Pistachio Recipes
Pistachio & Orange Truffle Bites
Described as ‘gooey and indulgent’, these truffles are made with raw-food ingredients, offering a healthy alternative to your usual after-dinner sweets.
The recipe is by food blogger and naturopathic nutritionist Ella Mills (Woodward) and comes from her second cookbook, Deliciously Ella with Friends, published early 2017.
“The best post-dinner treat to serve with tea and coffee,” Mills writes.
“They’re gooey and indulgent with an ever-so-slightly chewy texture inside and a crunchy outside. They have smooth chocolatey centres and are rolled in crumbled pistachios to give the perfect finish.”
- 50g pistachio nuts
- 12 medjool dates, pitted and chopped
- Finely grated zest of 1 unwaxed orange, plus juice of ½ orange
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil
- 3 tablespoons raw cacao powder
- Put the nuts in a food processor and whizz to a crumb-like consistency. Don’t worry if they’re not all the same size; they’re for the truffle coating, so different-sized crumbs will add character! When you’re happy with the size, tip them into a bowl and set aside.
- Throw the dates, orange zest, coconut oil and cacao powder into the processor and whizz it all together. If it gets stuck, use a spatula to push it down towards the blades again and give it another whizz. When it’s starting to stick together, squeeze in the orange juice and whizz again until it’s a nice sticky consistency that you can roll into balls.
- Get a baking sheet ready and wet your hands slightly so that the mixture is easy to roll into balls. Use a teaspoon to get a nice amount together and roll it into a ball. Drop into the nut crumbs and roll it around to coat. Set it on the baking sheet. Repeat to use all the mix.
- Place the baking sheet in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes before serving.
Pistachio Baklava
Preparation time: less than 30 mins.
Cooking time: 30 mins to 1 hour
Serves: 8-10
- 18 sheets ready-made filo pastry (unwrap and keep under a damp tea-towel until you are ready to use)
- 150g/5oz unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
- 200g/7oz mixed pistachios and walnuts, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 300g/10½ fl oz granulated sugar
- 250ml/9fl oz water
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp orange blossom water
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
Grease a 17cm x 28cm (11in x 7in) baking tray with butter.
Melt the remaining butter in a saucepan over low heat or in a microwave.
Lay 10 sheets of filo pastry, one at a time, into the tray, brushing each sheet with butter before adding the next.
In a clean bowl, mix together the nuts, sugar and cardamom and spread the mixture over the pastry in the tray.
Layer up the remaining sheets on top of the nut mixture, brushing each sheet with butter, as before.
Using a sharp knife, cut a criss-cross pattern into the top layers of the pastry.
Place baklava in the preheated oven for approximately 20 minutes, then decrease the oven temperature to 150C/300F/Gas 2 and cook for an additional half hour to 40 minutes, or until the pastry is slightly puffed and golden on top. Do not allow the top to burn. Remove and allow to cool slightly.
For the syrup, heat the sugar, water, lemon juice and orange blossom water in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan and cook over a medium heat until the sugar has melted and a syrup is formed. (This will take about 20 minutes or so.)
Pour the syrup into the slits in the baklava and leave to cool. Cut into small diamond-shaped pieces and serve.
