Divine Dubai Chocolate Pistachio Cookies

Recipe: Pistachio Cookie Recipe »

These pistachio chocolate chip cookies are utterly moreish and come with a warning label. Based on the famous Dubai chocolate recipe, these are chocolate chip cookies filled with pistachio kataifi cream pastry and topped with chocolate, more pistachio kataifi cream and chopped pistachios! These oversized, enormous cookies measure around 12cm/4.7inches in diameter!

These pistachio cookies are so addictive and would be great for bake sales or fund raisers as they're a bit special. When I've bought similar cookies they sell them for around $12 each. Once you have made the filling for one batch you can easily make it for many batches. I especially love these cookies cold from the fridge because the chocolate gives it a good snap when you bite into it against the crisp and creamy pistachio kataifi pastry.

10 Helpful Tips For Making Pistachio Chocolate Cookies

1 - This pistachio cookie recipe can easily be doubled. You can also make the cookies smaller. If you halve these, they will need less cooking time around 12-15 minutes baking time per tray of cookies. Just check when they are golden at the edges and the centre is set.

2 - You can use whichever chocolate chips you like and I like a mix of dark and milk chocolate. White chocolate chips would also be delicious in these although they will add even more sweetness.

3 - This cookie dough does not need to be rested in the fridge beforehand because we use cold butter and cold eggs in this recipe.

4 - I always weigh my cookie dough before baking it. That way everything can bake for the same amount of time because it is the same size.

5 - These cookies spread a lot so usually I only put two dough balls per tray.

6 - Tip: If for some reason your cookies end up merging together if they're baked too close together, grab a water glass and place it over the cookie's edges and shape it into a round circle using the glass by moving it in a circular motion. You have to do this as soon as the cookies come out of the oven. Once they cool, they will set firm.

7 - Kataifi can be found at Middle Eastern and Greek grocery stores in the fridge section. I am hoping one day it will be available at the supermarket so I don't need to make a special trip to buy it (and sometimes it is sold out because Dubai chocolate is so popular!).

8 - I use this Pisti pistachio cream. Look for a sweet pistachio cream rather than a savoury pistachio pesto. I don't recommend using homemade pistachio cream as it tends to be a bit more "wet" and can make the kataifi soggy. Trust me, I've made over a dozen batches of it and while it tastes great, it affects the kataifi's crispness!

9 - If you have leftover pistachio and kataifi try making these Dubai chocolate strawberries. They are absolutely delicious!

10 - These cookies last for 4-5 days in an airtight container in the fridge. These cookies can also be frozen for 3-4 months.

Pistachio Cookie Recipe

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 25 minutes + 15 minutes

Makes 4 giant cookies about 12cms/4.7inches in diameter

For Cookies

• 113g/1 stick butter, cold, cubed
• 70g/2.5ozs brown sugar
• 40g/1.4ozs caster or superfine sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg, cold
• 180g/6ozs cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 125g/4ozs dark or milk chocolate chips

For Pistachio Filling

• 20g/0.7ozs kataifi toasted and buttered (see below)
• 110g/3.9ozs pistachio paste
• 10g/0.3ozs tahini paste
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

For Decorating

• 100g/3.5ozs chocolate (I like a 50/50 mix of milk and dark chocolate)
• 20g/0.7ozs kataifi toasted and buttered (see below)
• 100g/3.5ozs pistachio paste
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped, toasted pistachios

Step 1 -Place the cold, cubed butter, both types of sugar and vanilla in a mixer fitted with a beater attachment. Beat for 4 minutes on high (it won't feel like it will come together as the butter is cold but it will). Add in the egg and beat for 30 seconds. Don 't worry if it looks curdled, it is fine. In a bowl whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together. Then add this to the butter mixture in the bowl and beat on the lowest speed until just combined. Mix in the chocolate chips by hand. Divide into 4 even sized balls.

Step 2 - Preheat oven to 180C/350F or 160C/320F fan forced and line 2 baking trays with parchment. Mix the kataifi for the stuffing with the pistachio paste, tahini and salt. Flatten the dough and then spoon a tablespoon of the filling into it and gather up the sides of the dough to seal and shape into a ball. Repeat with the remaining dough balls and filling.

Step 3 - Bake 2 cookies per tray set wide apart as they spread. Bake for 20-22 minutes until golden and baked in the centre. Rest on the tray for 20 minutes to cool (they are delicate when they come out of the oven).

Step 4 - Melt the chocolate in a microwave or a double boiler. Spoon over the top of each cooled cookie. Then mix the toasted kataifi and pistachio paste together in a bowl and spoon some in the centre. Sprinkle chopped pistachios around the centre.

Toasted Kataifi Pastry

• 75g/2.5ozs kataifi pastry, chopped and separated
• 30g/1oz butter

Step 1 - In a large frying pan with high sides melt the butter on medium heat and add the kataifi pastry breaking it up as you add it in. Toast the kataifi pastry well all over. This will take around 10 minutes to toast the whole batch. This is very important to ensure that you get the requisite crunch.

Speaking of baking and my oven, for the last 6 months I've been asking Mr NQN to fix the light on my rangehood. It's not old, it's quite new in fact but suddenly I found that the light was quite dim and not as bright as it used to be. "The bulb must have blown," I thought to myself.

I looked up a youtube video on how to change a rangehood light and it looked relatively simple. But for months and months Mr NQN avoided doing it. But one day I knew he was headed to the hardware store to buy something else so I cornered him into having a look. He took out the grills and then fiddled around the lights. He had to take three screws out with a screwdriver and it all seemed a bit more complicated than it should be. Then he started flicking the light switches and then a bright light flooded the area.

He looked at me and I looked at him. "Er what?" I asked as the light dawned on me, literally.

It turned out that I just wasn't switching the right switch on. The bulb hadn't blown, it was there all along, I just didn't look closely enough at what each switch's function was and apparently this switch made it either a dim light or a bright one!

I offered him one of the pistachio cookies as a peace offering.

So tell me Dear Reader, do these sorts of things ever happen to you? Do you ever give peace offerings of food?