I finally got around to making THE cookies this weekend, and the hype is totally accurate – they are delicious! #59: Pistachio Chocolate Chunk Shortbread.

 

 

The cookies in question are from Alison Roman’s recipe that has been blowing up all over the internet. They’re the best of shortbread and chocolate chip cookies combined! Dark chocolate chunks and brown sugar give them yummy depth of flavor, and leaving out the eggs makes them dense and satisfyingly crumbly.

 

I must admit, I am a huge chocolate chip cookie fan. They’re so addicting that I can never just have one. My fave recipe currently for a classic choco chip cookie involves maple syrup and they are the perfect amount of chewy. While they are my go-to at the moment, I usually peruse anywhere from 5 – 10 recipes online before making the classic cookie, just to see if there are any new interpretations that catch my eye.

 

Alison’s recipe fell into the make-me-do-a-double-take category: wait, a chocolate chip cookie that’s basically shortbread?? She mentions in her description how nostalgic chocolate chip cookies can get, making them seem more glorious than they actually are. As someone who makes regularly makes the recipe on the back of the Tollhouse chocolate chip bag like we did when I was little, I agree that the nostalgia level is high. But I also think the yummy level is just as high!

 

I decided to make half of the dough the way she describes and add crushed pistachios to the second half. Simply because any place I can stick some pistachios into a dessert, I will! They added a toasty, nutty flavor, but didn’t overtake the whole flavor of the cookie. Success!

 

I wonder if anyone else has ever been caught off-guard by the label for pistachios at Trader Joe’s. I understand that the part of the nut that we eat is considered the “meat” of the nut, but “raw nutmeats” still sounds really odd.

 

In case you needed a reminder of why shortbread is so delicious, here it is: BUTTER. A mountain of chilled, cubed butter.

 

I used 72% chocolate, though I might go for a higher percentage in the next batch I make. There’s enough sweetness in the cookie dough that extra chocolate bitterness only enhances the flavor.

 

Action shot! Whipping air into the creamed butter and sugar.

 

Time to convince the dough to be friendly and roll up into neat little tubes. A little cajoling and plastic wrap did the trick.

Boom.

 

A trip through the food processor would have made easy work of this! I just didn’t feel like cleaning all the parts to the food processor. Lazy, I know.

 

I used an egg wash to help the nuts adhere to the roll. I don’t know about you, but egg washes never seem to work the way they’re supposed to. Maybe I put too much water in? Not sure. I just always feel like I waste more egg than I end up using.

 

Post-sauna. They’re good hot, warm, and cold. Basically, they are delicious at all times. Go forth and bake some!

 

 

Happy munching!

 

 

Recipe from: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/salted-butter-and-chocolate-chunk-shortbread