Chewy Pistachio Blondies

My husband sometimes buys me interesting ingredients for gifts. A while ago he gave me a can of pistachio paste, which is similar to peanut butter make with pistachios. I held on to this for a while because I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to make with it. I did some searching a couple of weeks ago and came across a couple of recipes. When I mentioned to my husband that I was looking for recipes, he actually found some of the same recipes I had found, so I was on the right track.

The pistachio paste is really thick, and the oil had completely separated, kind of like old-fashioned peanut butter. It took a lot of work to get the mixture to be smooth! I measured the pistachio paste, but for some reason I felt like it might be too much. The mixture is quite a strange texture, almost like sand, which then became a soft sticky dough/batter. Interesting.

The paste itself is green, but not a bright green, a duller, split-pea soup kind of green. Adding food coloring didn’t help at all, and once baked they have just the slightest green tint. I had a hard time figuring out when these were baked through. In the end, I knew they wouldn’t be quite done in the center and I was right. They were done along the edges, but I think I should have sacrificed the edges to get them baked through. Oh well. They do have a great pistachio flavor, just a little on the soft side!

Chewy Pistachio Blondies

1/2 cup pistachio nut paste

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

Green food coloring

Powdered sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8 or 9-inch square baking pan with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the pistachio paste and brown sugar. Beat on medium until combined.  Add the flour, baking powder, and salt, and mix again until incorporated. Add the melted butter, eggs, vanilla, and food coloring. Beat until smooth; the batter/dough will be sticky. Spread batter into the prepared pan.

Bake about 30-35 minutes, until set in the center. Allow the blondies to cool in the pan. Lift the blondies from the pan, peel away the foil, and cut into squares. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.  

Recipe from Always Order Dessert