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.

Estonian milk curd dessert with berries (kohupiimakreem)

I'm still all excited like a kid about discovering a Polish shop* nearby here in Edinburgh. Amongst other things that leave me cold (dried packet soups and ubiquous biscuits with a best before date in January 2048), they stock rather decent rye bread, vacuum-packed sauerkraut and salted cucumbers, plain and flavoured kefir, stuffed dumplings of various types, and the best sour cream in town. Though I have a nagging feeling that I'm one of the very few foodbloggers who gets all excited about a place that sells fermented milk, fermented shredded cabbage and fermented salty cucumbers:)

It also sells proper milk curd, so I can make typical Estonian desserts without having to recreate the creamy yet grainy texture with a mixture of quark and ricotta instead. Not that it'd be difficult of course, and during my seven or so years in Edinburgh I've successfully settled for the 'fake milk curd' instead. But there is something more satisfying about using the real thing, and I've already tried some familiar dishes using milk curd.

Milk curd on its own can be topped or mixed with jam and eaten as a humble weekday dessert, but when mixed with whipped cream it becomes a much more luscious pudding. Here it is served simply with berries, but it would also be a delicious filling for a simple sponge cake. One of my favourite 5-minute party cakes is a sponge layered and topped with coffee-flavoured milk curd cream, and topped with toasted flaked almonds.

Estonian farmer's cheese cream with berries
(Lihtne kohupiimakreem)

250 grams (low-fat) milk curd
250 ml whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-5 tsp sugar

Press the milk curd through a sieve, if it's too coarse and grainy.
Add the sugar to the cream and whip until soft peaks form.
Add the vanilla extract and curd cheese. Mix gently until combined.
Spoon into glasses (tap on the work surface couple of times to smooth the top).
Top with berries of your choice and put into the fridge until serving.

Can be made up to a day in advance.

* Bona Deli, 86 South Clerk Street, Edinburgh

A jolly good salad

Here is a recipe for a salad that I served as a starter before the super-delicious slowly braised beef last weekend. It started as a simple salad thrown together from the ingredients I happened to have, but as the end result was very delicious, I've adopted it as my current party starter salad:)

Amongst the diners last Saturday were two Estonian guys. One of them made it clear that he doesn't like 'grass' (i.e. anything green and salad-like). The other one remembered after the second helpings that he really-really doesn't like goat's cheese. Funny how one forgot his aversion to salad leaves and the other happily munched away on goat's cheese while they were eating:)

A tasty salad with rocket, goat's cheese and bacon
(Pille pidulik salat põld-võõrkapsa, peekoni ja kitsejuustuga)



For the salad:
a bag of rocket salad, washed and drained
a couple of chopped spring onions
a generous handful of toasted pinenuts
a log of soft goat cheese
couple of rashers good quality lean smoked bacon

For the dressing:
extra virgin olive oil
half a squeezed lemon
crushed black pepper
Maldon sea salt

Not much to say about the preparation. Toast the pinenuts on a non-stick pan, fry chopped bacon until just crisp. Mix all ingredients in a bowl, drizzle over the dressing and serve.

Just a jolly good combination of the mustardy sharp rocket, salty-chewy bacon, nutty-crispy pinenuts and creamy-tart Welsh goat's cheese. Will make an appearance on my table again in no time.