Salted Pistachio Shortbread
- Total Time
- 35 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
Advertisement
Ingredients
- ¾cup/95 grams shelled, raw pistachios, almonds, hazelnuts or walnuts
- ⅓cup/40 grams confectioners’ sugar, plus more for dusting (optional)
- ½cup/115 grams unsalted butter (1 stick)
- ½teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾cups/95 grams all-purpose flour
- Nonstick spray or softened butter, for greasing
- Flaky salt
Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.
Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Step 2
Process pistachios in a food processor until finely ground. Remove 2 tablespoons and set aside.
- Step 3
Add confectioners’ sugar, butter and salt and pulse until well combined. Add flour and process until a slightly sticky dough forms (if your food processor is having trouble here, just dump dough out onto a counter or a bowl and mix by hand until no dry spots remain).
- Step 4
Lightly grease a 9-inch springform pan or tart pan with a removable bottom with nonstick spray or softened butter and line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper.
- Step 5
Press dough into the pan into an even layer (you can use your hands, or use the bottom of a measuring cup to press dough into an even layer). Dust with confectioners’ sugar and sprinkle with reserved 2 tablespoons ground pistachios and flaky salt.
- Step 6
Bake until cookie is just golden around the edges and dough is baked through, 17 to 22 minutes.
- Step 7
Once cookie is out of the oven, remove from springform or tart pan. Dust with more confectioners’ sugar, if you like. Before it cools, slice cookie into 24 thin wedges (start by cutting the circle into quarters, then slice each quarter in half, then each half into thirds to get nice, thin triangles.
- Step 8
Let cookies cool completely before transferring them (they will be soft and easily broken if moved before cooled).
- Cookies can be made 2 days ahead, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap or stored in an airtight container at room temperature. These can also be rolled into balls or crescents and baked like a traditional Mexican wedding cookie, if you like.
Private Notes
Comments
Dispatches from the low-tech front: Total success! Ground the pistachios using a combination of mortar and pestle & pounding them with a hammer inside a plastic bag. Mixed batter using two forks/hands, baked on a cookie sheet with foil. Later, I easily pulled the triangles apart, and they were amazing! Crunchy and buttery and just sweet enough. Moral: do not let the lack of a food processor, false-bottomed tart pan, or other ephemera get in the way of your shortbread dreams. Happy holidays!
What size springform pan?
Alison: Great recipe! Would this dough hold up if I rolled it out and cut out individual cookies? I love pistachios and would like to make Holiday shaped cookies.
If cooking like a Mexican wedding cookie, what temperature/how long?
Easy and dramatic. Used a 91/2 inch springform pan and it worked fine. As others have noted, makes 12 shortbread cookies.
Another reader mentioned not being too sure about these and as I was eating them I thought, “I know what they meant”. But the next thing I knew the entire batch was gone. I’ve used both a spring foam and tart pan and personally like the tart pan because it’s less jarring to the cookie when releasing. Cutting the fans while the short bread is still warm, and letting them completely come up to room temperature resolves any keeping shape issues (I cut them into 12 pieces - “short” in baking means a crumbly texture). This is a good cookie for people who like desserts that aren’t super sweet. Definitely in the rotation along with the lime cornmeal recipe. Variations Tried: Pistachio cherry Pistachio cherry chocolate Will Try: Walnut Date walnut Pistachio lemon Pistachio date
Advertisement