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Pistachio cream

Prepare
less than 30 mins
Cook
10 to 30 mins
Serve
Makes 1 jar

Removing the pistachio skins is the key to a perfect homemade pistachio cream with a bright-green colour and creamy, smooth texture. You can buy ready peeled pistachio nibs, but they are expensive, so it's worth the effort to do it yourself.

By Sanjana Modha

Shopping list

Ingredients

How-to videos

Method

  1. To remove the brown skins and get the greenest colour, blanch the pistachios in boiling water for 1–2 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold running water. Take a small batch of the nuts and rub vigorously with a clean tea towel to remove the skins. Set aside the peeled pistachios and repeat until all the nuts are peeled.

  2. Using a high-powered blender (or a food processor with a grinder attachment), blend the pistachios to a coarse, sandy texture.

  3. Gently heat the milk until hot (but not boiling). You can do this in a small saucepan or in the microwave.

  4. Add about a third of the hot milk to the nuts and blend on a low power until the nuts are still quite coarse but start to come together like wet sand. Continue to process, adding more hot milk, a little at a time, until the pistachios break down. This will take about 10 minutes on a low speed.

  5. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl sat over a saucepan of very gently simmering water (be careful not to let the chocolate get too hot as white chocolate seizes very easily).

  6. Add the melted chocolate, melted butter, icing sugar and salt to the blended nuts. To enhance the flavour, add a drop or two of almond extract (if using). Continue to blend for a further 10–12 minutes until very smooth and creamy. It might seem runny at first, but will firm up as it cools.

  7. Pour into a clean, sterilised jar and allow to cool completely before putting the lid on. Keep the pistachio cream refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.