March 7, 2012

A sea salt and dark chocolate pistachio cookie recipe

I had a very intense craving for pistachios yesterday and couldn't resist pairing it with chocolate. A little bit salty, a little bit sweet, altogether perfection.


Sea Salt and Dark Chocolate Pistachio Cookies
Adapted from Serious Eats & Gourmet Magazine 
Makes 24-48 cookies

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
20 tablespoons unsalted buttter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup dark chocolate, chopped 
3/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
1 cup shelled pistachios, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon sea salt



Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda. Set aside. In a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla until combined. Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add chocolates and pistachios.

Scoop balls of dough onto baking sheets and gently flatten. Sprinkle sea salt on top of each cookie.

Bake for approx. 15 minutes, rotating halfway through, until small cracks appear. Cool cookies on sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely.




Some notes:

Use good chocolate. The best you have. It makes all the difference.

Chop the dark chocolate finely. It melts into the cookie adding an intensely rich chocolate flavor. 

The nuttiness of the whole wheat flour really complements the pistachios, but it does take away from the originally chewy texture of the cookie. I prefer a crunch. Substitute all purpose flour, if you wish.

I let the cookies go a few minutes longer in the oven, because I was feeling rebellious and wanted that crunch. Don't overbake if you like it chewy. (And maybe up the brown sugar by a touch to add moisture.)

The original recipe was meant to yield 48 cookies. They must have been small cookies. I only got 24.

Enjoy.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

those look amazing.

Jen said...

Jessica- I polished off this batch by having cookies with tea and calling it breakfast. They really are so delicious!

Anonymous said...

made them. loved them. used fair trade chocolate so i can indulge guilt free:)