All these National Days are just great for a food blogger. If you ever get stumped and cannot think of something to make just check out all the fun ideas on the list of National Days. There is something different every day of the week. Who knew that every single day something is being celebrated?! February 26th was National Pistachio Day. I have grown very fond of Pistachio nuts. You buy them in their shells, remove the shells and they are so tasty all by themselves. They have such a pretty color and are great to incorporate into recipes.
I decided to make a dessert with the Pistachio nuts this time. I thought I would make something fun since it was the weekend. My family loves their ice cream so I created a sugar cookie that has just a hint of fresh lemon. I then dipped the cookies into melted semi-sweet chocolate and coated the chocolate with chopped pistachio nuts. I filled the cookies with Pistachio Ice Cream. Yum, what a treat! They were definitely a hit in my house. The cookies with the chocolate and pistachio were great on their own too. It gave the cookie a sweetness and saltiness to it. These ice cream sandwiches will be perfect when the weather gets a little warmer too.
Pistachio Ice Cream Sandwich
Makes approx. 10-12 Ice Cream Sandwiches
Ingredients
2 3/4 Cups, All-Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon, Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon, Salt
1/2 Teaspoon, Baking Powder
1 1/2 Cups, Sugar
1 Teaspoon, Pure Vanilla Extract
1 Cup, Butter, unsalted
1 Egg
1/2 Lemon, Zest and Juice
1 1/2 Cups, Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 Cup, Pistachio
Pistachio Ice Cream *storebought
Instructions
Pistachio Ice Ceam Sandwich
Preheat oven to 375 Degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silpat and set aside.
Remove the shells from the Pistachio nuts, chop them, place on a dish and set aside.
In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder. Set aside.
In a standing mixer, add the sugar and butter and mix well. Add the vanilla, egg, lemon zest and juice and combine all ingredients. Slowly add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and mix until all combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if necessary and mix again.
Place a heaping teaspoon of cookie dough onto baking sheet; you should be able to fit about 8-12 cookies on the sheet. If you are making a larger cookie than just bake 8 at a time.
Bake in oven for approx. 10 minutes or until the bottom edge of the cookie starts to turn a golden brown. Remove from oven and allow cookies to completely cool.
In a double boiler, melt the chocolate chips. Dip 1/2 of each cookie into the chocolate then immediately coat with the pistachio nuts. Place onto a Silpat or parchment paper to allow the chocolate to dry/set. Repeat until you have dipped about 1/2 of your cookies, leaving 1/2 of the cookies plain.
Sugar Cookie dipped in Chocolate & Pistachio Nuts
Once the chocolate is set on the cookies (it should no longer be soft) then you can place some of the ice cream on the bottom side of a cookie (with chocolate and pistachio on it) then place a plain sugar cookie (without any chocolate on it) to create a sandwich. That’s it!
Mangia! Enjoy!
Notes
If the chocolate is taking too long to set/harden on the cookie you can also place them into the freezer for a few minutes or so. I did that after the cookie was dipped and sat on my Silpat for a while. The chocolate was still soft to touch so I placed them in my freezer for a short time (approx. 5 minutes).
You can wrap the ice cream sandwiches individually in plastic wrap if you are not ready to serve them yet. Then place the wrapped sandwiches into a freezer bag and place in freezer until you are ready to serve.