Brown Butter Pistachio Popcorn Cookies

I know what you are thinking...  

"Another cookie recipe?!"

But give me a chance...   

I do not typically share the elephantine load of baked treat recipes that one might expect from a food blogger around this time of year.

There is one, very simple reason for that choice.

Most of my favorite holiday cookies really are not that dazzling.  Come Christmastime, I prefer the uncomplicated.  The unadorned, antediluvian cookies that my great-grandmother used to pack into red and green tins.  Sugar cookies as thin as parchment, Russian tea cookies thick with confectioner’s sugar and bleeding with butter, and soft peanut butter balls dipped in rich chocolate ganache - affectionately known as “buckeyes.” 

I will take all the innovation and neoclassicism you can devise come December 26th, but for now, all I want is to be drenched in edible nostalgia.

That being said, yesterday morning I woke up and decided that I wanted to throw pistachios, popcorn, and brown butter (Do I hear angels singing? Oh, no, sorry... That was just my Pandora station.) into my cookie dough. 

Never underestimate the creativity that can come from your 9am cravings. 

It’s been a couple years since I first discovered the magic of popcorn cookies.  Leave it to Deb to come up with something so unapologetically indulgent.  

I understand the skepticism, but trust me on this.  It is the new pretzels-in-your-ice-cream.

Disclaimer: This recipe will tell you to make about twice as much popcorn as you actually need for the cookies, but I do not need to tell you why, now do I?  

Have you ever browned butter before?  

Do you like things that smell wonderful and taste even better?  I know you do, of course you do!  This is why we are friends. 

Butter is heated until it is slowly bubbling, then all of our little bits of fat become toasty brown and we have something that is just about as close to heaven as we can get from these earthly kitchens of ours.

Oh, hello cookies!

These cookies are so full of crunchy, salty-sweetness, it's almost too much for a girl's heart to handle.

Almost. 

Crispy, golden edges and soft, chewy centers.  I think these cookies just may have earned themselves a place next to my great grandmother's sugar cookies. 

Christmas is next week.  Breathe in and out.  Enjoy every moment.  And try, please try, to avoid that post office if you possibly can. 

Sincerely, 

Pedantic Foodie

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Brown Butter Pistachio Popcorn Cookies

makes roughly 18 cookies

- 1 tablespoon coconut oil

- 1/4 cup popping corn 

- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, divided (at room temperature)

- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 

- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt (plus extra for salting popcorn)

- 1/4 cup brown sugar

- 1/2 cup granulated sugar 

- 1 large egg 

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 1/2 cup roasted, unsalted pistachios

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

Place a 4-quart saucepan over medium high heat and add coconut oil.  When the oil has melted, add popping corn and cover.  

Cook, shaking the pan occasionally, until the kernels begin to pop.  Once this begins, shake the pan vigorously over the heat until you no longer hear kernels popping. 

Remove the pan from the heat and salt the popcorn to taste.  Set aside. 

Place 1/4 cup butter in a small frying pan and place over medium heat.  Once the butter begins to bubble, watch it carefully.  The goal is for the butter to become rich topaz in color, with tiny darker bits laying on the bottom of the pan.  This should take about 5 minutes.  

Once the butter has browned, remove from heat and use a spoon to scrape off the white froth from the top of the butter.  Allow the butter to cool while you prepare the cookie batter. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. 

In the work bowl of your stand mixer combine remaining 1/4 cup butter with sugars.  Beat on medium speed, scraping down the sides as necessary, until the mixture is airy and well-combined. Beat in egg. 

With the mixer on low speed, slowly incorporate browned butter and vanilla extract.  

While continuing to mix, gradually add the flour mixture until all of the dry ingredients are well incorporated. 

Fold in pistachios and 1 1/2 cups popped corn. 

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and use an ice cream scoop to portion out the dough into 2 tablespoon balls. 

