Occhi di bue: Grandma’s recipe for cookies as delicious as those from the pastry shop, flavored with pistachio. Do you know the “occhi di bue” pastries? Yes, those delightful desserts filled with spreadable pistachio cream or jam, the kind you buy at the pastry shop that melt in your mouth because they are so delicate and crumbly! If you know them and you’re reading this recipe, you surely adore them and want to try making them at home. You’re in the right place, because these occhi di bue with pistachio shortcrust and pistachio cream filling are the most tempting variation of the classic pastry-shop occhi di bue. I received this recipe directly from the pastry chef; they are so good and so crumbly they melt in your mouth, and for this reason I decided to share the recipe with you.
So, are you ready to discover how the pastry-shop occhi di bue cookies are made? Let’s go to the kitchen, but first remember that if you want to stay updated on new recipes you can follow my Facebook page and my Instagram profile.
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Budget-friendly
- Rest time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients to make pastry-shop occhi di bue
- 3 1/3 cups 00 flour
- 1 1/3 cups butter (cold)
- 3 egg yolks
- 3 tbsp potato starch
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 cup pistachio flour
- as needed pistachio flour (for finishing)
- as needed pistachio spread
Tools to make the pastry-shop occhi di bue
- Cookie cutter
- Baking sheet
- Parchment paper
- Work surface
- Oven
- Food processor
Steps
Put the flour and cold butter pieces into the bowl of the food processor. Pulse until you obtain a sandy mixture; do not warm it up. Pour it onto the work surface, add the potato starch and mix.
Add the pistachio flour and mix until combined. Make a well, add the sugar and pour the yolks into the center.
Use a fork to mix the sugar and yolks slightly to dissolve the sugar, then quickly knead until you obtain a homogeneous dough. Do not overheat it. Wrap it in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Take the dough back out, lightly dust a sheet of parchment paper with flour and roll the dough to a thickness of about 1/5 in (about 3/16 in). (To avoid sticking to the rolling pin, use a little extra flour.)
To help you, you can use dough thickness guides.
Chill again for 30 minutes and once the dough is firm, cut the cookies with a round cutter of the size you prefer — I used a flower-shaped cutter 3 1/8 in (8 cm) in diameter. On half of the discs, cut another hole in the center of about 13/16 in (2 cm) or slightly smaller.
Return to the fridge for another 30 minutes.
Bake in a preheated 356°F (convection) oven (180°C ventilated) until the surface of the cookie looks matte — this will take about 5 to 7 minutes.
Take them out of the oven and do not touch the cookies until they are completely cool; when hot they will appear soft and extremely delicate, practically impossible to handle.
Once they are lukewarm you can assemble the pairs, filling the whole base with pistachio (or hazelnut) spread, jam, or preserve, and placing the top cookie with the hole over it.
If you like, you can also add a little pistachio flour for the finishing touch.
Store the cookies in a cookie tin or under a glass dome; they will keep well for several days.
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