Holiday House Recipe - Our Favorite Pignoli Cookie

After many years of baking, testing, and refinement (AKA: eating them non stop each Christmas), I’m ready to share our family's favorite Pignoli Cookie recipe. These are, to my mind, the best holiday cookie of all time. They are good year round and versatile enough to serve from breakfast (they are the ultimate coffee cookie) straight through to dessert. 

As if that weren't enough,  they are naturally Gluten Free and Dairy Free. Pignoli are truly cookies for us all. With so many great things going for them, the fact that they can also be prepped in minutes have solidified their top spot in my holiday (and every day) cookie pantheon. Before we go on to reveal the house recipe, I must give my thanks to genius chef, Lidia Bastianich, for the original recipe. I've made hers many times over the years, and while it is delicious, I have found that we prefer ours much less sweet. 

We use only half the sugar of the original, but the ratio is very flexible and can adjust to your personal taste. If you want them sweeter, you can add a little more sugar, but I’d suggest stopping at 3/4 cup. Also, our cookies have evolved to include a dusting of confectioner's sugar once finished. This extra layer of sugar is the perfect counterbalance to the lightly sweet and almond-y chewiness of the cookie interior, complemented by the firmly textured, savory and toasty pine nut flavor. These cookies also make the perfect host/hostess gift. The batches you give don't have to be huge (a dozen is quite nice in fact) because they happen to be so satisfying that you really only need one or two (but don’t feel bad if you can’t stop). Pignoli Cookies also last a few weeks frozen in an airtight container.They freeze well too! Recipe follows below.

Our Favorite Pignoli Cookies
Makes 25-30 

Ingredients: 
14 ounces of Almond Paste - I prefer to use one tube of Odense Brand plus One Box of Solo Brand (you’ll need to remove one ounce as solo comes in 8 Oz boxes). 
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
2 large Egg Whites 
Finely grated zest of one big Orange 
1.5 cups whole Pine Nuts
A few Tablespoons of Confectioner’s Sugar for dusting 

Equipment:
2 to 3 medium to large Baking Sheets lined with Parchment Paper

Method: 
Preheat oven to 350 with rack in the middle. Crumble almond paste into the work bowl of your food processor fitted with a whisk and process until you get fine crumbs. Add sugar gradually as you continue to process. Once you’ve added all the sugar, add the egg whites and orange zest. Spread the pine nuts on a plate. Form the dough into 1 inch sized balls (about 2 Tablespoons) by rolling them with your palms. Having your hands just slightly damp is helpful in doing this. Then roll the balls in the pine nuts and place them on the baking sheets with a little space in between. (Photos below). 

Bake until the pine nuts become slightly golden but not burnt (I watch them very carefully at the end) about 14-15 minutes.  The cookie will appear very, very soft but will firm once you let them cool on baking sheet and then transfer to a plate or rack. Once cooled, sprinkle with confectioner's sugar!

Ready for the oven

The final dusting

The Dessert You Didn't Know You Needed - Lemon Brownies

My love of lemon is well documented on this blog (take a look here, here, and here) so it was only natural that in my quest for the perfect dessert fix, I stumbled on yet another lemon sweet to add to my repertoire. If you're like most people, you might find the idea of a Lemon Brownie quite out of the box. Nevertheless, these didn't seem all that odd to me, because years ago I had discovered and enjoyed a similar recipe - Paula Deen's unexpectedly delicious recipe for orange brownies. And by discovered I mean I shamelessly ate far more than my fair share when a coworker brought them to the office. While my opinion of Paula has seen better days, her brownies (they are tangy, chewy, and orangey-just like a brownie but without the chocolate), made me a believer. 

Lemon Brownies, Photo: Neurotic Kitchen 

So what makes today's recipe more Lemon Brownie than the ubiquitous lemon bar? It's all about the texture - these will not be cake-like. What emerges from your oven will be chewy and fudgey, which is, in fact, just the way I like my chocolate brownies. The result is a bitesized confection that is tart but sweet, and overall, a hugely satisfying little sunny bite. For me, the lemon brownie is the epitome of an easy and elegant handheld dessert. Rest assured, the kids will like them too! 

We'll get to the recipe soon, but first, some tips:

Bring butter fully to room temperature.
Do not overmix batter.
Do not overbake batter. It's done when you see just the slightest golden color at the very corners of the pan. Not more than 25 minutes in most ovens - you'll want to keep an eye on it. 

Lemon Brownies
Recipe very lightly adapted from Wicked Good Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 teaspoon fine Sea Salt 
2/3 Cup Salted Butter (equal to 11 Tablespoons) + a bit extra for greasing the pan
2 Large Eggs + 1 Large Egg White
1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Grated Lemon Zest 
2 Tablespoon + 2 teaspoons Lemon Juice

Glaze Ingredients:
3/4 Cup Sifted Confectioner's Sugar
1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Lemon Juice
2.5 teaspoons Lemon Zest
+ one drop of yellow food color (completely optional)
+ flakey Sea Salt (also optional)

Equipment:
Parchment Paper
Glass or metal pan (9x9)

Method:
Place rack in lower third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. 
Grease the baking pan with butter and place parchment into the pan, leaving an overhang so you can easily lift the brownies out of the pan once they've cooled. 

Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using a whisk in a large bowl and mixing by hand), stir together flour, sugar, and salt until well incorporated. Add butter and mix until well combined. Do NOT beat at high speed or over mix. In a small bowl whisk the eggs, lemon zest, and lemon juice together. Scrape edges of the bowl and pour the contents into the flour batter bowl, stirring with a whisk (or electric mixer) until the batter well blended and smooth. Once again, do not over-beat (note: this is precisely why I like to make this recipe by hand, just be sure ingredients are well-incorporated). 

With a rubber spatula, scrape batter into the baking pan and smooth the top. Place in the oven to bake for 25 minutes. Do not overbake. You will see slightly golden edges beginning to appear. The middle will be semi-firm but not hard. 

Let the brownies fully cool and then gently lift them out of the pan by the parchment overhand, supporting the bottom as well. 

Make the glaze by combining the confectioner's sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest and whisk vigorously until smooth and glossy. You have two options with the glaze - you can either pour it onto the uncut brownies and cut them once it has hardened, or you can cut the brownies into small bitesized bars and separate them on a plate. Using a spoon, drizzle the glaze onto each until almost totally covered. This is my preference. In either scenario you can optionally sprinkle the tiniest bit of flakey sea salt on to of the icing as it hardens. If your lemon zest is not bright yellow, you can add a drop of yellow food color to the glaze before adding it.

These brownies can be stored up to five days in fridge if you place them in an airtight container. They also freeze nicely! 

Mardi Gras in Minutes - Cajun Shrimp & Grits with Chard

Sorry it's taken so long for me to do a new post. Life's gotten extra busy -- I'm sure you can relate. Though I'm committed to adding more content here on my very first love, Neurotic Kitchen, you can always find frequent updates on our everyday meals and exploits over on instagram. Today's dish, an easy Mardi Gras meal that comes together in just 20 minutes (if you get pre-cleaned shrimp), originated over on instagram! I so enjoyed making and eating it, I knew it had to be recorded here for my archives. 

Check out the details below and I promise it won't be so long until I post again! 

Cajun Shrimp & Grits with Chard, Photo: NK

Cajun Shrimp & Grits with Chard
Serves 3-4
Timing: can be made in 20 minutes with pre-cleaned shrimp

Ingredients:
1 Cup Quick Grits
1 Lb medium sized wild Shrimp, peeled, pre-cleaned, tails on or off 
Cajun Spice Blend (double recipe below)
1 Bunch Rainbow or Red Swiss Chard
2 Pats Butter
Canola or Grapeseed Oil for cooking Shrimp
Cheddar Cheese, for grating, optional
Hot Sauce of your choice

Method:
Mix Cajun Spice Blend (do ahead if possible). Recipe follows below. 
Wash and dry Chard, cut the leaves into 2 inch ribbons and the stems into half-inch lengths (do ahead if possible)
Rinse shrimp and pat dry. Season on both sides with Cajun Spice Blend.

Start your Quick Grits according to the package instructions (boil water and add the grits) and while you are doing so, add 2 tablespoons of oil in a separate skillet and cook your shrimp, a few minutes per side, until fully pink and golden from the spices - the inside should be opaque but not dry. When shrimp are done set aside. In the same skillet, add a few tablespoons of water and toss in the chard over medium high heat. Let it wilt in the pan, stirring a few times (3-4 minutes). Add some butter to the Grits and loosen with water if needed.

To serve, spoon some Grits into each bowl, add grated cheddar if you like. Top with shrimp and chard, plus hot sauce of your liking. Enjoy!   


Cajun Spice Blend
Yield: Enough for 8 servings of shrimp

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 1/2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 1/4 teaspoons dried oregano

1 1/4 teaspoons dried thyme
Optional crushed red pepper (will be quite hot with it)  

Method: 
Mix! Can be made ahead. 

Italian Grill - Spicy Shrimp Skewers

Today I'd like you to check out one of my favorite recipes this summer -- Spicy Calabrian Shrimp Skewers. You may already know I'm a sucker for Calabrian chili, so when I find it in a jar anywhere I always stock up in order to have it on hand. I make Giada De Laurentiis' incredibly easy dish with large shrimp (about 16-20 count per pound). The recipe consists of a simple marinade which you let sit on the shrimp a few hours (4 is perfect). I then portion out the shrimp (4 per person alongside another protein is a good amount), and skewer them through the tail and opposite end of the shrimp. Using two skewers is a little trick I learned to prevent them from spinning on the stake, making them easier to flip. 

Remember to soak the wooden skewers for at least an hour beforehand to prevent them from burning. Grill these just a few minutes per side until they are opaque and cooked through. Serve the shrimp kebabs alongside any other fish (or meat for surf and turf) atop lightly dressed greens or herbs -- so easy!

Spicy Shrimp Skewers with Grilled Calamari on the side, Photo: NK

***To check out the Spicy Calabrian Shrimp recipe, click HERE.