passover week 2018 - pistachio and lemon shortbreads

passover week 2018 - pistachio and lemon shortbreads

• 2 Apr 2018

Whilst looking through my bakes for Passover 2018, they all looked a bit fancy and time consuming so I thought I should throw in a simple cookie recipe, one that you could make in a stand mixer or even a food processor. This shortbread recipe is adapted from the Ottolenghi cookbook recipe for pistachio shortbreads, which were flavoured with cardamom. Cardamom isn’t allowed during Passover so I added grated lemon rind instead and needed to add more Passover baking mix to make a workable dough.

This a throw everything in recipe which takes no time to make, but you have to chill the dough before baking because it’s very soft. Once the dough is chilled you brush the roll with egg before coating with pistachios then refrigerating again before slicing. I managed to forget to top the cookies with the vanilla sugar before I baked them - I do seem to be getting increasingly forgetful in my old age. The cookies are lovely but they’re very fragile so let them cool completely before removing the tray or they will shatter. They keep for ages in an airtight tin.

Here's the recipe for you. For all my recipes I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon. All eggs are 60 grams; I use unsalted butter and my oven is a conventional gas oven not fan forced, so you may need to reduce your oven temperature by 20°C. Passover baking mix is equal quantities of superfine matzo meal and potato flour (starch).

Pistachio and lemon shortbread - makes about 30

200g unsalted butter

330g Passover baking mix

2 tsp finely grated lemon rind

½ tsp salt

50g caster sugar

60g pistachio kernels

1 egg, lightly beaten

2 tbs vanilla sugar

Place the butter, baking mix flour, salt, lemon rind and sugar into an electric mixer or food processor and mix at a low speed until the mixture just comes together into a paste. Remove the dough from the machine and shape into a log, about 3-4cm in diameter. Wrap the log in cling film and place into the fridge to firm up for about 1-2 hours.

Chop up the pistachios fairly finely and scatter over a flat plate or tray, ready for when the dough comes out of the fridge. Using a pastry brush, brush the log with the beaten egg and then roll it in the finely chopped pistachios. Wrap the log back up in cling film and refrigerate once again for about 30 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to 170°C (conventional) and line a baking tray with parchment/baking paper. Remove the log from the cling film and slice into 5 mm-1 cm rounds. Place on the baking tray, allowing about 2 cm between each shortbread to allow for spreading. Dust the tops of the shortbread with a little vanilla sugar and place into the oven for about 20-30 mins until lightly golden. These biscuits are very fragile, so allow them to cool completely on a wire rack before storing. These cookies are very nice served with a cup of tea or coffee.

See you all again tomorrow with the final Passover baking recipe from my kitchen for 2018.

Bye for now,

Jillian