Pistachio Shortbread with Dark Chocolate

This is what the perfect companion to a morning cup of coffee looks like. Flakey, buttery shortbread shaped into a stick for easy dipping. It would be a far cry to call these “wholesome” or “healthy” (especially with your morning coffee), unlike so many recipes on this blog. But they’re beautiful, delicious and just the festive treat I wanted this month. Happy baking season!

Pistachio Shortbread with Dark Chocolate

Published December 12, 2019 by Caitlin Sherwood

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Yields: 24   |    Active Time: 45 minutes

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Ingredients:

1 cup (2 standard sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 to 2/3 cup sugar, see note - depending on how sweet you want your cookies, plus extra for topping

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

2-1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup unsalted, shelled pistachios, plus extra for topping

1-2 tablespoons water

4-6 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate of choice

Directions:

1. Beat together butter and sugar using and electric mixer (hand mixer or stand mixer will both work fine). When creamy, add vanilla and beat in.
2. Sift together flour and salt. Add to butter mixture. Beat on low until a crumbly mixture forms. Continue to beat, adding 1 teaspoon of water at a time until a dough begins to come together. Dough will still be crumblely, but should stick together when pinched between two fingers.
3. Roughly chop pistachios, and fold into batter.
4. Shape dough into a disc, and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheet with parchment or a sil-pat.
6. Roll cookie dough with a rolling pin to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut into 1x3 inch rectangles, and place cut cookies on baking sheet. Optionally, sprinkle with a few pinch of granulated sugar.
7. Bake cookies for 20-25 minutes, until cookies just begin to turn golden. Place cookies on cooling rack.
8. When cookies are completely cool, melt chocolate for dipping: place chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in the microwave for 30-second intervals, stirring between every set to avoid burning. When chocolate is smooth, dip cookies: working one at a time, dip the cookies into the chocolate. Allow the access to run off, and then place on cooling rack. Optionally, sprinkle chocolate with finely chopped pistachios.
9. Note: The amount of sugar in this recipe can be varied between 1/2 cup and 2/3 cups sugar. Use 1/2 cup if you prefer slightly less sweet desserts, of 2/3 cups for more traditionally sweet cookies.

Raspberry Popsicles with Dark Chocolate Drizzle

Poison ivy and raspberry bushes—when I was a kid, these were the two plants my dad always pointed out to me on camping trips. This summer, as we hiked through Big Elk Meadows (which is not a meadow and there were no elk), the wild raspberries were copious. The dry creek was spotted with small bushes, each of them ripe with red gems. Those wild berries were far better than the ones growing in my own backyard, and not just because we were eating them outside. They were juicier and sweeter. We ate the ripest ones and left the others for the birds.

These popsicles are an end of summer hoorah! A sweet-tart cool down for mid-afternoon.

Raspberry Popsicles with Dark Chocolate Drizzle

Published September 10, 2019 by Caitlin Sherwood

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Serves: 6   |    Active Time: 20 active minutes

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Ingredients:

12 ounces fresh raspberries

1/4 teaspoon lemon or lime juice

2 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips

Optional: 1-2 tablespoons raw sugar or coconut sugar

Equipment: Popsicle molds and popsicle sticks

Directions:

1. Place raspberries in a blender and purée.
2. Place a fine-mesh sieve over a sauce pan, and pour raspberry puree through sieve in order to remove seeds. All of the juice should go through the sieve (into the pot), and you should be left with just seeds in the sieve. Discard of seeds.
3. Place raspberry purée on stove over low heat and stir in lemon juice. Bring to a slow simmer, and add sugar to taste. Stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Allow mixture to cool, about 10 minutes.
4. Pour raspberry mixture into popsicle molds with popsicle sticks and freeze for 8 hours, until frozen solid.
5. When popsicles are frozen, prep the chocolate: melt chocolate in microwave (at 30 second increments, stirring in between each until smooth), or in a double boiler.
6. Remove popsicles from molds, and drizzle with chocolate. Allow chocolate to set. Serve immediately, or store in air-tight container until ready to eat.

No-Churn, 5-Ingredient Pistachio Ice Cream

One of the first fare-weather recipes I shared this year was for No-Churn Rhubarb Crisp Ice Cream. There is some debate in the house on whether making a rhubarb crisp and turning it into ice cream is a good use of time, but I’ll tell you where I stand: ice cream is delicious.

In that same blog post, I promised to share some of the other recipe adaptions I had tried, including this winner, which causes no hot debates in the house. Other than who is getting the last scoop, of course. All you need is 5 ingredients, including real pistachios. (Real pistachios are important—something anyone who has ever bought a pistachio ice cream that tasted more like pistachio liquor than actual pistachios will understand).

No-Churn, 5-Ingredient Pistachio Ice Cream

Published July 23, 2019 by Caitlin Sherwood

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Serves: 12   |    Active Time: 20 active minutes

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Ingredients:

2/3 cup shelled, roasted, unsalted pistachios, divided

1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk

Pinch salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups whipping cream 

Directions:

1. Place half (1/3 cup) of pistachios in a blender, and blend on high until a paste begins to form. Add sweetened condensed milk, salt, and vanilla to blender and blend again until fully combined and smooth. Transfer for a small mixing bowl.
2. In a separate, medium-sized mixing bowl, beat whipping cream with electric beaters until firm peaks form.
3. Gently fold 1 cup of the whipped cream into the pistachio mixture until combined. Then, scape pistachio mixture into the rest of the whipped cream, gently folding it in. Do not over mix (you want as much air in the whipping cream as possible!). A few streaks of green or white are OK.
4. Scrape the ice cream mixture into a glass pyrex with air-tight lid (about 9x5 inches, or equivalent volume). Place lid on container, and place flat in freezer for 2 hours.
5. After 2 hours, gently swirl in remaining pistachios to taste, and sprinkle some pistachios on top. Place lid back on ice cream and freeze for at least 3 more hours before serving.