Pistachio Choc Chip Cookies/Biscuits

I feel for the pistachio farmers who surely cannot keep up with the current demand!  I did read that the people in countries like Türkiye and Iran (the top producers and consumers) are finding it rather difficult to produce enough, and to obtain the nutty ingredients (at a fair price) for their own cuisine.  And honestly, I think there are other nuts with way more taste and interest, in my mind (and tastebuds).  But anyways, don't mind my ramblings - these are delicious, my friends.

This is a recipe from Donna Hay's lovely new-ish cookbook Sunshine, Lemons and Sea Salt, reflecting her love of modern coastal living and cooking.  She lives on the New South Wales coast, and she wanted this cookbook to show her love of the beach, and sunny days.  Her signature colour is blue (her homewares range are mostly blue), which is a fave colour of mine too. Oops, this sounds like an ad.  Nope, just me enjoying her recipes and accoutrements.

these didn't last long!

Makes 12:

Ingredients:

120g./4.2 oz pistachio spread    see Notes

335g./12 oz plain flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bi-carb soda (baking soda)

1 tsp cornflour

180g./6.5 oz brown sugar

110g./4 oz caster sugar

225g./8 oz butter, chopped and left to sit out for a bit to soften

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp sea salt flakes

250g./9 oz milk chocolate, chopped

150g./5.3 oz toasted pistachios, chopped

pistachios

Method:

Line a small baking tray with baking paper

Scoop/spoon out 12 x 1.5 teaspoons of the pistachio spread and place them on the baking tray in delightful little mounds or balls

Freeze for an hour, or till nicely firm (took about 2 hours here)

Turn on your oven to 180C/350F to heat up

Grab a mixing bowl, and your whisk, and throw in the flour, baking powder, bi-carb soda and cornflour

Whisk well, then set aside while you grab another mixing bowl, and beat the 2 sugars and butter together - Donna says for 8 minutes, or till light and fluffy    see Notes 

Now beat in the eggs, one at a time, then beat in the vanilla and salt for 3-4 minutes till beautifully incorporated

Then add in the flour mixture bit by bit, beating but not over-beating

And chuck in the chocolate and nuts, and stir!   see Notes

Being in muggy Brisbane, I decided to put the dough into the fridge for about 20 minutes to firm up, before rolling it out into 12 rounds of about 1/2 cupful/110g./4 oz, and flattening slightly   see Notes

Your frozen nutty paste balls get pressed into each of the rounds of dough, which you gather around to enclose the paste

Now place the nutty doughy rounds onto 2 large baking trays lined with baking paper, allowing plenty of room between them - Donna says to leave 10cm/4 inches between each cookie!

Bake for 12-14 minutes (or 16 in my oven), till the edges are lightly golden-brown

Cool 'em on the trays, and enjoy

you guessed it!

Notes:

Pistachio spread is sweetened, whereas pistachio paste is just the ground pistachios

Donna says to use a stand mixer; I don't have one so used my electric hand beaters, and for a few less minutes than 8.  And it was just fine!

I used a mixture of white, and dark, and Lindt milk chocolate rather than all milk chocolate

Donna says to freeze the cookie dough rounds overnight if you want fudgier cookies!

My dough was so soft, I could not roll it out, so had to use spoons to shape it, then put them back in the fridge again to firm up.  I should have shoved 'em in the freezer for a bit, I guess

ingredients gathered

spoon/scoop out the pistachio paste onto the trays

beat the sugars and butter together

eggs and flour mixture in; ready for the choc chips and nuts

stir in the chocolate and nuts

get ready to enclose the frozen pistachio paste

golden-brown goodness

oozy and chocolatey

dive in!

baking soda aka bi-carb soda

make sure it's within date! No old baking powder here!

