Note: This Black-Green Biscuits recipe was originally part of my Biscuit Advent Calendar, a one-recipe-a-day email series in December. You can find the other recipes and sign up for the next round if you want here.
Happy 4th Advent! The year really is drawing to a rapid close now, isn’t it.
Today’s biscuit is another representative of a real classic type. Traditionally, these are made with a light and a dark dough and are rather unimaginatively called Schwarz-Weiß-Gebäck (Black-white-biscuits).
In this version, the light dough contains pistachios, so these are really Black-Green-Biscuits. Or, as my husband remarked, perhaps in the name of trendiness I should call them “Dubai chocolate biscuits”- only that I first made them about 13 years ago, and the recipe I originally used was published in 2008.
Whatever the colour combination, all biscuits of this type have one thing in common: the doughs are shaped into logs and then sliced into discs before baking. They’re often made in a checkerboard pattern, but I’m not sure that would work here.
I love pistachios and I also find naturally green biscuits visually appealing. But these were never my favorites because for all their beauty the taste felt a bit muted. I told you before: chocolate flavored shortbread just lacks in intensity. That’s because shortbread is a relatively dry dough, so the cocoa powder you add simply can’t unfold its full flavour potential.
The first time I made these, the green dough neither looked very green nor tasted that much like pistachio. They were still nice, especially with the added decoration. The subsequent times I made them, I added a little food coloring which made them prettier but not tastier.
So this time, I wanted to give you a recipe that looks AND tastes great, so I
- increased the pistachio to flour ratio by adding pistachio butter in addition to ground pistachios
- added two drops of almond flavor (though this is optional)
- added salt to both doughs
- added melted chocolate to the dark dough
- as well as a little espresso powder (this deepens chocolate flavor and as long as you don’t overdo it, you won’t taste it)
- decreased the overall quantities of my original recipe (that one makes A LOT of biscuits)
You can cross-reference the original one here (in German), if you’re interested. Of course, I tried the recipe below to make sure that nothing is going catastrophically wrong. What I found is: the black dough sets firm in the fridge because of the melted chocolate so let it warm a little before rolling out if it’s hard and brittle. On the other hand the pistachio dough is soft, so keeping it cool makes it easier to work with. Also these biscuits spread a little more (you can counteract with chilling tray and biscuits together before baking as well as preheating the oven thoroughly (I just cut and baked, no extra chill, results are below)). Also they are fragile when they first come out of the oven but they do firm up. And lastly: they do taste great : )
Schwarz-Grün Gebäck Recipe
Makes approximately 80-120 (depending on thickness)
Ingredients
- Green dough
- 150 g plain flour
- 125 g butter
- 65 g sugar
- 40 g ground pistachios
- 50 g pistachio butter (100% pistachio)
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/4 tsp salt
- optional
- a drop or two of almond flavor (it deepens pistachio flavor but if you don’t like marzipan, skip it)
- a pinch of matcha (makes it even greener)
- Black dough
- 150 g flour
- 125 g butter
- 65 g sugar
- 30 g cocoa powder
- 50 g dark chocolate (60-70%) (melted and cooled)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- pinch of espresso powder (optional)
- Decoration (optional)
- 100 g dark chocolate
- chopped pistachios for scattering
Instructions
Make the doughs and shape the rolls
Combine the ingredients for each dough separately. If the black dough is too crumbly add a teaspoon of water so that it comes together. Put them both in the fridge for half an hour (not longer because otherwise they get too hard.) Divide the pistachio dough in half and shape it into two rolls, each about 30cm long.
Tip: Rolling a large chopping board over the dough works like a reverse rolling pin and gives very even logs.
Depending on how soft it is, you can put it back into the fridge to firm up before the next step. Then roll the chocolate dough about 5mm thick and wrap it around the green logs. Press it gently so there are no gaps. Chill the wrapped rolls for at least 1 hour until quite firm. At this point you can also freeze a roll for later if you wish.
Note:
- The chocolate dough firms up strongly because of the melted chocolate. Let it soften slightly before rolling if it becomes brittle.
- The pistachio dough stays soft, so keeping it cool helps with handling.
Bake
Preheat the oven to 180°C conventional.
Cut it in 5-7mm discs and place them on a tray (I got 42 out of this roll so clearly I cut them a little thicker). If you see any gaps, just press the doughs together a little. Leave some space as they do spread. They will also even out as they bake. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool on the tray for a bit; they are quite fragile when they first come out.
Decorate
Dip one side of the biscuits into the melted chocolate and scatter with chopped pistachios.
Pack them gently into tins or boxes. I separate the layers with baking parchment as it gives them a bit of support.
Enjoy!!
Finally, I managed to send you this recipe. I’ve tweaked it and been meaning to try it for the last two weeks, but somehow never quite had the time or the nerve. After all, if the ratios hadn’t worked yet like this, I would have had to change it again or simply leave it out.
But I really like these biscuits, and I wanted to include a bicoloured biscuit of some sort in this calendar. So I’m very glad they finally made it in.