Pistachio Biscuits with Rose and Almonds
Of all the biscuits I made in my epic Christmas bake last year, these pistachio biscuits made with almonds and flavoured with a little rose, cardamom and cinnamon were the ones that received the most rave reviews. So *drum roll* I’m finally going to give you the recipe. It’s the next in my Flavours of the Middle East series.
Whilst these pistachio biscuits make an excellent Christmas gift, they’d be just as good for any celebration throughout the year. Made slightly smaller and a little neater, they’d also make excellent wedding flavour favours. They keep remarkably well and although they might soften over time, they are just as delicious and have a nice slightly chewy texture.
I adapted a recipe in Bake it Better Biscuits by Annie Rigg that I borrowed from the library. I used our local wholemeal flour, of course and made a few other tweaks to the ingredients and method.
- 100 g blanched almonds
- 125 g unsalted butter
- 100 g golden caster sugar
- pinch of Himalayan pink rock salt
- 5 drops cardamom Holy Lama spice drops or 5 green cardamom pods
- 1 drop cinnamon Holy Lama spice drops or ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 drops rose Holy Lama spice drops or 1-2 tsp rosewater
- 50 g pistachos
- 125 g wholemeal flour
- 125 g plain flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp water
- 2 heaped tbsp icing sugar
- Toast the almonds in a hot oven for 4-6 minutes until lightly golden. Do take care not to burn them. Leave to cool.
- Cream the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add the salt and spices and cream some more.
- Blitz the almonds and pistachios in a coffee grinder or food processor until roughly ground. It's good to have some powdered and some bits for a bit of extra texture and crunch.
- Mix into the butter mixture.
- Sieve in the flours and baking powder and mix until incorporated.
- Stir in the water and then gather together with your hands to form into a ball of dough.
- Take off walnut sized lumps and roll them into balls.
- Place onto lined baking sheets, slightly apart.
- Bake at 180℃ for about 15 minutes or until lightly golden.
- Allow to cool for a few minutes.
- Sieve the icing sugar into a bowl, then roll the biscuits to cover, one by one.
- Place on a wire rack to cool completely, then dust lightly with any remaining icing sugar.
Adapted from Bake It Better Biscuits by Annie Rigg
As I used our local wholemeal flour from Cotehele Mill, I’m sending these pistachio biscuits off to Tea Time Treats hosted by Lavender and Lovage and The Hedge Combers. The theme this month is Local Ingredients and Recipes.Other recipes for pistachio biscuits or almond cookies
- Cacao nibs and pistachio shortbread via Tin and Thyme
- Chocolate cinnamon smacaroons via Tin and Thyme
- Cinnamon balls via Belleau Kitchen
- Cranberry orange & pistachio cookies via Wallflower Kitchen
- Cranberry pistachio vegan biscotti via Veggie Inspired
- Danish vanilla wreaths via Fab Food 4 All
- Grain free spice biscuits via Gluten Free SCD and Veggie
- Nut butter biscuits via Kavey Eats
- Pistachio baileys shortbread via Recipes from a Pantry
Sammie
29th April 2016 at 8:53 amOoh Choclette these look so yummy. Please don’t hate me – but I really struggle with cardamom. I keep trying it but just can’t get my body to like it. Would these work without it? Sorry to be a pain. Sammie x
Choclette
29th April 2016 at 11:40 amHahaha, not everyone has to like everything Sammie. I’m sure these would work fine without cardamom. You might want to up the cinnamon slightly or maybe add a little lemon zest instead.
Henk
29th April 2016 at 10:18 amI’d love to try these. The combination of flavours is very appealing. Last week I happened to have bought a new little bottle of rose water ….
Choclette
29th April 2016 at 11:41 amExcellent timing Henk, these were meant to be.
Kavey
29th April 2016 at 1:10 pmThese sound so gorgeous, love all the flavours. But Pete’s our resident baker and he has taken against both cardamom and pistachios. Perhaps I’ll have to make them myself?!
Choclette
29th April 2016 at 4:04 pmOh no Kavey, that’s no good. Sounds like you need to make these biscuits and convince him just how good these flavours are.