Peanut Chutney - and What to do With It

Chutney?  Interesting word for it.  Nah, I think this is more of a marinade-type thingy.  I made this for Cookbook Club, waaaaay back in August last year.  The recipe is from Everything is Indian by Justin Narayan.  I decided to use it as a marinade for some chicken tenderloins.  I gave half the chutney to a friend (who used it as a marinade for chicken, too), and made this for dinner.  Great minds ...

deliciously nutty

Makes approx. 200g./7 oz:

ingredients:

130g./4.5 oz unsalted peanuts OR 130g. of peanut butter

30g./1 oz white sesame seeds

1/2 brown onion, roughly chopped   see Notes

2 tsp tamarind paste  (or 2-3 tsp lemon juice)

1 Tbs lemon juice

3 small red chillies (or your fave chilli), roughly chopped

4 garlic cloves - yep, roughly chopped :=)

100-125 mL  (3.4-4.3 oz water)

sea salt flakes (1/8-1/4 tsp) and freshly ground black pepper

luckily for me, I don't taste soap when I eat fresh coriander :)

Serves 4:

For the chicken dish:

500-600g./18-21 oz chicken tenderloins (or chop up some breasts)

Peanut chutney - maybe half the jar; just have the chicken well-coated     see Notes

Lemon juice - maybe 3 Tbs

Fresh coriander leaves, torn or chopped - a big handful, or to your taste

sea salt and black pepper, to taste

Rice or rice noodles, to serve

Cucumber and tomato, chopped, to serve

small red chillies

peanuts!

Method:

Grab a wee saucepan/frying pan and toast your nuts and seeds till golden brown (obvs. no need to toast the peanut butter, if  using)

Tip them into a blender or small food processor, with the other ingredients, except the salt and pepper

And blend away till it looks like the consistency of peanut butter

Add more water if you fancy it a bit thinner

Season with the salt and pepper

For the chicken dish:

Marinate the chicken pieces in the chutney for at least 30 minutes

Fry in 2 Tbs of vegetable or olive oil, which you have heated up

Add lemon juice, coriander leaves, salt and pepper

Throw on some white and/or black sesame seeds, if you like

Serve with rice or rice noodles

And chop up some cucumber, tomato and fresh coriander leaves, to go with ...

Notes:

I used peanut butter made from just peanuts and salt

The average brown onion weighs around 150-200g.; I used c. 90g.

I gave half the chutney away to a friend, so I probably used about 100g/3.5 oz for the chicken dish

Throw some mustard seeds or cummin seeds into the chutney (after blitzing to a smooth sauce) - if you fancy!

        brown onion

        cucumber

ingredients gathered

get ready to blitz!

and ... blitzed!  See how smooth :=)

ready for dinner!

Mangoes update: all 200 kilos! (maybe 150 kg.) of fruit has been laboriously picked up (even dug out) from the backyard.  The fruit bats, possums and birds are very sad!  The crows have been indignantly squawking for days about it.  I do love me a crow - so smart, so kind, dropping off gifts now and then.  And did you know? - they absolutely adore fruit.

Mr P. is very slowly getting over his cough, which has lasted for well over 3 weeks!  I can't believe I haven't caught it from him, though he has been politely sleeping downstairs so I don't get it!  Autumn is nearly here, and we have had copious amounts of rain over the last week.  And some flooding out west; it never ends here with the weird weather!!  Hope you are all doing well, my friends.

Guess who?  Yes, moi!  (c. G McKinnon)

Chewy Almond Cookies aka Biscuits

We all like a bit of Donna Hay, don't we? - she is an icon of Aussie cooking.  I've made a couple of her biscuit recipes lately, but these were actually made way back in August last year for Cookbook Club.  This recipe is from Too easy, another of her popular cookbooks.  And there are so many more recipes I want to try ... 

Start these in plenty of time, as the dough has to rest in the freezer for about 30 minutes to firm up, before baking, and then sits for another 10 minutes after you take it out of the freezer, before going into the oven.  Huh?  Seems a wee bit odd to me, but anyways ...  Like many a cookbook, the recipes are not really built for a Queensland kitchen!

golden, nutty, delicious

Makes 20-22 biscuits:

ingredients:

250g./9 oz butter, melted

240g./8.5 oz brown sugar

220g./8 oz caster sugar

120g./4.5 oz almond meal (aka ground almonds)

1 large egg

2 tsp vanilla extract

300g./10.5 oz plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

135g./5 oz flaked almonds   see Notes

icing sugar, for dusting

Method:

