You only need 4 ingredients: Pistachios, Almonds, Sugar and Egg whites (and no flour and no butter!). It takes less than 30 minutes from start to end.
The trick to baking perfect Italian Pistachio Cookies, is the baking time!
You want to bake these cookies until the bottom of the cookie is just lightly browned. You don’t want the top of the cookie to brown too much (only the edges!) because then these aren’t going to be too soft in the middle.
The baking time depends on the shape and size of the cookies. If you make cookies that are about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, then they will need about 15 – 17 minutes in the oven. If you make cookies that are about 1 inch in diameter, they only require 10 – 12 minutes.
Crescent shaped cookies?
When I make these Italian Pistachio Cookies in a crescent shape, I first make a 1 1/2 inch cookie ball and then shape into a crescent shape. These will be ready after baking for about 12 minutes. Because of the shape of these cookies, they take a shorter time to bake than their “ball” counterpart. For this recipe, I made 1 inch round cookies and crescent cookies made with 1 1/2 inch rounds. So that the baking time is the same for both.
Ingredients:
- 8 oz / 226 g + another 1.7 oz / 75 g raw pistachios
- 4.8 oz / 135 g sugar
- 4.8 oz / 135 g blanched sliced almonds
- 2.6 oz / 74-75 g egg whites (about 2 egg whites, but measure out to make sure)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla optional
- Confectioner’s sugar to dust on top optional
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 165°C / 325°F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- In a food processor, combine the first measure of pistachios, almonds and the sugar. Process until the nuts are ground (with no large chunks left). Transfer the ground nuts and sugar into a clean dry bowl.
- Mix in the measured egg whites (and vanilla if using, this is optional) with the ground nuts and sugar, and mix with a wooden spoon until you get a slightly sticky ball of dough. You will need to mix well to make sure the dough comes together. If needed, add extra egg whites (1 tsp at a time).
- Chop the extra 75 g of pistachios into smaller, coarse pieces and set aside.
- Round cookies – Using a cookie scoop or wet hands, portion out the cookie dough to make round cookies (with a diameter of about 1 inch), and roll each one in the coarsely chopped pistachio nuts. Place these cookies on a prepared cookie baking tray and flatten them slightly.
- Crescent cookies – Using a cookie scoop or wet hands, portion out the cookie dough (with a diameter of 1.5 inches) to make the crescent cookies. Roll this dough ball into slender cylindrical shape, and then shape it again into a crescent. Dip the top of the cookie in the coarsely chopped pistachio nuts. Place these cookies on a prepared cookie baking tray, nut side up.
- Bake them in the preheated oven for about 10 – 12 minutes, until they just start to turn brown at the edges.
- Remove from the oven and let them cool down completely. The cookies will be soft when warm, so they must be cooled down before being moved. Dust them with some icing sugar / confectioner’s sugar (optional).
- This recipe makes 23 – 26 cookies, and you can keep them in an airtight container for a few days.
Make a double batch, because trust me, they are not going to last long!
WE&P by: EZorrillaMc.
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