Posted on Nov 6, 2011 in All Recipe Posts, Fillings, Nuts, Special Diet | 22 comments

This blog is giving me whiplash … does it do that to you?  All this flipping between wickedness and protein bad%$#ness is getting me confused.  Would help if I just redesigned the whole thing so it’s all sorted, right?  It’s still on the TO DO list.  Promise.  For the record, I’m not procrastinating.  Just have this pesky day job that gets in the way of the list.

In the meantime, may I distract you by making us some golden green gorgeousness?  Sure … but what’s so hard about making pistachio butter?  Nothing.  Totally.  Nada.  All you really need is some fresh pistachios and a food processor that won’t explode when you ask it to man-up and process those little green jewels into a lovely paste.  So, if you want a 100% healthy pistachio butter, do that!  Seriously.  It’s amazing.  Use raw pistachios for the best colour and flavour and all the extra goodness from not having good stuff destroyed by toasting, roasting, whatever.

I need my pistachio butter to be a bit more lush this time because I need it for a sweet pastry I’m planning.  So I’ve added a couple of things :-)

Dammit, but no-one’s yet invented scratch-n-sniff blogging … so you can’t smell the lovely pistachio sweetness just by looking at it.  Don’t wear out your fingernails and the LCD screen with scratching …  :-(

This pistachio butter is delicious eaten with a spoon straight from the jar.  But it’s also really good spread on bread and ohhhh, on organic oat crackers!  Wow.  That’s why they’re in the pics … too too good!  Drizzle a little chocolate over it.  Pick yourself up off the floor and eat it with the chocolate.  Pick yourself up again … see how all that swooning at its deliciousness can be dangerous?  Be warned.

It’s also fantastic if used to flavour desserts and creams, much like a praline paste, but without the toffee-like overtones.  This is pure pistachio.

I’m using it to flavour a filling for a pastry I’m planning to make as soon as this humid weather leaves the neighbourhood.

Make, eat, enjoy!

Makes 1 standard jar

Ingredients
200 grams raw pistachios (shelled weight)
110 grams castor sugar
35 grams virgin pistachio oil

Instructions
Grind the pistachios and sugar together until they form a paste.  This will take time.  Consider your food processor’s will to live and give it a rest now and then and scrape down the bowl.  When you have a thick paste, add the oil gradually, with the motor still running.  Process until creamy.

Scoop into a jar and seal.  Store in the refrigerator to keep it fresh and make sure the nut oils don’t become rancid.  It will keep for ages refrigerated but you are unlikely to test that.  It’s really good :-D