Bittersweet Chocolate and Salted Pistachio Cookies

This is a simple but sophisticated take on a chocolate butter cookie.  It is just slightly sweet with its base of bittersweet chocolate and is festooned with a festive salty garnish of pistachios and sparkling demerara sugar.   Enjoy this with a cup of milky tea or a cappuccino.  I adapted this from a recipe that originally appeared in Gourmet, 2003.

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Bittersweet Chocolate and Salted Pistachio Cookies

Makes 4 dozen.

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

10 1/2 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled.  Use the best quality you can find– I used Valrhona

garnishes: a few tablespoons of salted pistachios and demerara sugar

Technique

1.  Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.

2.  In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3. Add egg and vanilla to butter-sugar mixture.

4.  Add in flour mixture and gently combine.

5.  Add in cocoa powder, baking powder and cooled melted chocolate and mix all into a stiff dough.

6.  Place a sheet of plastic wrap onto your work surface, place dough on top, and form dough into a 2 inch diameter log.

7.  Roll dough log in crushed salted pistachios and then in demerara sugar.

8.  Chill dough for 2 hours and then slice to make cookies.  Dough will be firm and crumbly.  If it’s too firm to slice, leave at room temperature for a while or defrost in a microwave at 30% power for about 30 seconds.

9.  Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes.

10.  Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

© 2010 Linda Shiue

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