My First Post! And Cookies!

I am very excited to be beginning a new adventure in food blogging! For many years I have been enjoying reading the many wonderful vegetarian/vegan food blogs and I am humbled to be joining such an amazing community. I spend so much of my time thinking about, dreaming about, and preparing vegan food that I figured I might as well start my own food journal.

Anyhoo! Enough about me! This blog is about the food.

I can’t think of a better way to start than with a cookie recipe. A cookie made with pistachio butter. How often do you see that? I think pistachios are sadly underappreciated and neglected in baking.  That’s why I created these Pistachio Butter Cookies with White Chocolate Chips.

Enjoy!

Pistachio Butter Cookies with White Chocolate Chips

Makes about two dozen cookies

Ingredients:

8 oz pistachios (roasted, unsalted)

3 tbls canola oil

½ cup brown sugar, packed

½ cup white sugar

¼ cup + 3 tbls soy milk

1 tbls canola oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

Few drops almond extract (optional)

1 ½ cups white flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

Large handful white chocolate chips

Handful pistachios, chopped (optional)

Directions:

Blend 8 oz pistachios and 3 tbls canola oil in a food processor until completely smooth. This may take several minutes. The butter will be thin (and honestly it will look pretty darn unappetizing).

In a large bowl, mix pistachio butter, sugars, soy milk, 1 tbls oil, and extracts with a fork until well combined.

Add in dry ingredients, white chocolate chips, and nuts (optional) and mix well.

Drop about two tablespoons of batter per cookie onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten each cookie slightly with your fingers or the bottom of a glass.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool for about five minutes and then move to cooling rack.

Recipe notes:

You could also make these with prepared pistachio butter but it is difficult to find and usually very expensive. If you do, you will probably need to add more oil along with the sugar mixture.

I also made these cookies with semi-sweet chocolate chips. My testers (otherwise known as friends) preferred the white chocolate chips, as did I. Of course you can try it out for yourself.

I did not make these with the chopped pistachios but I think they would be a great addition. The pistachio flavor is very subtle in these cookies and is difficult to identify. I think the chopped nuts would bring out the pistachio flavor better.