ALMOND & PISTACHIO BISCUITS

All that hasn’t happened in four years has suddenly decided to elbow its way to me and happen in the space of a month; and there’s a long long list of people and shoes and medications, boxes, bubble wrap, Texas dreams and Spanish Squads, trains and planes and places and faces; plans and plants and plantains; but never mind breathing, there’s got to be room for baking; and even though I myself will have to stick to whisky and Star Wars breakfast cereal (separately) to avoid death from stomach ache, I know how to make good use of the packs of almonds and pistachios lying in the still-stupidly-full kitchen cupboard (and that goes without mentioning the dinosaur cookie cutters, because you can always make good use of dinosaur cookie cutters): almond and pistachio biscuits; deep breath; go.

ALMOND & PISTACHIO BISCUITS

Slightly adapted from Zuckerguss Zine

100g (3/4) pistachios

100g (3/4 cup) almonds

60ml (1/4 cup) boiling water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

120g (1 cup) plain flour

100g (3/4 cup) icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F) and line a baking tray with parchment paper. Blitz pistachios and almonds in a blender until finely ground. Transfer to a bowl, pour in the hot water and mix well. Add vanilla extract, flour and icing sugar and mix again until the mixture comes together as a smooth dough. Roll the dough out thinly on a lightly floured surface, until about 1/2 cm (1/4 inch) thick. Cut out into shapes, sprinkle some extra ground pistachios on the top if you like and place onto the prepared baking tray. Bake for 12 minutes or until the biscuits turn light golden brown at the edges. Leave on the tray for two minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.