Almond And Pistachio Cookies Recipes

PISTACHIO AND ALMOND COOKIES

Steps:

• Put the measured pistachios into a food processor with a few tablespoons of the sugar. Grind. Alternately, use the smallest wholes of a meat grinder, fitted to a stand mixer, in which case no divided sugar will be needed , the latter, is a preference of mine, because of the fine texture, albeit, either are acceptable.
• Add the remaining sugar to the nuts, along with the eggs and almond meal. Add a pinch of salt, and work to a stiff dough, taking as long as it takes to gather one together, a mixer, fitted with the paddle, can be used if desired.
• Chill the batter overnight.
• Measure dough from rather level teaspoons, making two sheets of, approximately 24 cookies each. Each serving of cookie should be rolled between the palms, to create a smooth ball. Place on the cookie sheets and insert a pistachio nut, working, thoroughly enough to have it adhere, but no so intently, that the cookie batter splits, deeply along the sides.
• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees with the rack in the upper-third, and bottom-third levels.
• Bake for 15 minutes, at least, they may take up to 22. Rotate the pans halfway through the initial baking. Feel the cookies, they should be firm, but tender, they should give upon release, but not to too soft to fall apart, the bottoms should be browned lightly. They will crisp by 20-30% upon cooling. Remove them. Cool on racks. Eat them, when lightly warm, or cooled, to room temperature. They will keep several days, between sheets of paper, or perhaps, weeks, chilled in the refrigerator.

PISTACHIO DROP COOKIES

Steps:

• Pulse pistachios in a food processor until small crumbs form. See photo above for a visual. You need 3/4 cup of very finely chopped pistachios. Set aside.
• Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute on medium speed until completely smooth and creamy. Add the confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract, and almond extract, then beat on medium-high speed until combined. Add the flour, 3/4 cup pistachio crumbs, and food coloring (if using) and beat on medium-high speed until combined. The dough may not come together at first, but keep mixing. The cookie dough will be thick.
• Cover the cookie dough tightly and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes and up to 3 days. (If chilling for 2+ hours, let the cookie dough sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before rolling into balls. The cookie dough will be very stiff after being in the refrigerator that long.)
• prepare the brown butter icing (below) while cookie dough chills OR while cookies bake.
• Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
• Roll the cookie dough into balls, about 1 Tablespoon of dough each, and place dough balls 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. If the cookie dough is too crumbly, keep rolling and working it with your hands. The warmth of your hands will help bring it together.
• Bake the cookies until lightly browned on the bottom edges and just barely browned on top, about 14-15 minutes.
• Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack. Make sure cookies are cool to the touch before dipping in icing.
• Slice the butter into pieces and place in a light-colored skillet. (Light colored helps you determine when the butter begins browning.) Melt the butter over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once melted, the butter will begin to foam. Keep stirring occasionally. After 5-6 minutes, the butter will begin browning and you'll notice lightly browned specks begin to form and a nutty aroma. Once browned, remove from heat immediately and allow to cool for 5 minutes. (The butter will eventually solidify, so don't let it sit too long.) After 5 minutes, whisk in the rest of the icing ingredients until smooth. Add more confectioners' sugar for a thicker texture, if desired. Likewise, add more milk to thin out if needed.
• Dip cookies in icing or drizzle on top. If coated lightly, the icing will set after 1-2 hours. Cover leftover iced cookies tightly and store at room temperature for 1 day or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Cookies without icing can sit covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.

PISTACHIO PINWHEELS

Steps:

