Pistachio Biscotti

I'm all for Tea time snacks. I can live by them.And actually not so long ago I have lived by  them quite literally. But that is not the Kulsum you want to know about. So getting on...A quiet evening with no stress, no work, lying around on the couch with ginger tea and something to  munch on is my ultimate dream day. Having said that, I almost never get to enjoy my tea time. The morning is so hectic and rushing, that tea often ends up as a necessity for caffeine than pleasure. Most evening I'm don't reach home. SO you can imagine how much I treasure once in a blue moon tea time at leisure.

Biscotti makes a great companion for hot cup of tea or coffee for that matter. I keeps reasonably well and is very versatile. And its easy to make. That's reason enough for me to make it, and just when I do, I somehow also find time for teatime.

Pistachio Biscotti Adapted from Tyler Florence
Makes just about 12. I suggest you double the recipe.

1/4 cup butter (unsalted, room temp)
3/4 cup pistachios
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 3/4 c All purpose flour
1/2 tsp Cardamom powder *
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Notes:
*Pistachio and cardamom of course! They are the couple who eloped and lived happily ever after. But alas! if you don't like cardamom omit it just don't tell me about it. Because I'll blame you for ruining a happy every after story.

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Lay the shelled but with skin pistachios on a baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes until lightly toasted. Remove from the oven.

Once they cool down, I rub them with a kitchen towel and the skin falls right off. You can use skinless pistachio, just reduce the baking time to 8-10 minutes.

Mix the flour, baking powder,cardamom and salt. Keep aside.

Beat the butter till it is light and fluffy.

Gradually add the egg, sugar and vanilla till creamy.

Now add the dry ingredients till everything is just about incorporated.

Add the pistachios.

On a lightly dusted surface work the dough for less than a minute.

Roll it into a log of ideally 12 inch long and 1 inch high. Next time I'm going to try harder to get to the ideal 1 inch height but but.....

Place the log on a cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes.

Let the log cool for 5 minutes and slice  on a diagonal into 12 1-inch thick pieces.

Put the cookies back on the cookie sheet and bake 7 minutes. Turn the cookies over and bake the other side for another 7 minutes. Store cookies in an airtight container.

Even though I complained about no teatime, this was over in a day.