I hosted an all-boy play date yesterday afternoon. There were 6 boys in total (three 4 1/2 year olds, one 2 year old, and one 18 month old). Here’s the play-by-play: First they ran around shouting that a stampede of buffalo was chasing them, then they made a gingerbread house. Of course, they had to don super hero costumes to fight some old-fashioned crime. After that, they pretended to get married. My oldest son married a girl named Turquoise, who apparently works as a zookeeper (yeah, zookeeper my foot). There were tears. There were hugs. There were tears again. Then they cleaned up! Finally, the festivities ended with my eldest saying a heartfelt good-bye to his best friends. He did this completely in the nude, by the way, and no, that is not how we roll in this family. Not sure if this is related, but as soon as the day was over I ate a fair amount of chocolate pistachio sables.
I got this recipe from Bon Appetit Magazine December 2013 issue. The chocolate pistachio sable is a deep chocolate-y, sandy-textured, and down right good cookie. Their secret ingredient is a few flakes of sea salt sprinkled over top just before baking. Salt is the most wonderful spice in all the land. It brings out the flavor in each ingredient. I love to sprinkle a bit of salt on my cookies before baking. Just don’t sprinkle too much! Half a pinch should do it. These cookies fall under the ice box method, in that the dough is rolled into a log, chilled, then sliced and baked.
Okay, let’s do this thing. Mix together flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
Cream the butter, brown sugar and vanilla extract.
Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Then mix in one egg white. Finally, add your chocolate bits and chopped pistachios.
Divide the dough into four pieces, form each piece into a log, and wrap in parchment. Chill each log for at least 4 hours in the fridge. Once thoroughly chilled, cut 1/4″ slices.
Place sliced cookies on parchment-lined baking sheet, sprinkle on a few sea salt flakes, and bake for 9 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Cool on a wire rack.
- 2 1/2 cups (312 g) All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 cups (48 g) Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- 3/4 tsp. Salt
- 1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
- 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks or 282 g) Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups (178 g) Light Brown Sugar, lightly packed
- 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
- 1 Large Egg White
- 3/4 cups (133 g) Semisweet Chocolate, chopped
- 1 cup (133 g) Pistachios, coarsely chopped
- Flaky Sea Salt for sprinkling
- In a medium-sized bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda. Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat butter, brown sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 5 to 7 minutes. Reduce speed to low and slowly add dry ingredients. Mix just until combined, and then mix in the egg white. Fold in chocolate and pistachio bits.
- Divide the dough into four pieces, form each piece into a log, and wrap in parchment. If the dough seems crumbly just knead it a little to bring it together. Chill each log for at least 4 hours in the fridge. The colder the dough the easier it will slice.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Working with 1 log of dough at a time and using a serrated knife, cut logs into 1/4" thick rounds and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing at least 1/2 " apart.
- Sprinkle cookies with sea salt and bake, rotating baking sheets halfway through, until set around edges and centers look dry, about 9 to 10 minutes. Transfer to wire racks and cool.
- Cookie dough can be made 1 month ahead; freeze instead of chilling. Slice frozen logs into rounds just before baking.
- Wrap well and freeze for up to 3 months, or 3 days in room temperature.
- Standing or hand-held mixer
- Parchment paper
- Flaky Sea Salt
- Cookie sheets
