We love this pistachio crumble - not too sweet, with the tartness of the lemon zest coming through in the crust. The pistacchio filling is creamy and feels just naughty enough. Perfect for a dinner party dessert or just for a little treat.

When Mara, the manager of our Hampstead store, brought this in it caused a mild frenzy in our staff room. We held off just long enough to take some photos, and then dug in!


Ingredients:

  • For the pistachio spread:
  • (Makes about 200g of pistachio cream)
  • 100g unsalted pistachios
  • 50g sugar
  • 3/4 spoon of milk
  • For the crumble:
  • 300g plain flour
  • 80g caster sugar
  • 130g unsalted butter
  • 1 medium egg, plus 1 egg yolk
  • The zest of one lemon
  • 1 tsp vanilla essense (optional)



Method
For the crumble:

  1. Preheat oven to 180 C degrees, and butter and flour a round 9-inch springform cake pan.
  2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together until evenly combined. Add the butter cut into little pieces into the bowl and using a pastry blender, quickly incorporate the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
  3. Add the beaten egg, lemon zest and vanilla, and again, using the pastry blender or a whisk, quickly incorporate. The resulting mixture should resemble coarse crumbs.

For the pistachio cream:

  1. Put pistachio and sugar into the mixer at high speed till it become a paste than add the milk till it get to the right consistence (similar to peanut butter)

To assemble the crumble:

  1. Add three-quarters of the crumb mixture to the prepared springform pan and using your fingers press down until you have an even, uniform crust that covers the entire base of the pan (not the sides), leaving no gaps or holes.
  2. Next, pour the filling over the base and with a rubber spatula, gently spread out the filling until smooth and uniform.
  3. Finally, scatter the remaining crumb mixture evenly over the filling.
  4. Bake for 30-35 minutes in the oven, until the crumb topping is golden.
  5. Allow the cake to cool completely in the tin on top of a cooling rack before to move it into a serving plate.
  6. Sprinkle with some icing sugar before serving.


BK Tips

Sunflower oil can be used instead of milk for a dairy free fillingThe pistachios can be toasted for a more robust flavour.