Into a large bowl go the butter, brown sugar, caster sugar, almond meal, egg and vanilla - and give 'em a good stir to combine

The flour and baking powder get sifted over the top of this mix, and you give all that a good stir

Your flaked almonds are now sitting on a large plate, and you will then roll 2 Tbs of the dough into balls, then roll onto the plate to get covered in almond flakes

Put 'em onto a couple of large, baking paper-lined baking trays (leaving a bit of room around each ball), and whack into the freezer for 30 minutes (or more - till firm)

Turn on your oven to 180C/350F to heat up

After 10 minutes out of the freezer, the trays are placed in the oven, and the biscuits baked for about 15 minutes or till golden   see Notes

Let 'em cool right down on the trays, then dust with the icing sugar

oh yes, vanilla paste

and pecans

Notes:

From my photos, it seems I didn't have enough flaked almonds to coat the dough balls in, so I used some chopped-up pecans to make up the difference!

Dunno why, but they took 20 minutes in my oven to get golden

ingredients gathered

stir together the sugars, melted butter, almond meal, egg, vanilla

and stir in the flour and baking powder till you have a soft dough

onto trays and into the freezer for half an hour to firm up

golden and nutty after 20 minutes baking

onto the wire rack to get really cool

pile 'em up!

don't forget the icing sugar!

Just FYI for anyone following my saga of the rotting, festering mangoes in our backyard: we have now picked up about 200 kilos!  There are still some lurking in the grass, looking like hairy dead rats!  Somewhat ironically, I made some mango/nectarine chutney last weekend - but with mangoes from our new neighbour's dad's garden - I think!  Though perhaps he just conjured them up from somewhere :=) 

biscuits/cookies!

No-Bake Pistachio Cheesecake

What do you do with a 600 gram jar of pistachio cream from your local Italian bakery?  Why, you make a pistachio cheesecake, my dears.  I'd have to say pistachio gelati is my fave flavour, so I knew I'd enjoy this cheesecake too.  Or at least, Mr P. and the neighbours would :=)  I am not usually a cheesecake-eater, but I did partake of a small piece.  Not bad at all.

We had a busy weekend, so I made the base in the morning, went to visit a friend at lunchtime, then came back to make the filling.  Sunday was another busy day, with friends over for cheesecake, and making an omelette for our neighbour's dinner, and taking my afternoon walk and doing laundry and heading out bayside to have lunch with friends, and having a friend over in the morning for cheesecake too!!  Bed was a welcome sight at about 7pm!  

I based this on Nigella Lawson's recipe for Nutella Cheesecake from her cookbook Nigellissima.  I love Nigella's books and tv shows (except for that godawful interview-type show she did), and have been using her method of kitchen scissors for chopping herbs etc for many a year.  Her book Feast is one of my most-used.  Our niece was living with us for a few months some years back, and we had quite a few Nigella dvd sessions!  

the Divine Ms. A. about to indulge

Makes a heap of thin slices (Nigella says 8-12):

ingredients:

The Base:

160g./5.6 oz. pistachios, toasted and divided into 25g. + the rest! - you will be blitzing half of the rest (67.5g./2.4 oz.) in the food processor, and chopping the other half into chunky pieces for the top

250g./9 oz. digestive biscuits (or other plain biscuits)  see Notes

75g./2.6 oz. butter, softened (not melted)

30g./1 big oz. of pistachio paste

The Filling:

500g./18 oz. cream cheese, at room temp.

60g./2.2 oz. icing sugar

400g./14 oz. pistachio cream   see Notes  

50mL/1.7 oz. pure cream

100g./3.5 oz. white chocolate, melted

Method:

First toast your nuts!  I just tipped 'em into a small, cast-iron frying pan and tossed them around for a few minutes - don't let them burn!

Break up the biscuits into big pieces, and throw them into your food processor

Add the butter chunks and the 30g. of pistachio paste, and give it a good whizz till well-combined and clumping

Now add 25g./1 scant oz. of the chopped nuts and keep pulsing till you have a damp and sandy mixture

Grab a 22cm/8 inch or 23cm/9 inch springform tin, tip in the sandy mixture and press very firmly into the base and sides of the tin - you want it even and thin!

