Pistachio & Dark Chocolate Cookies

I was recently lucky enough to be sent some samples from Nutural World, a small company specialising in nut and seed butters. Think of peanut butter, but with more or less any nut you could imagine: from hazelnuts and almonds (which I have seen in the shops from mainstream brands) to more obscure varieties such as macademia and pistachio.

Actually, these products are quite a lot better than most brands of peanut butter, because they don't contain any salt or other additives. Ingredients on the label for pistachio butter: pistachios. That's it. Their almond & coconut spread also includes vanilla, bringing it up to a grand total of three ingredients. Of course, without stabilisers, the oils have a tendency to separate out a bit, so I did have to stir some of the jars before using them.

The whole range is also available in crunchy or smooth variants - the smooth ones are very finely milled, as you can see in the photo below, while the crunchy ones have added nut pieces for extra texture.

I actually found the intensity of the flavours a bit much to just spread on toast by themselves (although with a little chocolate spread, it's quite a different matter...), but honestly, my primary interest was in the possibilities for baking.

Since pistachios are about my favourite nuts, I was particularly keen to get my hands on that one. I decided to adapt my chocolate & peanut butter cookie recipe to a slightly greener shade.

And oh, this stuff is green. My cookie dough looked like playdoh. Unfortunately by the time the cookies were baked, they were back to just looking like regular cookies again, but the pistachio flavours still came through.

Pistachio & Dark Chocolate Cookies
Makes 20-30 cookies

3 cups (500g) white flour
⅔ cup (180g) white sugar
1 cup (170g) soft brown sugar
2 eggs
1tsp baking powder
1tsp vanilla essence
250g butter, melted
1 cup (200g) chocolate chips
1 jar (170g) pistachio butter

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C.
2. Mix the flour, sugar, and baking powder in a large bowl.
3. Add the melted butter, vanilla essence, and eggs. Stir and knead until all combined into a thick dough.
4. Add the chocolate and pistachio butter, and knead into the dough. (This will make it somewhat sticky!)
5. Form into small balls, arrange on a greased baking sheet, and press gently to flatten. Make sure to leave enough space around each cookie, as they will spread to approximately double the size as they cook.
6. Bake for 10-15 minutes (until golden brown), then transfer to a wire rack to cool.