Rose Water & Pistachio Macaroons

I couldn't resist.  Even though we have a survey going on as I write this post, asking you what topics you would like to see more on A Natural Perspective, I found this lovely site, Honest Fair that offers this delicious macaroon cookie recipe using Rose water.

Rosewater is one of the most common hydrosols, created by distillation from rose petals.  Rose water is used in medicine, cosmetics, culinary (today's cookies) as well as a great facial tonic.

As for these rosewater and pistachio macaroon cookies, these are just sweet enough. Fluffy and chewy. Sort of reminiscent of nougat with the perfect hint of rose water at the end. 

Recipe
Prep time + cook time: 15 minutes.   Makes 16 - 20 Macaroons.

You can add a few drops of red food coloring to give them the pretty pink color, but feel free to omit that step. You can also omit the cream of tarter, although it helps a little with the fluffiness.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted almonds
• 1/2 cup unsalted pistachios, shells removed (plus a few extra for topping)
• 3 oz granulated white sugar
• 1 teaspoon rose water
• Tiny pinch salt
• Tiny pinch cream or tarter
• 1 egg large white
• A few drops food red food coloring

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Pulse almonds and pistachios, sugar and pinch of cream of tarter and salt in food processor until consistency of cornmeal. You may need to stop and stir if it starts to stick.
3. Add rose water, egg white and food coloring and pulse a few times until thick dough forms.
4. Scoop 1 level tablespoon of dough at a time and place on lined baking sheet at least 1 inch apart.

Let dough settle 10 minutes and then go back to work into neat mounds and press 1/2 a pistachio nut (cut side up) in center of each cookie.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until slight cracks start to form on tops.

Remove immediately and let cool completely before eating. They will be very soft when you remove them but harden as they cool so you don’t want to over bake! Better take them out sooner than later and if the centers still seem too doughy as they start to cool, you can pop them back in for just another minute or two.

Hope you enjoy this recipe using rose water hydrosol.

Enjoy!