Kathy's Kitchen

The Holiday Season is always a fun time on the farm. We will use any excuse to have people over, and there is nothing I like better than a big dinner with friends and family. We always have bowls of fresh pistachios out for a handy snack, making sure there is a matching bowl for the shells. Of course, I try to work pistachios into the meal whenever I can. Pistachio nuts add such a unique taste and texture to any dish. I’ve collected dozens of great pistachio nut recipes over the years, and I’m delighted to be able to share a few of my favorites with you.
Pistachio muffins are a sure-fire holiday hit. There are many variations but here are the ones I made at Thanksgiving:

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 22 minutes

Ingredients:

* 2 cups whole-wheat flour
* 3/4 cup light brown sugar (packed)
* 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
* 1/4 cup natural pistachio nuts, chopped
* 1 Tbsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 3/4 cup low-fat (2 percent) milk
* 1/2 cup applesauce
* 1/2 cup canola oil
* 1 egg

* Topping:
* 1/4 cup chopped pistachios
* 2 Tbsp packed brown sugar

Preparation:
Mix flour, sugar, oats, pistachios, baking powder, and salt in bowl, stirring with spoon until well blended. Add milk, applesauce, oil, and egg all at once. Stir lightly just to mix. Don’t overmix or texture will suffer.

Spoon into 12 greased, paper-lined muffin cups. Spoon topping over batter. Bake at 400 F. for 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown, turning pan around after 15 minutes for even browning. Cool 5 minutes; then remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

Topping:
Mix pistachios with brown sugar. Sprinkle on top of muffin batter before baking.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 19th, 2009 at 5:12 am and is filed under Recipe. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.