Aimee
29th April 2016 at 1:16 pmI am obsessed with Middle Eastern flavours – I think I could love on that food alone, actually. These are so so gorgeous! Thanks for linking to my cookies too 🙂
Choclette
29th April 2016 at 3:47 pmMiddle Eastern flavours are wonderful indeed. They aren’t too in your face, but are beautifully aromatic and very tasty.
Cathy @ Planet Veggie
29th April 2016 at 2:33 pmLike someone else commented, I don’t like cardamom either but I can just leave that out, as these biscuits look lovely.
Choclette
29th April 2016 at 3:45 pmHmmm, seems cardamom is not doing to well at the moment – all very strange 😉 But yes, as you say, it can just be left out.
Vicky
29th April 2016 at 3:25 pmOh what fantastic flavours! Like some of the others, I’m not overly keen on cardamom on its own but find it works beautifully with other flavours and I imagine when it’s blended with the rosewater and cinnamon flavours these biscuits taste delicious. I’ve never heard of Holy Lama spice drops before, I just looked them up, I might treat myself to some. Thank you also for sharing my cookie recipe.
Choclette
29th April 2016 at 3:43 pmYes, it seems cardamom isn’t as popular with some as it is with me. I have a jar of sugar with a load of cardamoms in, which gives a subtle citrus flavour to bakes which might be better for those not too keen. The spice drops don’t lose their potency like ground spices, so they are great for spices yo don’t use very often.
munchiesandmunchkins
29th April 2016 at 5:15 pmThese look incredible, I love cardamom! YUM.
Choclette
30th April 2016 at 8:10 amOh hooray, so glad there’s another cardamom fan out there 😉
Angie@Angie's Recipes
29th April 2016 at 7:31 pmI love cardamom! These cookies look wonderfully delicious.
Choclette
30th April 2016 at 8:12 amYay, another cardamom fan Angie. It’s quite a subtle flavour combined with the others, but it works really well in a sweet biscuit.
Camilla
29th April 2016 at 11:50 pmThese biscuits look and sound amazing, love almonds in biscuits:-) Thanks for linking to my recipe:-)
Choclette
30th April 2016 at 8:15 amThanks Camilla. Almonds are a wonderful nut and work so well in pretty much any form of baking.
Jean | DelightfulRepast.com
30th April 2016 at 2:51 pmChoclette, this is just the sort of biscuit I love with a nice cuppa tea! Have all the ingredients on hand except the pistachios, will have to pick some up today and get baking!
Choclette
30th April 2016 at 9:09 pmOh do give them a go and let me know what you think Jean. I’m very tempted to whip up a batch soon too.
Dom
30th April 2016 at 3:42 pmlove these… adore almonds in most things but in biscuits they are the best!
Choclette
30th April 2016 at 9:10 pmOh yes, almond biscuits are fab, but they are a little bit more fab if they are combined with pistachios 😉
the caked crusader
1st May 2016 at 6:00 pmLook lovely, but like one of your other commenters, I haven’t found my cardamom love yet! Sure they’d be ace without
Choclette
1st May 2016 at 7:36 pmOh goodness not you too CC. I’m pretty certain they would be ace without though, as you say 🙂
Nayna Kanabar
1st May 2016 at 8:42 pmThese look really delicious and I love all the middle eastern flavours you have used in them.
Choclette
1st May 2016 at 8:48 pmThanks Nayna, the spices go wonderfully well with the rose and nuts – at least I think so 😉
Henk Kooiman
20th July 2016 at 12:25 pmFinally made them ! I changed a few minor things in the ingredients: 100 g wholemeal spelt + 30 g corn flour + 50 g rice flour + 70 g white spelt. Also I changed the way the dough is made, to make it simpler. With these ingredients nothing could go wrong tastewise , I thought. And indeed, the cookies are very delicous and nice and brittle, mmmmmhhhhh. Nice flavour and good aftertaste, not too sweet and not too fat. What a pity pistachio’s are so very expensive. Last time I paid 3.50 €/100 g ….
Choclette
21st July 2016 at 1:24 pmGlad they worked Henk. I’m feeling I have a biscuit deficiency in my life at the moment, so I might have to make some for myself. But yes, pistachios are very expensive, which is why I think of them as a Christmas treat.