These super crunchy Italian biscuits are much easier to make than you think… even though you bake them twice. The combination of pistachio and chocolate is always delicious and I add a touch of vanilla too. They are perfect as gifts wrapped up in cellophane bags (which you can get on Amazon) with a ribbon or for tea time and Christmas entertaining. My friends love them and are always offering to taste test them for me…

Recipe

For approximately 24 biscuits

Ingredients

2 egg whites
180g golden caster sugar
300g of plain flour (I use white spelt)
70g of pistachios plus 30g for decoration
70g of tiny plain chocolate drops
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Flour for dusting
200g of quality plain chocolate (optional)

How:

Preheat the oven to 150c. Prepare a baking sheet with a sheet of grease proof paper and set aside.

Whisk the eggs, vanilla and sugar in a large bowl until doubled in size and pale and fluffy.

Stir in the nuts, chocolate drops and the flour with the baking powder. Tip out onto a floured work surface and and roll out into 4 even long logs. Put these on the baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes or until firm and pale golden.

Leave to cool a bit then slice into 1 cm thick pieces on the diagonal then place them back on the baking sheet and bake for another ten minutes until crispy. Leave to cool.

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over warm water, then dip the biscuits into the chocolate coating one side and then sprinkle with the chopped pistachios or if you like less chocolate you can dribble the chocolate on them with a spoon. Leave to set the chocolate and then they are ready to serve. They can also be stored in an airtight container.

I shop at:
Waitrose
Sainsbury’s
Tesco
Lidl