12-15 minutes depending on size you landed on for your cookies. You are looking for a small amount of colour on the edges but I like mine fairly soft through the middle. They need to firm up on the tray before shifting them to a cooling rack. It’s often easier to check underneath to see if they are still raw in the middle or sufficiently cooked through.
