Honey Pistachio Shortbread

5 from 4 votes

Honey Pistachio Shortbread

Shortbread is a beloved staple of British afternoon tea and a festive favourite at Christmas time. Flecked with green, these honey pistachio shortbread biscuits have the classic crumbly and melt-in-the mouth texture you'd expect from a traditional shortbread recipe. However, the addition of pistachios provides a delightful and welcome chewiness. They're just what you need to accompany a bowl of ice cream or fruity summer dessert.

Prep Time20

Cook Time10

Resting Time20

Course: Afternoon Tea, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: British

Keyword: biscuits, honey, pistachios, shortbread

Servings: pieces

Calories: 100kcal

Author: Choclette @ Tin and Thyme

Ingredients

110 g unsalted butter softened
40 g golden caster sugar
1 tbsp honey use one with plenty of flavour
1 pinch fine sea salt
125 g unbleached plain flour
50 g brown rice flour can use semolina instead
25 g pistachios plain and unsalted - roughly chopped
1 tsp caster sugar for sprinkling

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar, honey and salt together until the mix is light in colour and fluffy in texture.
110 g unsalted butter, 40 g golden caster sugar, 1 tbsp honey, 1 pinch fine sea salt
Chop the pistachios so that you get a good mix of crumbs, small pieces and larger ones. I bash them using a pestle and mortar.
25 g pistachios
Work in the flours and chopped pistachios until the mix clumps together and starts to form a dough.
125 g unbleached plain flour, 50 g brown rice flour
Gather everything together with your hands and form a ball. Place the ball back in the bowl, cover it and leave in a cool place to rest for 20 minutes. This step isn't essential if you're in a hurry, but it will make it easier to roll the dough out and the biscuits will better hold their shape.
Set your oven to 170℃ (150℃ fan, 338℉, Gas 3).
Line a large baking sheet or two smaller ones with a baking mat or paper.
Lightly flour your work top and rolling pin, then roll the dough out to 6mm (¼ inch) in thickness.
Stamp out cookies with a cutter measuring roughly 5 cm (2 inch) in diameter. Gather up the offcuts, form into another ball and roll out again. Repeat the process until you've used up all of the dough.
Place the stamped out dough onto your lined baking sheet. Sprinkle lightly with the sugar and place on the middle shelf of your heated oven.
1 tsp caster sugar
Bake for ten minutes or until the shortbread is just starting to turn slightly golden. Unlike some of the ones you can see in my images, they shouldn't be brown.
Using a fish spatula, transfer the shortbread onto a wire rack to cool.

Notes

For crispier biscuits, roll the dough to around 4mm and bake for 2-3 minutes more - until golden.

Once cool, the shortbread will keep in an airtight container for a week.

Delicious on its own as a snack, for afternoon tea or to accompany summer desserts such as ice cream and eton mess.

You’ll find additional tips and info about this recipe in the main body of the post.

Please note: calories and other nutritional information are per serving. They’re approximate and will depend on serving size and exact ingredients used. Please refer to my nutrition disclaimer for further information.

Nutrition