Bakescapade!: Pistachio Butter Cookies and Happy Birthday to Me!

I am a year older now starting from Tuesday, 19th February 2013. Yes, it was my birthday. I celebrated at home, with my wonderful family. They cooked these Thai fare (deep fried squid in crispy batter, sweet and sour snapper and spicy vegetable tomyum):

...and bought this decadent bad boy:

Everbody, meet my birthday brownies! Simply named American Brownies from Secret Recipe. A rich, decadent, fudgy dark chocolate pistachio brownies. I loved it so much because it is how I like my brownies - FUDGY! So fudgy and chocolate-y it's not for the faint-hearted. Describing this brownies makes me wanna go to the fridge and grab a slice...and it's 11.13pm now...Ok, enough with this brownies. Let me introduce you to these wonderful cookies I found on Patricia Scarpin's Technicolor Kitchen (love her blog so much!). These cookies were fabulous! Buttery like shortbread, they are so crispy and full with nuts that you find yourself munching on them non-stop. They are really that good. And oh, I did not have enough pistachios when making these cookies so I added chopped cashew nuts too and they work wonders with pistachios. No kidding.

Pistachio butter cookies
Original recipe: Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook
Source: Technicolor Kitchen

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks/226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 ½ cups + 2 tablespoons (370g total) all-purpose flour, sifted
½ teaspoon salt
112g (4oz) unsalted pistachios, lightly toasted, cooled, finely chopped, fine dust sifted out *I used 70g pistachios and 60g cashews
about ¼ cup granulated, extra, for rolling the dough log

Method:
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar on medium speed until light and creamy, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Add the egg and vanilla, and beat to combine. Add the flour and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Stir in the pistachios.
2. Divide the dough into two equal parts. Place each on a piece of parchment paper; shape dough into logs. Fold parchment over dough; using a ruler, roll and press into a 3.5 cm (1.4in) log – like Martha does here. Wrap in parchment (I wrap in foil). Chill in freezer until very firm (I chill overnight).

This is how my cookie log looks like.

3. Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F; line two large baking sheets with baking paper. Unwrap one log at a time (keep the other in the freezer). Roll dough log in the extra sugar, coating them evenly, then cut into 6mm (¼in) thick rounds; space 2.5cm (1in) apart onto prepared sheets. Do the same with the other log.

Roll in sugar then slice.

4. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown around the edges, 15-20 minutes. Cool on the sheets for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Note:
*I find 180C to be perfect for cookies with such thickness as the photo above. But I find it to be too thick so I slice it thinner and bake those thinner slices at 160C.
*To get thinner slices, it's important that the log is cold. If you find the dough to have softened a bit to room temperature as you roll with in sugar, pop it back in the freezer for about a minute or so to firm it back.

Pistachio Butter Cookies
Sumber: Technicolor Kitchen

Bahan-bahan:
1 cawan (226g) mentega tanpa garam, suhu bilik
¾ cawan (150g) gula kaster
1 biji telur saiz A
1 sudu kecil esen vanilla
2 ½ cawan + 2 sb (370g) tepung gandum, diayak
½ sudu kecil garam *kalau guna butter biasa, letak secubit je garam
112g (4oz) unsalted pistachio yang disangai, cincang halus dan serbuk halus diayak keluar *saya guna 70g pistachio dan 60g kacang gajus
anggaran ¼ cawan gula, ekstra, untuk salut doh.

Cara-cara:
1. Pukul mentega dan gula hingga ringan dan berkrim. Masukkan telur dan vanilla, pukul sebati. Tambah tepung dan secubit garam, gaul sebati. Akhir sekali masukkan pistachio.
2. Bahagi doh kepada dua bahagian dan bentukkan seperti log (kayu) panjang anggaran ketebalan 3.5 cm (1.4inci). Balut dengan parchment paper (saya guna foil) dan sejukkan dalam freezer sampai keras (saya sejukkan semalaman).

3. Panaskan oven kepada 180°C/350°F; gris dan alas dua loyang dengan baking paper. Ambil satu doh dari freezer (satu lagi simpan dulu) dan salut dengan gula ekstra. Selepas itu, potong doh kepada kepingan-kepingan setebal lebih kurang 6mm (¼inci) dan susun atas loyang tadi. Selepas habis, keluarkan doh yang satu lagi dan buat langkah-langkah yang sama.

Salut dengan gula dan potong.

4. Bakar selama 15-20 minit atau sehingga garing. Pusing loyang semasa separuh masa membakar jika perlu. Sejukkan biskut sepenuhnya dan simpan dalam bekas kedap udara.

Nota:
*Suhu 180C sesuai kalau potong biskut tebal-tebal macam dalam gambar. Kalau potong nipis-nipis, kena turunkan suhu sikit kepada 160C, kalau tak nanti cepat hangit.