Since I started cooking and baking, I’ve been all about the marriage of sweet and salty in a single, perfect bite. And there’s a reason sweet and salty go so well together: science. It’s just how our taste buds were built.
I know I’m late to the whole sweet and savory game with these cookies, but that actually makes me really happy. It means that now I can look for any recipe for salted cookies and get pages of results to choose from. I’m not alone in the corner putting salt in my sweets anymore (or sweets in my salties), and that’s pretty damn cool.
These cookies are big, so they’re soft in the middle and slightly chewy around the edges. In addition to the salted pistachios, white chocolate chunks and dark chocolate discs, we’re also throwing in a hint of orange zest. You can barely taste it and it really rounds out the flavors, but you can also easily leave it out.
I make these the way my mama makes cookies: by hand, using forks to roughly cream the butter rather than using a mixer. I also toss in the add-ins before the flour, that way I don’t overmix it once the flour is already incorporated (because that could lead to a stiff bread-like dough from extra gluten formation). So the dough will look a little wet and nasty at first, but that’s totally okay. The flour will bring it all together (see above, before and after flour gets mixed in).
And this cookie dough? With everything that’s going on in there, it’s definitely worth taking a bite or three.
White and Dark Chocolate Pistachio Cookies
by L.
Makes 18 large cookies
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
zest of one small orange (optional)
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
8 oz white chocolate, chopped into chunks
6 oz pistachios, salted and roasted
8 oz dark chocolate discs (I use Belcolade 73%)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper or a silpat.
Combine your flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and set that aside.
In a large bowl, cream the butter then add in granulated sugar and orange zest, mixing until just combined. Then mix in the brown sugar, followed by the eggs and vanilla extract. You should have a very sloppy dough. Toss in the pistachios and chocolate and stir until evenly incorporated. Then dump all the flour mixture into the dough at once and gently fold it in until fully incorporated. If the dough feels soft (mine did), pop it in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes before baking.
Scoop the dough onto the prepared cookie sheets (I use a big ice cream scoop, about the size of my palm).
Bake for 9-12 minutes, until they’re golden brown on the edges but still look slightly raw in the center. They will keep cooking on the tray.
Cool on a wire rack, then top with sea salt or extra orange zest if you’re feeling funky.
