Soft and crumbly pistachio and chocolate biscuits

In an attempt to improve our quality of life at the weekends, Steve and I have taken to having a leisurely breakfast at the dining table on Saturday mornings.    The newspaper arrives with a thud on the doormat at 7am, our internet grocery shopping turns up at 07:30 and then breakfast preparations commence.

Key ingredients for a quality breakfast include:

• Coffee - our Nespresso machine and associated milk frothing device have revolutionised our coffee intake.  I used to drink on average two cups of coffee a month but now have at least one each day at the weekend.  Steve didn't drink coffee at all but now gets grumpy if he misses his weekend cappuccino for any reason.

• The Saturday Times newspaper - mostly for the magazine and lifestyle sections.  Oh and for the TV pullout which goes in a drawer for the week, is never looked at and then is replaced by the following week's pullout.

• Toast with assorted spreads including:
• Champagne Marmite - A special Valentine's day edition that is much tastier than normal Marmite but only available in post-sell by date form on eBay.  Needless to say I have written a strongly worded letter to Marmite asking them to recommence production but to no avail
• Home made lemon and ginger jam
• Ottolenghi's greengage and honey jam - a present from our yoga teacher, James

•  High quality biscuits
• Worst case scenario: Hob nobs with chocolate - Steve likes dark chocolate and I prefer milk.  He usually wins.
• Best case: Either spicy ginger and chilli biscuits or the cookies below.

 I hope that you enjoy this biscuit recipe.  They don't take long to make and are great with coffee.   Also, please feel free to suggest ways of making further improvements to our Saturday mornings.

Makes 8 -10 biscuits
Ingredients

• 50g butter
• 60g plain flour
• 20g white granulated sugar
• 30g crushed pistachios
• 30g chocolate chips
• pinch of salt
• 5g baking powder
• 1 to 2 drops almond essence

Method

1. Mix together all of the ingredients into a smooth dough
2. Roll into a sausage shape of about 1 inch in diameter
3. Put the dough into the fridge for 30 minutes
4. Cut into 1cm thick rounds and place on a baking tray with plenty of space for the biscuits to spread as they cook.
5. Bake for 10 mins at 180 degrees C or until light brown in colour.