Pistachio White Chocolate Brownies

My mom's requested squares for an event she's having.  I was going to make these Almond Petit Fours but due to an almond allergy I opted for these pistachio brownies instead.  I fell in love with pistachio macarons last summer in France, and since then I've been meaning to bake with pistachios.  I also adore the flavour of marzipan/almond extract so I thought these would be scrumptious :)  

I chose not to use splenda because my mom doesn't really like the aftertaste - I've never noticed one - but I think next time I would use maybe half or full splenda, usually I have pretty good success with splenda in brownies.  Let's be serious though.. splenda or no, these are kind of diet killers.

All in all these were pretty delish.  The pistachio flavour was more subtle than I was hoping, and if I were to redo them I think I'd up the almond extract and add some pistachio extract, and throw in some more white chocolate chips.

 

Recipe adapted from Clumbsy Cookie

1 cup all purpose flour

1 1/3 cup ground pistachios

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter

7 oz (7 squares!) white chocolate

1 cup sugar (or try splenda)

4 eggs

1 tsp almond extract

1/4 cup white chocolate chips

1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips 

pinch icing sugar

Preheat oven to 350 F (for me, 360 convect which converted to 335) and grease an 8 x 13 pan.

I started by spending what felt like hours shelling pistachios.  Once you have a fair amount, blend them in the food processor until they resemble flour.

Melt together the butter and white chocolate in the microwave at half power for three minutes, checking and stirring every minute.

mmmm look at that gooey chocolate chip

Measure out the sugar and almond extract into a stand mixture, and blend in the butter and chocolate mixture at medium speed. Add the eggs one at a time and continue to blend until smooth.  Add the flour and ground pistachios and blend at low speed until just combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips.

Pour into the greased pan and bake in the preheated oven for approximately 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out fairly clean. They should be golden on the top and darker around the edges (see left).  Dust with powdered sugar and let cool completely before cutting.  Lick the bowl and spatula clean - you won't regret it.