Monday, March 06, 2006

Crumbly pistachio cookies

This is my third nutty cookie post on this blog. On the previous occasions I've used ready-made nut butter as a shortcut (remember the Peanut Butter Cookies and the Hazelnut Butter Cookies, both delicious and oh-so-easy?). This time, however, I decided to be a proper domestic goddess and make the cookies from scratch. The recipe is very slightly adapted from donna hay magazine. I've added lemon juice to the batter and reduced the amount of butter by 1/3rd and flour by 1/5th - to result in a more lemony and more nutty flavour, respectively. Also, using just one, and not one-and-a-half packet of butter sounded more, well, reasonable*.

The recipe yields 24 delicious, elegant, nutty, crumbly, lemon-scented cookies that are gorgeously jade green in colour and are lovely with a good cup of coffee or tea.

Just try not to choke on the icing sugar:)

Very crumbly lemon and pistachio cookies
(Sidruni-pistaatsiaküpsised)
Adapted from donna hay magazine, Issue 22



250 grams butter (at room temperature)
3 Tbsp caster sugar
150 grams unsalted/green pistachio nuts, finely chopped
500 ml plain flour, sifted (I used type '00')
a small lemon (both grated zest and juice)
icing/confectioner's sugar for dusting

Using a wooden spoon, cream the butter with sugar in a bowl.
Add the pistachio nuts and lemon zest, mix thoroughly.
Sift in the flour and mix until you have moist crumbly mixture. Add the lemon juice in the middle of mixing.
Take tablespoonfuls of the crumbly mixture and press into a ball between your hands. Flatten the balls slightly and put onto a baking tray. (The cookies do not spread much at all, so no need to leave too much space between them.)
Bake at 180˚C/360˚F for 15-20 minutes, until the cookies are dry and slightly golden.
Do not brown!
Take out of the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Dust generously with icing sugar.

* In the UK, a packet of butter tends to be 250 grams, back home 200 grams, and in the US a stick of butter is 113 grams.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mmm ... These look delicious! Did you use salted pistachios or unsalted?

Pille said...

Tania - thanks for the question! I used shelled unsalted pistachios, which in the UK are sold as "green pistachios". I've specified this in the recipe now as well.

K and S said...

these look great! a nice glass of milk would go so well with them.

Anonymous said...

Ah, I could just so much have one of those cookies now. I love pistachios, and after seeing so many recipes using them, you now convinced me I have to try!

Pille said...

K&S - I forgot about the milk, but yes, you are right that it'd be nice. I've just had yet another two with my breakfast cuppa. Yummy:)

Bea - I hadn't used pistachios in my cooking until last summer. I've now tried a marengue roly-poly, macaroons, an Indian yogurt dessert and now these cookies. I think I like cookies most:) Sam&Sam Clark's pistachio tart as tried by Melissa is next one on my list.

Papilles et Pupilles said...

They looks great !

Stephanie said...

Oh yeah, baby, yeah ... make the pistachio tarts please! I made these really phenomenal pistachio shortbreads from a Donna Hay recipe years ago and I am still trying to find it now!

I adore pistachios ... I want some of those cookies!

jasmine said...

They look great! I love the green studding in the creamy-white crumb.

j

Anonymous said...

Verrrrrrry nice! Yum!

Paz

Pille said...

papilles et pupilles - thank you!

MM - please help yourself to some, I'm not greedy:)
Maybe you can send a "looking for a recipe" cry out in the blogosphere - someone is bound to have all the DH mags. I've only got three so far, but they're a treat to the eye..

Jasmine - thank you! I totally agree and was careful not to pulverise the nuts too much, as I wanted some bright green studs in my cookies.

Paz - thank you! You always find something nice to say - much appreciated:)

Anonymous said...

Mmm, they look delicious!

Valentina said...

I've made this recipe before and it was quite a success. I loved the fact that it wasn't too sweet.

Pille said...

Dagmar - they taste delicious, too!

Valentina - I think that's it. The butter and nuts give such a great flavour already, so there's no need for the sweetness of sugar as well. I'm planning to make another batch this weekend for a friend as a gift.

Anonymous said...

Hi Pille - these cookies look so yummy and pretty. The crumbly texture must go well with the flavour, is it very lemony?

Filipa said...

Hello! I've made this cookies and they are delicious! If you want to take a look go to my blog. I'm Portuguese and it's probably that you will not understand a word what i've wrote but you can look at the pictures :)

I love your blog, your recipes are fantastic!

Kisses