Bake for 9-12 minutes, until the cookies are golden brown.  The centers should still look slightly soft.  

Transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool.  Store in airtight containers until ready to serve.  Enjoy!

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Savory Lemon & Chive Cheesecake

There’s a chill in the air - a promising, elusively familiar chill that somehow promises more warmth than the sunshine itself.  My red-lacquered toes clad in premature sandals turn purple, a light sweater would be better replaced by a legitimate jacket, but still we go on, wearing our linen dresses and flip-flops, because that morning chill is full of promise.  The promise of what we know is coming. 

The warmth of Spring is all but in reach and that lingering chill is not so bitter as it once was.

Life is a lot about giving up one wonderful choice, for what we hope will be a slightly more wonderful choice.  Sometimes it’s voluntary.  Sometimes we are forced into it and we have to take a few deep breaths to realize that everything we dreamed of may no longer be the best course of action.  Sometimes it’s a bitter exchange, but one that we know is necessary. 

During these Spring months, we bravely endure the cold toes and purple feet because we know that in several hours the Sun will peek her head through the budding trees and our fashion choices will once again seem reasonable.  Just as with life, April is full of cold toes that turn into beautiful days.  

This cheesecake has nothing to do with hard choices, but it has a lot to do with Spring.  It’s radiant with the bright, fresh-from-the-garden flavors I so adore this time of year. 

Though it is called a cheesecake, this is not a dish you would likely enjoy slicing and eating on its own.  This "cake" is more of a spread, best enjoyed with your favorite crackers.  

Shall we take a moment to appreciate how adorable this 4-inch springform is?  It’s been in my cabinet forever and I finally found the perfect use. 

Appetizers are one of my favorite things.  Eating before I actually eat has never lost its childlike appeal for me.

This cheesecake makes a lovely pre-meal snack and is a welcome revision of the ubiquitous cheeseball. 

While I absolutely, positively hate doing this… I’m going to make you do the whole water bath thing.  I know it’s annoying, and I’m sorry, BUT, you will not enjoy this cheesecake half so much if you skip this step.  Believe me, I tested it both ways.  

Fortunately, a bit of sturdy tin foil will keep us from suffering too much heartache, and the seamlessly smooth texture is completely worth that extra effort.

This creamy, gentle onion and slightly acidic melody is everything.  We are basically eating the farmer’s market on a cracker. 

Life will keep giving us hard choices, but in the kitchen we are not called to compromise.  

Spring is calling, purple toes and all.  Let’s live it. 

Sincerely, 

Pedantic Foodie

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Savory Lemon & Chive Cheesecake

serves 4-6 / recipe adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

- 1/4 cup ricotta cheese 

- 2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

- 3 tablespoons goat cheese

- 1 tablespoon pecorino romano 

- 1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar 

- 1/4 cup chives, finely chopped

- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

- 1 teaspoon lemon zest 

- 1 egg yolk 

- olive oil, for greasing 

- 1/4 cup toasted pistachios, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Combine all ingredients in the work bowl of your food processor and pulse until smooth.  

Grease a 4-inch springform pan with olive oil and pour in the cheesecake mixture.  Wrap the outside of the pan tightly with a sturdy piece of aluminum foil.  

Place the pan in the center of a pie plate and fill the plate with warm water, until it comes half-way up the sides of the springform pan. 

Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the edges are golden and the center of the cake still moves slightly when the pan is gently shaken.  Turn off the oven and keep the oven door ajar.  Allow the cake to cool for one hour, then remove from the water bath.  Remove the aluminum foil and cover with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for 2-3 hours, or until cool.  

When the cake has cooled, run a butter knife along the edges to loosen the cake and then remove from the springform pan.  The edges will be soft and somewhat sticky.  Gently press the finely chopped pistachios against the sides of the cake to form a rough crust.  This cake is best when served cool, but not cold, so set it out 15-20 minutes before you plan on serving it.   Enjoy!