Into the fridge to chill while you make the filling

Blitz the cream cheese and icing sugar together till smooth and well-combined

The pistachio paste goes in next; give it a good whizz, then add the cream and melted white chocolate, with a quick blitz

Then stir in the blitzed nuts, and spoon this heavenly mixture over the chilled biscuit base

Top with the other half of the chopped nuts, and let it rest in the fridge for at least 4-6 hours - but overnight is so much better!

Take off the springform wall/ring/whatever you call it, and leave the cheesecake on the base, which will make for easier cutting!

Notes:

I used McVitie's Digestives as per Nigella's recipe, but you can use whatever plain biscuit you can get hold of

I bought an Italian spreadable pistachio cream from the Italian bakery, but I'm thinking you could use any nut cream/paste you fancy!  And the appropriate nuts of course

toast your nuts!

ingredients (for the base) gathered

press the sandy mixture into the base and sides till even and thin

whizz up the cream cheese et al.  (looks like pond sludge really - hehehe)

stir in the blitzed nuts

into the fridge it goes 

hoe in, my dears!

Dino the wee dinosaur (made by Dion from holyshititsdion) did his best to help!
 (check out Dion's Insta account: @holyshititsdion)

c. Sherry M.

Snowball Cookies/Biscuits

I am a big fan of Desiree Nielsen, the Canadian dietitian who posts recipes and dietary advice on Instagram.  She also writes cookbooks, has a podcast, her own cooking show, and her own private practice.  Phew!  She is one busy, interesting and informative person.  

Her recipes are tasty and good for you too.  I came upon this gluten-free recipe of hers, and since I had the ingredients, I set to and made it before Christmas.  Her version is vegan as it uses coconut oil, but that's the devil's work, so I used butter!  Butter makes everything better, don't you know? :=)

Hope you all had a wonderful festive season.  We have had lots of storms and rain, and some flooding around the place.  All fine here now, but more rain on the way though.  Interesting news already this year with Prince Frederik about to become the King of Denmark.  Of course we Aussies feel invested in this, since the Queen-to-be is from Tasmania!       

Santa about to enjoy his biscuits/cookies

Makes 10-12:

ingredients:

100g./3.5 oz pecans, divided into 65g. and 35g. - so just divvy them up into 2/3 and 1/3 of the nuts

85g./3 oz (1 cup, says Desiree) almond meal, or meal of your choice - I used hazelnut 'cos it was in the fridge already

1 Tbs (15g.) arrowroot flour (aka tapioca flour)   see Notes

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3 Tbs (45g.) butter or coconut oil, melted

2 Tbs maple syrup (or syrup of your fancy)

2 tsp vanilla extract or paste

icing sugar, or coconut milk powder, or chocolate hail for rolling them when baked

Method:

On goes your oven to heat at 160C/325F

Line a baking tray with baking paper

Throw 2/3 of the pecans into your food processor and grind into powder

Finely chop (or do a very quick blitz in the processor) the rest of the pecans

Tip into a medium bowl with the nut meal, arrowroot, baking powder and salt - give it all a good mix

Add the butter, maple syrup and vanilla into the bowl, and give it another good mix

Use a tablespoon or ice cream scoop to grab up the dough, roll up into a ball and place on your baking paper-lined tray

Bake for 13-15 minutes (mine took 18) till lightly browned on the bottom and starting to crack on the top

Let 'em cool right down on the baking tray, then roll them in icing sugar (or cocoa powder?) or maybe in chocolate hail - not sure that it would stick but worth a go.  You could even drop them into melted chocolate, and then roll in chocolate hail (just don't tell Desiree)

Notes:

I didn't have any arrowroot flour, so I subbed in cornflour.  You can also use rice flour instead

stir everything in

here's your dough ready to go

onto the tray for baking at 160C/325F

let 'em cool right down

make sure Santa doesn't grab the lot for his Christmas treats :=)

c. Sherry M.