Dark Chocolate, Pistachio, and Sea Salt Cookies

The first cookie you make in the new year should be this one. Seriously. Dark chocolate chunks mixed with pistachios and slight saltiness all in a cookie?! Incredibly good.

 

Maybe the fact that I baked these in my boyfriend's new oven helped with making these cookies my favorite of 2014. These were one of those desserts that I didn't want to share. I wanted to eat them all by myself. It's been a while since I've felt that way about something I baked. Usually I'm more than happy to share the sweet calories, but I wanted to hoard these.

 

But I did share. And I strongly suggest you share these in 2015. They are a crowd pleaser! (That is if you can resist eating them all by yourself!)

 

Have a happy and tasty new year!

Dark Chocolate, Pistachio, and Sea Salt Cookies
Recipe found here: Two Peas and their Pod

Bake well and prosper!

Pistachio Snowball Cookies

Whew! I made it. I made it through Christmas. Within a span of 20 hours I sang 2 rehearsals, 1 concert, and 3 church services. My voice was pretty tired come Christmas day, but I made it through all the carols.

 

It helped to be singing in a "new to me", beautiful church. Check out this pretty church:

And the church's pretty crèche: 

 

After all the singing I did, I got to relax at my friends' place where they treated me to a scrumptious meal and I treated them to sangria and these pistachio snowball cookies.

I'm not a big fan of snowball cookies aka Swedish Cookies, Mexican Wedding Cookies, and Russian Tea Cookies. However, I did enjoy the pistachio twist with this recipe since I like pistachios. The pistachio flavor was nicely prevalent.

 

So, did you survive through Christmas? Did your survival involve cookies?

Pistachio Snowball Cookies (found on Completely Delicious <~Created the recipe)

 

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar

3/4 cup (170 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup (180 grams) all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cup (180 grams) pistachios, very finely chopped

Pinch of salt

Powdered sugar

 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Beat the butter and sugar together in a big bowl on medium high speed until creamy and pale in color. Add the vanilla extract. Add the flour, pistachios and salt, and mix until just combined. Shape a tablespoon of dough into a round shape and place on a baking sheet, about 1 inch apart. (Feel free to use parchment paper on the cookie sheet.) Bake until cookies just begin to turn golden brown, about 15 minutes. Let cool on pan enough to touch but still warm, then roll in powdered sugar. Let cool completely and then roll in powdered sugar again.

 

Erika's Extras: I found the dough a little hard to mold. I had to constantly squish it to form the mounds, but it eventually did and didn't fall apart once baked.

Bake well and prosper!

 

Gluten-free Pistachio Cake with Blackberry Sauce

I had pistachios left over from these amazing dessert bars. There also happened to be a recent sale on blackberries at the local organic deli. So, while at the deli, I looked up desserts that used both pistachios and blackberries and found this winner. I quickly bought the ingredients I was missing and promptly went home to start baking.

 

Aren't those the best kind of days?

 

Processing the pistachios to make the "flour" was fun and I always find separating eggs rather calming. (Which is slightly weird, I know.) While the process to make this batter is a little time consuming, I enjoyed it a lot.

 

The cake was pretty with a slight hint of green when it came out of the oven.

Adding the blackberry sauce made this cake even prettier!

Don't you agree?

This cake ended up being gluten free since the pistachios acted as the flour. With the mixture of powdered and white sugar this cake ended up being very light, almost like an angel food cake or like a cake version of a macron. If you are like me and happen to have some pistachios on hand, this recipe is a good use for them.

Pistachio Cake with Blackberry Sauce (adapted from SugarHero which adapted it from Simply Recipes)

For the Pistachio Cake:
1 1/2 cups shelled pistachios, either roasted or raw
2 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs at room temperature, separated into yolks and whites
zest from one orange
1/2 cup granulated sugar, divided use
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

For the Blackberry Sauce:12 oz fresh blackberries
3 tbsp granulated sugar (or more, to taste)
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tbsp corn starch

To Make the Pistachio Cake: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

Place the shelled pistachios in the bowl of a food processor and process for about 10 seconds, until they’re in small pieces. Add the powdered sugar and continue to process in 10-second intervals until the pistachios are a fine powder. Stop and scrape the corners of the bowl occasionally if you see pistachios are starting to build up there. The goal is to get the nuts as finely ground as possible. Don’t over-process them or you’ll risk them becoming greasy and turning into pistachio butter.
Once the nuts are finely ground, transfer them to a small bowl, add the baking powder, and whisk everything together.

In a large bowl, combine the egg yolks, orange zest, and 1/4 cup granulated sugar, and whisk well. Add the pistachio mixture and stir with a rubber spatula. The mixture will be very thick and sticky.

Place the egg whites in the bowl of a large stand mixer, and whip them on medium speed with the whisk attachment until they become foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue to whip the egg whites, gradually increasing the speed until you reach medium-high. When soft peaks form, start adding the remaining 1/4 cup of granulated sugar, a tablespoon at a time, until it’s all incorporated. Whip until the egg whites form firm peaks but are not crumbly—they should be glossy and have body, like shaving cream.

Add a quarter of the egg whites to the pistachio mixture which will be a sticky and stiff process at first. Once it’s incorporated, your batter should be looser, so add another quarter and fold it in gently, then add the remaining egg whites in two batches, folding gently so as not to deflate the whites.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes, until it is puffed, golden, and the sides are pulling away from the pan. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean. Cool the cake on a wire rack, then release it from the springform pan to serve.

To Make the Blackberry Sauce: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir together the blackberries and the sugar. As the berries heat up, they will soften and release their juices. Cook the berries, stirring occasionally until they start to lose their shape. You don’t want them completely liquefied, but they should break down a little bit and be very, very juicy.

