Bittersweet Chocolate Chip Pistachio Cookies

I was craving rich dark chocolate today and I started flipping through Bon Appetite and found their 25 days of cookies segment. I immediately liked the idea of the Chocolate Pistachio Sables. Besides the chocolately goodness, these are also the kind of cookies that can be made ahead and frozen until you’ve got another craving.

I did change a couple of things – dropping the salt from kosher to regular table salt and reducing the amount and eliminating the extra finishing salt on top of the cookies before baking because I used roasted, salted pistachios (as that was what I had at hand).

Here is the recipe:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups (lightly packed) light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg white
5 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup roasted, lightly salted pistachios, coarsely chopped

Whisk flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat butter, brown sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Reduce speed to low and gradually add dry ingredients; mix just to combine, then mix in egg white. Fold in chocolate and pistachios.

 

Divide dough into 4 pieces. Roll each piece into an 8 inch-long log about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, pushing dough together if it feels crumbly. Wrap tightly in parchment paper and chill until firm, at least 4 hours. (The colder your dough, the easier it will be to slice.) To speed the process, freeze for 1 hour.

Place racks in lower and upper thirds of oven; preheat to 350°. Working with 1 log of dough at a time and using a serrated knife, cut logs into 1/4 inch-thick rounds and transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 1/2 inch apart.  Bake cookies, rotating baking sheets halfway through, until set around edges and centers look dry, 10–1 minutes. Transfer to wire racks and let cool.

 

DO AHEAD: Cookie dough can be made 1 month ahead; freeze instead of chilling. Slice frozen logs into rounds just before baking.

Rituals and Recipes from Bella Books Authors

My publisher, Bella Books, posted Rituals and Recipes from their authors over the holiday season. As they wrote: “As the holiday season approaches around the world, our lives are filled with the rituals and recipes of families, friends and communities. We’re setting aside blog space for the next month to share the favorite foods and experiences that have meaning for us this time of year.”

I had two: one from November 24th – A Ticket to the Gravy Train

And another from December 31st – Lucky Black-Eyed Peas and Mama’s Cornbread

If you’d like to see the rest of the offerings from my fellow Bella Authors – click here – RITUALS and RECIPES 2013