Pistachio Cookies

Some of my friends and family are lactose-intolerant or chocolate-intolerant.  Hard as it is to imagine a world without these things, it did inspire me to make these pistachio cookies as part of Christmas presents.  Like the truffles, these are from coffee & bites by Susie Theodorou.

Ingredients:
150g (1 cup) shelled unsalted pistachios
175g (3/4 cup) caster sugar
3 tablespoons finely grated orange rind
50g (1/2 cup) plain flour
3 large egg whites
2 tablespoons icing sugar

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C (160-170C fan-forced).  Line 2 baking sheets with greased parchment paper.  Put 3/4 of the pistachios in a food processor and finely grind (don't stress over the occasional large piece).  Transfer the pistachios to a bowl and stir in 115g (1/2 cup) of the caster sugar and all the orange rind, then sift in the flour.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form.  Gradually whisk in the remaining caster sugar - the mixture should become glossy and stiff.  (Yes!  I didn't get lazy, but actually kept at it until I could tip the bowl and have nothing fall out).

Fold the egg whites into the pistachio mixture with a plastic spatula.  I discovered I don't own a spatula, plastic or otherwise.

Place heaped tablespoons of the cookie mixture, in oval shapes, onto the prepared baking sheets, making sure to space them well apart.  Shave the remaining pistachios over the cookies using either a small truffle shaver or vegetable peeler or just chop thinly (guess which method I used?!).  Bake for 12 minutes until quite puffy, just browned and set on the base.  Dust with icing sugar and leave to cool for 10 minutes before removing with a palette knife onto a cake rack to cool.  Serve cold.
Makes 30.

Because of the meringue, the biscuits didn't spread while baking.  You can freeze these for up to 2 months - not that mine had any cause to be frozen, but just in case!  And it seems I didn't get a photo of the baked cookies - not much different from these, just a bit less glossy and a bit more baked.