 | | | Dark Chocolate Pistachio Butter Cups Photo Susie Iventosch | | | | | | One day my son decided to pick up the ingredients to make dark chocolate pistachio butter cups. That sounded like a great idea to me! He loves Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cups, and since we all really love pistachios, he thought it might be a fun experiment. What's not to love . dark chocolate, pistachios and sea salt? Plus it's a fun project for the family to do in the kitchen. They turned out so well that we recently made our second batch. They make a fun dessert to bring to a party and they keep really well in the freezer until you're ready to eat them. In fact, we eat them frozen and they are really great that way - nice and cold for hot summer days! We made ours in mini muffin tins with liners so they are easy to get out of the pan.
La Tourangelle Pistachio Oil is available at Diablo Foods in Lafayette.
Dark Chocolate Pistachio Butter Cups
(Makes about 20 -24 mini muffin size cups)
INGREDIENTS
12 ounces bittersweet or dark chocolate (Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate bar or Ghirardelli Dark 60% Cacao Chocolate Chips)
1 cup unsalted, roasted pistachios
4 teaspoons pistachio oil (La Tourangelle packages this), or almond oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
DIRECTIONS
Line two mini muffin tins with paper liners and lightly spray with cooking spray. Set aside.
Melt the chocolate in a small saucepan. Spoon enough chocolate to cover the bottoms of the muffin liners with a thin layer of chocolate. Freeze until firm.
Meanwhile, purée pistachios in food processor until very fine and getting mushy. Add enough oil to form a thick paste. Using a round half teaspoon measuring spoon or small melon baller, form pistachio butter into small balls and slightly flatten into a disc that will almost fill the width of the muffin tins, allowing a little room around the edge to pour the final chocolate shell. Chill until firm.
Place pistachio discs on top of the chocolate bottom in the muffin tins. Spoon remaining melted chocolate (you may need to re-melt the chocolate) over the pistachio filling, allowing the chocolate to completely cover the top and sides of the pistachio butter. Freeze or chill for about 10 minutes and then bring them out of the refrigerator and sprinkle the sea salt over the top. I actually just use my Himalayan pink salt grinder for this part, grinding a little salt over the top of each pistachio cup. Place back in the refrigerator or freezer until the chocolate is completely firm. Store in the refrigerator or freezer in an airtight container until ready to serve. |
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA