Pistachio Shortbread Cookies Recipe

These Moroccan pistachio shortbread cookies are more delicious than you can imagine. They have a wonderfully sweet nutty flavour and are so easy to make.

The pistachio shortbread cookie recipe came from the Australian Women's Weekly Moroccan cook book my favourite cookbook of the moment.

Pistachio Shortbread Cookies Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 cup roasted unsalted pistachios
250gm low lactose margarine
1 cup icing sugar
1 1/2 cups plain flour
2 tablespoons cornflour
3/4 cup ground almonds
1/3 cup icing sugar extra

Method:
Preheat oven to 150C. Grease oven trays.

Finely chop 1/3 cup of the pistachios and leave remaining pistachios whole.

Beat margarine and sifted icing sugar in a small bowl with electric mixer until combined. Transfer mixture to a large bowl; stir in sifted flours, ground almonds and chopped pistachios.

Shape level tablespoons of mixture into mounds about 2.5cm apart on trays and then press a whole pistachio on each.

Bake cookies for about 25 minutes or until firm. Transfer cookies to wire racks.

Dust cookies with extra sifted icing sugar once cooled.

Honey Coated Pistachio Palmiers Recipe

I found this palmiers recipe in the Australian Women's Weekly Moroccan  cook book. Having a massive sweet tooth of course I tried most of the sweet dishes with this palmiers recipe being one of the first.

The original palmiers recipe had butter and an egg in it which I replaced with low lactose melted margarine.


Honey Coated Pistachio Palmiers Recipe

Ingredients:
3/4 cup roasted shelled pistachios
1/4 cup caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons raw sugar
20gm low lactose or milk free margarine
50gm melted low lactose or milk free margarine
2 sheets puff pastry
1/2 cup honey

Method:
Blend nuts with sugar, cinnamon and margarine until mixture forms a coarse paste.

Sprinkle board with half of the raw sugar; place one sheet of pastry on the sugar. Using rolling pin, press pastry gently into sugar.

Spread half the mixture on pastry; fold two opposing sides of the pastry inwards to meet in the middle. Flatten folded pastry slightly; brush with a little of the melted margarine.

Fold each side in half again so they just touch in the middle, flatten slightly.

Repeat process with remaining raw sugar, pastry sheet, nut mixture and melted margarine.

Cover pastry pieces, separately, with plastic warp and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 200C and grease oven trays.

Cut rolled pastry into 1cm slices; place slices cut side up, on trays about 2cms apart.

Bake palmiers for about 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

While palmiers are coooking bring honey to the boil in a small frying pan. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 3 minutes. Remove from heat.

Add hot plamiers, one at a time to honey mixture turning to coat all over; drain on greased rack and serve cold.

M’hanncha a Moroccan Sweet Dish

I am guessing you are wondering what this M'hanncha is. It is actually a Moroccan sweet dish that is made with ground almonds a little bit of chocolate and filo pastry.

A few years ago I ate at a Moroccan restaurant and absolutely fell in love with the food. So recently I bought myself the Australian Women's Weekly Moroccan cookbook and discovered this recipe.

At first it is a little tricky but once you have done it the next time will be much easier just persevere through it.

I used a Cadbury chocolate hazelnut bar but you can omit that or use a milk free chocolate bar.

It is an incredibly delicious dish which you will find you will keep for yourself as it is too good to share.  

I say indulge!

M’hanncha

Ingredients:
90 g margarine melted,
1 2/3 cups ground almonds
½ cup icing sugar
1 x 45 gm Cadbury hazelnut bar or milk free chocolate
6 sheets filo pastry
100gm melted margarine
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method:
Preheat oven to 160C and grease a 20cm springform tin.

Combine margarine, ground almonds, sifted icing sugar and chocolate in a medium bowl.

Roll rounded teaspoons of mixture into balls and then into 2.5cm log shapes.

Brush 1 sheet of pastry with some of the extra margarine top with a second pastry sheet and brush with margarine.

Place one third of the chocolate logs along the long end 5cm from the edge and leave a 2.5cm border on the short ends.

Roll pastry tightly to enclose logs. Repeat with remaining pastry, margarine and logs. Brush pastry logs with margarine.

Pinch one end of the pastry log to seal, this will become the centre of the spiral. Wind the pastry log into a tight spiral, brushing with margarine to join.

Continue adding pastry logs end to end in a spiral pattern brushing with margarine to join and seal ends.

Transfer spiral to tin. Brush top with margarine and sprinkle with cinnamon and chocolate shavings as I have done.

Bake M'hanncha for about 25 minutes or until golden. Serve dusted with a little sifted icing sugar.

Enjoy.

Recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies

I got this recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies from an ice-cream book called the Vegan Scoop. I was thrilled to find it there because I thought it only had ice cream recipes but to find this recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies was a treat.

I checked the ingredients in the recipe and found I had them all so off I went to bake it.

As you can see it is a very easy recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies. I used Rice Milk because I didn't have soy milk and I used olive oil because I didn't have vegetable oil which I think was a mistake as the flavour of the oil is quite prominent.

I can't taste the peanut butter either so next time I will put more. The brownies are quite crumbly too so maybe I need to put more water and rice milk next time. Hmm it seems there are a few issues with this recipe.

Don't cook them for more than 4o minutes either as they are from a fudge brownie recipe so if you put in a toothpick to test it, it will have batter on it but wait for it to cool down a bit then cut and they will be fine.

They are still tasty and easy to make so don't be too concerned with my issues they may come out better for you. The best part is they are easy on your stomach. 

No upset tummy makes me a very happy lactose intolerant person!


Recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies

Ingredients:
2 cups plain flour
2 cups sugar
¾ cups cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup crunchy peanut butter
¾ cup water
½ cup rice milk or soy milk
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla paste or essence

Method:
Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a 23x33cm baking pan.

In a large bowl mix flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.

Next add rice milk, vegetable oil, peanut butter and vanilla paste.

Mix until well blended.

Spread mixture into baking pan and bake for 25 – 30 minutes.

Let cool then cut into squares.

Enjoy :)