commentpistachio tuiles
gourmet magazine put out a feature on their favorite cookies – one for each year from 1941 to 2008. i’ve got this crazy notion that maybe i can tackle every. single. one. not all at once, mind you, or even in order, but i’d like to keep it in my brain as a “someday” goal. i’ve gotten a few suggestions for which i should bake next via the magic of twitter (seriously, why aren’t you following me yet?), but wanted to start off with this classic from 1988. apparently when i was 4, pistachio tuiles were the best thing going. at the time, my favorite food was probably hot dogs. or a good grilled cheese. or baloney sandwiches. come to think of it, not much has changed.
tuiles get their unique shape after they bake. you have to scoop them off the baking sheet with a spatula really fast and then lay them over a cylinder to cool. there’s a 10 second window to get this done, so if they stick to the sheet or cool too quickly, put them back in the oven for a few more seconds to loosen. things i loved about this recipe: i happened to have all of the necessary ingredients in my kitchen at the time, they take about 10 minutes to make from melting the butter to pulling them out of the oven, and they’re basically sweet pistachio potato chips. how great is that? oh yeah – and they taste awesome. use them as a scoop for a big bowl of ice cream (pistachio flavored?) or be classy and enjoy with a glass of wine (port?).
pistachio tuiles
from goumet magazine. makes 12 cookies.2 Tbsp softened unsalted butter
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 large egg white at room temperature
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/4 cup shelled natural pistachio nuts, blanched and oven-dried and chopped1. in a bowl cream the butter, add the sugar, and beat the mixture until it is light and fluffy. add the almond extract, the egg white, and a pinch of salt, and beat the mixture for 5 to 10 seconds, or until it is smooth but not frothy. sift the flour over the mixture and fold it in with the pistachios (the batter will be thin).
2. spoon rounded teaspoons of the batter 3 inches apart onto buttered baking sheets and with a fork dipped in cold water spread them to form 2-inch rounds. bake the cookies in batches in the middle of a preheated 375F oven for 5 to 8 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown.
3. transfer the cookies with a metal spatula to a rolling pin and curve them around the pin (if the cookies become too firm to remove from the baking sheet, return them to the oven for a few seconds to soften). let the cookies cool on the rolling pin. the cookies may be made 1 day in advance and kept in an airtight container.
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I made the honey refrigerator cookies from 1942 for a New Year’s party – we dipped them in the fondue (both the cheese and chocolate) and it was AWESOME. I’m waiting for an occasion to make the Irish coffee crunchies from ’77… and St. Patrick’s Day is in one week. Hello, inspiration!
Tulles have become my favorite cookie because it’s light, flavorful, and easy. The pistachio+almond extract flavors would be great!
Thanks for pointing out the list- some of them look soo bad, but then others, like 2000′s chocolate cookies with gin-soaked raisins look mighty appealing. What’s the next one you’re going to make?
They look great and I’m sure they taste just as good. I love pistachio, so I think I’ll give this a try soon.
I never seem to get ALL of those beauts off the sheet pan with any reasonably amount of malleability left.
Note to self: Use brilliant rolling pin scheme to avoid burning fingers on spatula/cookies/sheet pan, etc.
I’m impressed that you did this without parchment. Nice work!
These are so pretty! What a great job – especially without baking paper.
Another great recipe from Pete Bakes – thanks, this is the third one we made. I tried this last night. My tester’s notes:
1. Don’t believe Pete that this can be done start to finish in 10 minutes. Reason – re-read the ingredient list, note the egg white AT ROOM TEMPERATURE, the pistachios BLANCHED AND OVEN-DRIED, etc. Typical Gourmet magazine ingredient over-prep. I tried as much as I could to follow the recipe first time through, though my egg white was still a bit refrigerated.
2. Try NOT blanching the pistachios – that makes them slightly more dull and mushy, and I think this would be better with the sharp crunchiness of raw pistachios. My wife said these cookies don’t have as much of that pistachio flavor that we love, and we think the blanching is the reason.
3. Also don’t chop the pistachios too finely. I think you want them approximately cut in half. I made them smaller, maybe about the same size as choc chips.
4. My batter was less liquid-y looking than the picture, and the cookies fatter.
5. I would try melting (and cooling) the butter rather than creaming softened butter, to make the cookies spread more.
6. When you put the batter out, spread it out as much as possible, the flatter the better.
7. Our rolling pin is only big enough to cool about 4 cookies. I cooked in two batches (the cooking time is so short that this is no problem). Use a (Bordeaux shape) wine or similar bottle to cool more cookies if you have a regular rolling pin, or none.
8. We liked the result, as a cookie that’s not too sweet. But would try an Americanized version — add chocolate chips.
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These look surprisingly easy…almost too much so haha…
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