Pistachio And Almond 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.

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.

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.