Lucky number 4, my favorite number, and for my forth guest post is by one of my very best friends Kathryn who came to visit this weekend. We have known each other since high school, traveled to Germany with our German class between sophomore and junior year; then became super close friends our senior year and have been close ever since. Her job lets her be in the DC area often, which of course is my favorite part of her job. Plus, we go on fun trips together...she headed south with me to Birmingham in February and last summer we had quiet the adventure in Charleston. Kathryn is a foodie like me, and I love cooking with her! She is one of the most genuine and nicest people I know, plus she is just so much fun!
So, this weekend she came into town and together we baked up some pistachio shortbread in the shape of mustaches and then covered them with chocolate for this mustachio pistachio post. They are delicious and unlike most shortbread, they weren't dry, but I will leave the posting of this recipe to Kathryn.
From Kathryn:
Like Lauren, one of my favorite things about my job is the travel. Especially, when I get to stop in and visit my good friends!
Now, the trouble-some part of my job, is when I am traveling and I am stuck in a hotel. This leads to late night Internet searching on Pinterest or Etsy, which only leads to some questionable purchases. But occasionally, this leads to genius decisions, like when I stumbled across mustache cookie cutters from Fuzzy Ink (http://www.fuzzy-ink.com/
Of course, I had to share my amazing purchase with someone who would appreciate it. So, I called Lauren and in no time we came up with the idea of Mustachio Pistachio Shortbread cookies (come on, who doesn’t love a good rhyming cookie?), and marked our calendars for when I would come up to put them to use.
We had a wonderful time making them and I hope you do to. Enjoy!
P.S. I seriously think someone needs to film Lauren while she bakes. She works with complete efficiency, thoughtfulness, and fun! Totally inspiring to see in-person.
Kathryn getting her hands dirty.
Dough rolled out and ready for the mustaches...
Check out those staches...
Into the oven they go...
Fresh out of the oven. These smell soo good!
Oh chocolate pistachio mustache goodness...
Pistachio Shortbread dipped in Chocolate: (Mustachio Pistachio Shortbread (adapted from Epicurious)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 cup pistachios (I like Harris Teeter Roasted Pistachio Kernels since they are already shelled)
1 large egg yolk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Parchment paper
1. In a bowl, mix together flour, powered sugar, and salt. Pour into a food processor. Add butter, egg yolk, and vanilla. Mix together.
2. I like a good crunch to my Mustachio Pistachio Shortbread, so I added the pistachios to the food processor after the dough was formed. Give the dough a few pulses in the food processor, enough to barely roughly chop the pistachios. Remove the dough, cover in plastic and chill in the refrigerator until firm(30 minutes to an hour).
3. Pre-heat oven to 325°F. Line your baking sheet with parchment paper.
4. Flour a surface and roll out the dough. Use mustache cookie cutters and have fun! If need be, use a knife to gently remove the shortbread from the cookie cutter and transfer on to the baking sheet. Re-roll out the left over dough and repeat until you’ve used all of the dough.
5. Bake for 18 minutes, then remove from oven and allow to cool.
6. Once the shortbread is cool, it’s time to melt the chocolate coating. Fill a pot with water and bring to a boil. Place a metal mixing bowl or another pot on top, creating a double boiler. Add chocolate chips to the bowl. Stir while the chocolate melts. Once completely melted, use a knife and coat the Mustachio Pistachio Shortbread.
Now, your Mustachio Pistachio Shortbread cookies look quite believable and are quite delish-io!!
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