• In a food processor, pulse the pistachios until they're very finely ground but not yet forming a paste, about 25 second-long pulses. Transfer the ground pistachios to a small bowl and set aside.
• To the same food processor (no need to wash after grinding the pistachios), add the butter and confectioners' sugar, and process until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Add the yolks and almond extract, and process until the mixture is smooth and light. Add the flour and salt, and pulse, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice, until you have a stiff, uniform dough.
• Transfer two-thirds of the dough (about 10 ounces/240 grams) to a medium bowl and add the almond flour to the bowl. Use a flexible spatula to work the almond flour into the dough until you have a uniform mixture.
• Scrape the almond dough onto a piece of parchment paper. Pat it down with your hands into a thinner layer, then place a piece of parchment paper on top. Roll out the dough between the sheets of parchment into a slab measuring about 12-by-8 inches and ¼-inch thick. (Uncover the dough and use a small offset spatula to shape the dough into a rectangle if necessary.) Slide the parchment paper onto a baking sheet and refrigerate the slab until firm, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, add the ground pistachios to the food processor with the remaining dough and pulse until the mixture is thoroughly blended and the dough has taken on a green color, about 7 pulses. Set aside at room temperature while the almond dough chills.
• Remove the almond dough from the refrigerator and plop tablespoon-size pieces of the pistachio dough across the surface of the slab. Use the offset spatula to spread the pistachio dough across the length of the slab in an even layer, leaving a 1/2-inch border along the longer sides. Starting at one of the longer sides and using the parchment paper to help you, roll the dough into a tight spiraled log. Wrap the log in parchment paper and transfer to the refrigerator. Chill until the dough is very firm, at least 1 hour.
• When ready to bake, arrange two oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and heat to 350 degrees. Line two large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
• Sprinkle the demerara sugar across a cutting board. Remove the log from the refrigerator, unwrap, and roll across the board in the sugar, pressing down very firmly as you roll so the sugar adheres. Continue to roll and press until the entire log is coated. Using a sharp knife, shave a thin crosswise slice off of each end so you have straight sides with the full spiral exposed. Cut the log in half crosswise, then cut each half in half again to make quarters, and cut each quarter in half again for eighths. (This ensures even, equal slices.) As you cut, roll the pieces on the cutting board to prevent the pinwheels from gaining a flat side and losing their round shape. Cut each piece into 4 equal slices to make 32 cookies.
• Divide the cookies between the two prepared baking sheets and space them evenly. Bake the cookies on the upper and lower racks until they are golden around the edges, 15 to 20 minutes, switching racks and rotating the sheets front to back halfway through baking. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on the baking sheets.

ALMOND AND PISTACHIO COOKIES

Steps:

• Put the butter and sugar into a bowl and mix well with a wooden spoon, then beat in the egg yolk and almond extract. Sift together the flour and a pinch of salt into the mixture, add the ground almonds and stir until thoroughly combined. Halve the dough, shape into balls, wrap in clingfilm and chill in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to190oC Gas Mark5. Line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment.
• Unwrap the dough and roll out between 2 sheets of baking parchment to about 3mm thick, sprinkle with half of the chopped pistachios and roll lightly with the rolling pin. cut out cookies with a cutter and place on prepared baking sheet, spread well apart.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes. Leave to cool on the baking sheets for 5-10 mins then using a palette knife, carefully transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

FLOURLESS ALMOND COOKIES WITH CARDAMOM, ORANGE ZEST, AND PISTACHIOS

Steps:

• Using an electric mixer on medium speed, cream sugar and oil in a large bowl until mixture resembles texture of wet sand, about 3 minutes. Add egg and orange zest and beat until just combined.
• Whisk almond flour, potato starch, cardamom, and salt in a medium bowl. Fold dry ingredients into oil mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and chill 1 hour.
• Spread pistachios in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Divide dough into 2 balls. Roll each ball into 1 1/2" wide logs, then roll logs in pistachios to coat; reserve remaining pistachios for decorating, if desired. Wrap logs in plastic wrap and chill at least 1 1/2 hours.
• Arrange racks in upper and lower thirds of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Using a sharp knife, slice dough into 1/4"-thick rounds and arrange on baking sheets (about 12 per sheet). Sprinkle with reserved pistachios, pressing lightly to adhere (alternatively, drizzle with melted chocolate after cookies are baked, see below).
• Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until undersides are golden, 8-12 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks. Let 1 sheet cool completely before lining again with parchment and baking third batch.
• If you didn't sprinkle the cookies with pistachios, melt chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl set over a medium pot of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally, or in short bursts in the microwave, stirring in between bursts, until chocolate is smooth. Drizzle cooled cookies with chocolate and let set before serving.
• Do Ahead
• Dough can be formed into logs 3 days ahead; keep chilled. Cookies can be baked 3 days ahead. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.