Pistachio almond pie is a gluten free nutritious cake, that serves very well as a dessert or as a cake at your morning coffee. It is full of fresh nuts, and it is mixed with some buckwheat flour that is thought to lower blood cholesterol levels. This pie has Persian and Turkish influences.
The art of making pistachio almond pie
Although you could possibly buy the almond and buckwheat flour and may be pistachio flour, here we make it all from scratch. The almonds first get blanched and peeled and roasted; Then ground. The roasted pistachios get peeled and then ground and the buckwheat gets ground. You do not need to grind the nuts very very fine, it is actually better to keep some structure to it. Here we use butter, you could experiment to substitute with a neutral tasting vegetable oil. You may also add 2 teaspoons of ground cardamom for a original middle eastern taste.
Special equipment
a spring form with some baking sheet
a grinder
Pistachio almond pie
Ingredients
for the pie
- 4.1 oz (120 g) buckwheat
- 11 oz (300 g) almonds
- 5.5 oz (160 g) pistachios
- 3 large eggs each 65-70 g
- 5.4 oz (150 g) butter
- 7 oz (200 g) caster sugar
- 3 tbps milk
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1.5 tsp lemon zest
- 2 tsp ground cardamom optional
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract optional
Instructions
to make the pie
- Blanch the almonds for 1 minute, then take out and let cool
- Peel the almonds, followed by roasting for 20 minutes at 170 C in the oven on a baking sheet
- Peel the pistachios
- Grind the almonds, the pistachios and the buckwheat
- Add the baking soda and the salt and cardamom (if using) to the flour mixture
- Bring the butter and sugar together with two blunt knives, cut pieces of butter fine and mix with the sugar.
- Loosely whisk the eggs together and add to the sugar butter mixture
- Mix with a fork or spoon
- Then add all the other ground solid ingredients and mix
- Add the milk in steps and continue to mix; also add any vanilla extract if using
- Place a baking sheet in a cylindrical form and fill the pie
- Bake for 45 min max at 350 F (170 C) in the middle of the oven.
- Let cool down and then take out from the form and let cool completely in a low humidity environment
Notes
Food allergy & intolerance information: nuts (gluten free)
Remarks
You can experiment with the pistachio to almond ratio, you can substitute the buckwheat for wheat flour, if gluten is not a concern.
You may reduce butter content or replace it with a neutral tasting vegetable oil
