adapted from Claire Saffitz
These cookies are award winning – literally. These bad boys took home the best overall award at my mom’s cookie swap last year. The combination of pistachio and almond flavoring in these shortbread cookies is amazing. The chocolate adds an extra punch of flavor. I added a tiny bit of green food coloring to the pistachio dough to increase the contrast between the green and white spiral. I also wasn’t able to find raw, shelled pistachios and I wasn’t about to shell that many nuts, so I used lightly salted pistachios. It didn’t effect the flavor very much, so feel free to do the same.
Pulse the pistachios in a food processor until finely ground but not a paste. Transfer the pistachios to a bowl and set aside. Add the butter, confectioner’s sugar, and run the food processor until smooth. Add the egg yolks and almond extract until smooth and light and fluffy. Add the flour and salt, then pulse until a stiff dough forms.
Transfer two-thirds of the dough into a medium bowl and fold in the almond flour. Scrape the almond dough onto a piece of parchment paper. Roll the dough into a 12-by-8 inch rectangle. Slide the slab onto a baking sheet and refrigerate 10-15 minutes until firm.
Add the ground pistachios to the remaining dough in the food processor. Pulse until combined. Plop tablespoon-size pieces of pistachio dough across the slab. Use an offset spatula to spread the pistachio dough across the slab. Roll the dough into a spiral log starting from the long side. Chill the log until firm, at least 1 hour.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove the log and roll in demerara sugar. Slice the log into ¼ inch cookies. Bake the cookies until golden around the edges, 15-20 minutes. Once the cookies have cooled, dip half of each cookie in chocolate and enjoy