Pistachio Cookies

Whenever one of the Swallow's young ones asks for pistachio nuts, the usual reply would be "Wait for Chinese New Year (CNY)".  During the CNY, they are sold in bigger bags and the price per weight is lower.

Pistachio Cookies

Now that CNY is over, and finding some surplus pistachio nuts after the young one had had her fill, the Swallow made some cookies tonight.  The cookies turned out better than expected, so next year, she will open the bag of pistachio nuts before CNY, use them to bake these cookies, then leave the balance for her young one instead...

PISTACHIO COOKIES (makes about 70 cookies)

Ingredients

• 250g unsalted butter, softened
• 130g icing sugar
• 350g plain flour, sifted
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla essence



Pistachio Nuts
- shelled (left) & with shells (right)

• 100g pistachio nuts, chopped (measured after the shells have been removed)

Method

1. Beat softened butter and icing sugar together until the mixture is light and fluffy.
2. Add vanilla essence and continue beating until it is well mixed.
3. Fold in sifted flour, then pistachio nuts.  Continue this folding process until a firm yet soft dough forms.
4. Divide the soft dough into 2 portions.  Place one portion of the dough onto a piece of greaseproof paper (38cm x 25cm), then shape the dough into a sausage-roll (same method as rolling a sushi roll), about 4cm in diameter.  Repeat this step with the second portion.
5. Place both rolls into the refrigerator, for at least one hour, to harden.
6. Cut dough into slices of 1 cm thickness.
7. Line a cookie tray with greaseproof paper, then place the dough slices onto the tray.  Return any unused dough into the refrigerator until needed.
8. Bake the cookies at 180 degrees Celcius until light golden brown, about 12 minutes.
9. When cooled, store in an air-tight container.