Pistachio Cardamom Cookies

This summer I had the pleasure of meeting Amber Angelilli at the Main Street Sunday Market in Park City. Amber is a professional baker who works at Liberty Heights Fresh in Salt Lake City and she's married to Roberto (see archives for blogs on mushrooms) .

Here is her recipe for Pistachio Cardamom Cookies. She brought me some of these heavenly cookies when she and her husband came for dinner at our home last Monday evening with our friend Keith. (Dinner menu to follow recipe). Amber also brought me a basket of chanterelles mushrooms, which I made into a pie on Tuesday (Recipe below)

Pistachio Cardamom Cookies:

8 oz. unsalted butter, softened
1 c. granulated sugar + 2 T. for reserved
1/2 t. ground cardamom + 1/4 t. reserved
4 egg whites
1 t. rose water
1 c. all purpose flour
1/2 t. salt
1/4 c. finely chopped pistachios
preheat oven 350
line cookie sheets with parchment paper or *Silpat.
cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. add whites one at a time until fully incorporated. add rose water.
combine flour, cardamom, and salt. sift into butter/sugar mixture and mix until well blended.
Fill pastry bag with batter and pipe 2" by 1/2" "S"
shapes, spacing at least 1" apart. Combine reserved sugar, cardamon, and pistachios and sprinkle over cookies. Bake about 10 minutes or until golden brown around edges.
Any extra batter holds up well refrigerated for a couple of days.

*Note
For those of you who don't know what *Silpat is--it is a siliconized rubber sheet to bake cookies on. It should be hand washed immediately after use ( never put it in the dish-washer) and you should never cut on it as it will ruin the pad. You can purchase these cookie-sheet liners or baking mats online or in Sur La Table for under 15 and at Bed Bath and Beyond for about $20.

Our dinner menu consisted of:
Prosecco

Appetizers:

Caponatina
Tomato pie
Tortilla with potatoes and onions
Crackers
Bruschetta

Chianti
Spaghetti with clams with garlic scapes and a splash of tomato

Whole fillet of Coho salmon coated in a Dijon mustard sauce

Arugula salad with fresh onions and garden tomatoes

Fresh peaches drowned in Grand Marnier with vanilla bean ice cream

Grappa


Here's the recipe for the mushroom and spinach pie

1 cup of mozzarella
1 cup of ricotta
1/2 cup of cheddar
1/2 cup grated cheeses (any ones you like--I used 1/4 Parmigiano and 1/4 Romano)
1 cup of chopped cooked spinach (leftover works well)
1 egg
1 teaspoon of butter
1 sliced onion
2 garlic cloves minced
1/2 lb of chanterelles
salt, pepper to taste
1 deep dish pastry shell
a sprinkling of seasoned (including grated cheese) bread crumbs for the top

Directions:

Sauté the onions, sliced mushrooms and garlic in 1 teaspoon of butter
Mix all the other ingredients and then add the onions, mushrooms, and garlic mixture when cooled.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Pop the ingredients into the pie shell and top with the crumbs. Bake pie in the oven for about 35-40 minutes.