Meanwhile, whisk together the orange juice and corn starch in a small bowl until the starch dissolves. Once the berries have broken down, whisk the starch mixture into the berries and cook it for a few minutes until it starts to thicken. (It won’t be a drastic change.) Remove the pan from the heat and cool the sauce until it is room temperature. As the sauce cools, it will continue to get thicker. Store extra blackberry sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Bake well and prosper!

Gluten-free Apricot Pistachio and Dark Chocolate Bars

Wow. I have writer's block. I feel as if I have nothing to talk about for this post. Do you ever get writer's block?

 

I would write about fall coming to NYC, but maybe it's springtime where you live. I would write about the opera I was in last week, but it seems like it ended months ago and doesn't seem as important a subject any more..

Maybe one of the reasons I have writer's block is because I have a song stuck in my head. I don't think it's leaving any room in my brain for much else...

 

In which case, let me just skip to writing about this dessert. I decided that since I had gluten-fee oatmeal, I would buy some gluten-free all purpose flour and make these bars gluten-free.

 

Now, dear readers, gluten-free doesn't mean it's super healthy. It just means people with aversion to wheat gluten can have these (and maybe non-celiacs would find these easier to digest as well.) Either way, these bars are a heavenly mix of tart apricots with buttery, crumbly granola-esque crust. The addition of the occasional chunk of dark chocolate had me going back for seconds...and thirds...

Gluten-free Apricot Pistachio and Dark Chocolate Bars (adapted from One Perfect Bite)

Ingredients:

2 cups gluten-free all purpose flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1-1/4 cups gluten-free old-fashioned oats (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup chopped, shelled natural pistachios
1/2 cup dried apricots, diced
1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks
1 jar (~15 ounces) apricot preserves

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Using an electric mixer, combine flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon, and salt; mix on low speed until well combined. Add butter and mix on medium until butter is mostly blended and mixture appears moist and begins to pull together, about 3 minutes. The mixture will still be slightly chunky. Stir in pistachios. Transfer 1-1/2 cups of crumb mixture to another bowl, then stir dried apricots and chocolate chunks into it and refrigerate.
2) Firmly press remaining mixture into the bottom of a13x9-inch baking pan (not greased). Bake in middle of oven for 25 minutes. Let cool for about 20 minutes. Make sure oven is at 325 degrees and spread apricot preserves evenly on top, leaving a 1/8-inch border around the edge of the crust.
3) Crumble reserved crumb mixture over apricot preserves. Return to oven and bake until lightly browned and fruit filling is bubbling all over, including the center of the pan, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool completely before slicing into bars.

Bake well and prosper! 

Lavender Biscotti with Dried Cherries and Pistachios

Lavender: isn't it lovely? I've wanted to bake with it again but last time I stopped at a farmer's market to pick some baking lavender up they were all out. Then I forgot about it until last week when I passed by a lavender stand in Union Square. I happily whipped up this recipe which I had waiting patiently in the wings (aka my "to make" folder.)

 

It was worth the wait. The slight hint of lavender mixed with lemon zest, dried cherries, and pistachios is a perfect combination.  



Lavender Biscotti with Dried Cherries and Pistachios (adapted from u Try.it)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon dried lavender
Zest of 1/2 a lemon, grated
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup pistachios, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup dried cherries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat, set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour and baking powder together. In the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment on medium speed, cream the sugar, butter, lavender, lemon zest, and salt until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time. Turn mixer to low, add the flour mixture slowly until just combined. Fold in the pistachios and cherries with a rubber spatula.

Slightly flour both hands and transfer the dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Form the dough into a log. Approximately 14-inch in length and 3-inch in width. Bake for 35 minutes or until light golden on the edges. Let it cool on a wiring rack for 30 minutes.

Transfer the log onto the cutting board. With a sharp serrated knife, cut the log on a diagonal into 1/2-inch thick slices. Return biscotti to the same baking sheet, arrange the biscotti cut side down. Bake the biscotti for another 15 minutes or until they are pale golden. Transfer the biscotti to a wiring rack and let them cool completely.

Bake well and prosper! 

Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti

 

Even though I'm not a biscotti fan, I've been wanting to make some for a while. Especially a fruity and nutty version since it adds such a zing of color to the plain brown biscotti.

The main reason I don't like biscotti is the fact that they are so crunchy. Like, hurts your gums and the roof of your mouth crunchy.

But while I was making these, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the biscotti is quite soft and lovely before putting it back into the oven for the second bake. The second bake made them the hard version that I am familiar with. However, I must say that the flavor of these was really delightful! As for the crunchiness, I found mine to be slightly soft in the middle. Whew!

(Next time I make biscotti, I'm going to add it in the oven for only 5 minutes for the second baking part. Mark my words!)

Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti (modified from Bake for Happy Kids)

2 cups plain flour, sifted

1 1 /2 tsp baking powder, sifted
3/4 cup caster sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp finely grated orange rind
1 cup sweetened dried cranberries
1 cup shelled unsalted pistachios

Preheat oven to 320°F.

Place the flour, baking powder and sugar in a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon to combine.

Add the eggs, vanilla, orange rind, cranberries and pistachios and mix until a smooth dough forms. (Erika's Extra: I found that I needed to work the dough in the bowl with my hands to get it into a smooth dough.) Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead a couple of times until equal consistency. Divide the dough into 2 equal portions and roll each portion into an 8 inch long log. Flatten slightly and place on a lightly greased baking tray (lined with non stick baking paper if you prefer).

Bake for 30-35 min or until firm. Set aside to cool completely. Once cooled, use a serrated knife to cut the logs into 3mm-6mm thick slices and place the slices on baking trays (lined with non stick baking paper if you prefer). Bake for a further 8-10 min or until golden and crisp. Allow to cool on trays.

Bake well and prosper!