TAHINI SHORTBREAD COOKIES WITH PISTACCHIO BUTTER
Notes: This recipe for tahini shortbread cookies with fresh pistacchio butter is so simple and delicious. Roasting raw pistacchios yourself brings out a natural sweetness that requires no addition of sugar to the pistacchio butter, and what a gorgeous mossy green color to boot. The butter only consists of roasted pistacchios and salt. Plus, if you make this you will have more left over for toast or breakfast bowls the next day!
The pistacchio tree, a member of the cashew family, is native to Persia (modern day Iran). The word pistacchio is a loan word from the ancient persian language, then called “pista-pistak”, and in modern Persian known as “peste”. Pistacchios are technically seeds (and not nuts) that are widely consumed as a popular snack and frequently used in many pastries and confections throughout the Middle East. Since antiquity, trade routes and conquests led to pistacchios spreading across the Mediterranean and now the world. Pistacchios are having a modern heyday of sorts, and with good reason, the seeds are delicious, beautiful, and good for you. Tahini is of course the paste (or puree, or butter) of sesame seeds, so we’ve got seeds on seeds here. Tahini is probably most commonly known as one of the two main components of hummus, but is also widely used in confections in Middle Eastern countries. Tahini, as well, is delicious, packed with nutrients, and enjoying a renaissance as it spreads to more and more recipes developed and consumed across the world.
This shortbread cookie recipe is delicate, buttery, and produces cookies that taste a bit like peanut butter as all the butter and nuttiness coats your mouth. Then, you pick up the notes of sesame and pistacchio at the end, which just might make them better? Several countries in the Middle East make shortbread style cookies with pistacchio and/or tahini, so your Middle Eastern friends and family will approve. These are not low calorie, of course, but the pistacchio butter and tahini are loaded with nutrients and antioxidants so you can feel slightly better about upping your calorie count with these. They are lightly sweetened with maple syrup, but you could also use agave. These are easy to make and such a great cookie to add to your repertoire for the holidays.
I used a kitchen scale to measure the ingredients in grams, so the cup measurements are as closely approximated as I could make them. For an excellent, high quality and relativey reasonably priced kitchen scale, that I’ve tested myself for accuracy and reproducibility, I recommend the: OXO Good Grips digital kitchen scale (stainless steel) available on Amazon. It measures up to 11 lbs (5 kg), is digital, rechargeable, easy to clean and you will get a lot of use out of it if you bake a lot.
Total time: 1 hr and 15 mins to 2 hours
Special Equipment:
Food processor (if you want to make your own pistacchio butter)
*Optional: piping bag for pistacchio butter
Ingredients:
Pistacchio butter:
Raw, shelled pistacchios: 2 cups
Salt (I used sea salt): 1 tsp or to taste
Cookies:
Tahini paste *runny is better if you can find it: 180 g (¾ cup)
This is the brand of tahini I used: Jiva Organics Raw Tahini, it is raw, organic, and not super thick, it’s a bit pricey, but if you love tahini and you want to maximize the nutrients by getting it raw then this one is worth trying.
Unsalted butter, softened: 165 g (1 ½ sticks)
Maple syrup *or agave syrup: 180 g (~2/3 cup)
Vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract: 1 tsp
AP flour: 270 g (2 + 1/4 cups)
Cornstarch: 75 g (1/2 cup + 2 tbsp)
Salt (I used pink Himalayan): 3/4 tsp
The ingredients: Pistacchio butter, softened butter, tahini, maple syrup, AP flour, cornstarch, salt (vanilla bean paste not pictured).
Directions:
Pistacchio Butter:
Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Spread your raw pistacchios across a large parchment lined (or silicone mat lined) baking sheet and toast them in the oven until fragrant (~7-10 mins).
Let the pistacchios cool for ~10 mins, until slightly warm to the touch.
Grind down the pistacchios in a food processor and keep going until you have a smooth, creamy butter. Pause to scrape down the sides as needed and add salt about half way through. The pistacchios will go from a clumpy meal, to a cohesive ball, and finally to a creamy, smooth butter. This process will take several minutes so you can stop for a few mins if your food processor gets too hot.
Taste, and blend in another pinch of salt if needed. Let the pistachio butter cool to room temperature, then transfer to a relatively airtight container or jar. The butter keeps well at room temperature for approximately a week, or much longer in the fridge.
Cookies:
Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper (or silicone mats).
In a large bowl mix together the tahini paste, softened butter, maple syrup and vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract) until combined. Don’t cream the butter mixture (i.e. don’t try to introduce a lot of air). Just stir everything until it is smooth and combined.
To the tahini/butter/syrup mixture sift in AP flour, cornstarch, and salt with a mesh sieve. Mix until the dough is fully incorporated, no lumps are visible, and the dough looks smooth and cohesive.
Chill the dough in the fridge for for 30-45 mins. This will make it easier to shape them into logs that hold their shape well.
Divide the dough into two equal portions and shape into two logs about 8 inches (~20 cm) in length and about 2 inches (5cm) in diameter. Try to make the logs as round as possible so your cookies will be as round as possible. If your dough gets too warm after shaping them you can wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for another 30 or so, but then you will need to round out the side they were resting on again.
Using a sharp knife, slice the logs into about ½ inch (1cm) thick cookies and place them onto the lined baking sheets, leaving a little space in between (they won’t spread much). You should get ~26-28 cookies.
*Side note: For one sheet of cookies I used a metal straw to print modified + indent on each one. I did this to help create a guide for the pistacchio butter + design. I don’t think this step is necessary, but it may help as a guide to get more reproducible results.
One baking sheet at a time, bake for about 10-11 mins until a very light golden brown (it helps to rotate them about half-way through for even color). While one baking sheet is in the oven, keep the other one in the fridge.
Immediately out of the oven, while they’re still hot, you can attempt to correct the shape of the cookies by using a round cookie cutter that is slightly larger than the cookies by gently swirling each cookie inside the cutter to help round them out. Since shortbread cookies are stiff they will not move much, so this will only work for slight corrections to shape, and it’s better to start with as round of a log as possible.
Allow the cookies to cool completely before adding the pistacchio butter on top. I used ~2/3 cup to decorate the cookies as I did (see next step).
In my instagram reel you saw that I used a piping bag with the very point of the tip cut off to coat the cookies with pistacchio butter, going back and forth until each cookie was completely covered. This was my favorite way of decorating them since you get a nice even coat of pistacchio butter, the ridges look nice, and the ratio of pistacchio to cookie is good. I also did a modified + design, which was fun as well (and less time consuming), but decorate them any way you choose!
