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In the States, almond paste gets a bad wrap. For three hundred forty days of the year that weird, sweet wad of ground-up almonds and sugar sits abandoned on the grocery store shelves, only to be used for a mere twenty-five days of December holiday baking. But this image of almond paste is wrong. Case and point — these Pistachio Almond Bars. You’ll want to make these bars any and every time of the year.
Pistachio Almond Bars have the trifecta of textural balance — chewy, gooey, and crunchy wrapped in a neat hand-held package. The buttery cookie base is the ground floor layer to a smooth brownie-chewy almond-paste mixture, and it’s all topped off with a hefty downpour of chopped salted and roasted pistachios. That sweet and salty duo we’re always in search of is right here in these bars.
To start, make the cookie base. It’s like making any cookie dough out there. After creaming the butter and sugar, you add in the egg, the extracts, the flour, and a touch of salt.
As the cookie base cooks briefly in the oven, you go about making the almond-paste mixture. Cut the almond paste into the light brown sugar. You can do this by using a stand mixer or food processor, but you can easily use your hands, the same way you’d cut butter into the dry ingredients of a biscuit dough.
Once it forms a unified mixture, you add in the egg. The mixture will have a smooth peanut butter-like appearance. It’ll spread easily over the cookie base.
After spreading the almond paste mixture over the cookie base, top it all off by a hefty downpour of chopped pistachios. Return the whole pan back into the oven to bake for another ten to fifteen minutes.
As enticing as the smell of almonds and pistachios baking with a buttery cookie crust is, you’ll want to wait for these cookies to cool down. A cooled cookie bar will give you clean, even slices.
Once sliced, you’ll see the layers with ease. The cookie crust bakes up slightly golden and crisp on the edges, while the almond paste layer has a molten brownie-like texture. The pistachio holds everything together with a nice and addictive salty bite.
These are sturdy bar cookies, meaning they’re perfect for holiday cookie tins and parties. They give you a great reason to buy up that neglected almond paste and transform it into something spectacular.
Pistachio Almond Bars
For the Bar Base:
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
For the Bar Topping:
- 1 8-ounce packet almond paste
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 cup roughly chopped salted pistachios
To make the Bar Base:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 8-x-8 baking pan with baking spray and then line the pan with parchment paper, set aside.
- In a bowl, beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes on a medium speed.
- Beat in eggs and extracts, mixing well. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl frequently to get even incorporation.
- Lower speed and gradually add in flour and salt.
- Press the dough into the prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes until the edges are slightly golden, set aside.
To make the Topping:
- In a clean bowl, cut almond paste and brown sugar together like you’d cut butter into a biscuit dough. You can do this with your hands or in a food processor.
- Once well mixed, beat in egg.
- Pour on top of the cookie dough base. Top with chopped pistachios.
- Bake until the top is golden and slightly firm, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Let bars cool to room temperature before removing from the pan and slicing.
Recipe adapted from Lucy Loves.