I love strawberry-pistachio anything. One is sweet and tart, the other is smoky and salty. Together, they really just work together. Personally, I think strawberries and any nut work well together, hence why peanut butter and jelly is such a great pairing(I’m team strawberry jam on that topic, but grape jam isn’t bad either). Though speaking of sandwiches, that is what we are doing with this flavor combination today. I went with a pistachio cookie, since trying to infuse a cookie with fresh strawberry flavor, while not impossible, would take a lot of effort, whereas with a pistachio cookie, you just grind up pistachios, and fold those into a dough. That and I find that trying to incorporate fresh strawberries into a cookie would just result in a weird, soggy, and doughy cookie. I also had a buttload of strawberry ice cream that I made a while ago, and I had to use it somewhere, somehow. So it just worked out that way! Fortunately, ice cream sandwiches are a favorite of mine, so I am definitely not complaining about how this recipe unfolded from an initial need to use up the excess strawberry ice cream I had lying around!

For specific things in this recipe, I embedded the pistachio cookies with feves of Strawberry Inspiration. A feve is like an ovular shape that Valrhona molds their chocolates into. It is a weirdly optimal shape for melting over a double boiler, because the ovals have an indent in them that allows more heat to contact the feves. They are also really pretty, so I figured, why not just press them into the cookies for that aesthetic? For other specific things, I used a spice grinder to grind up shelled pistachios for the cookies. I measured them after grinding them into a powder, but you can also measure out 2oz of shelled pistachios prior to grinding too if that’s any easier and if you happen to have a measuring scale! If you do not have a spice grinder, what I used to do back home was put the pistachios into a ziplock bag and bash the living be-Jesus out of them with a pot or pan. That usually does the trick in a pinch, although would recommend against doing that late at night if you have neighbors. I also used spirulina powder in my recipe in lieu of salt, since the powder also dyes the cookies a pleasant green hue that is reminiscent of pistachios!

Makes 8 sandwiches:
For the strawberry ice cream:
1 cup strawberries
3 tbsp olive oil
½ cup granulated sugar
A pinch of salt
1/3 cup milk

In a blender, puree everything together. Pour into an ice cream maker and churn for about 15 minutes. Transfer to a freezer and chill down for at least 2 hours before attempting to use.

For the pistachio cookies:
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
a pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1/4 cup finely ground pistachios
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp spirulina powder
8 feves of Strawberry Inspiration

First cream together room temperature butter with sugar, salt, and vanilla until combined. Mix in the egg first, then fold into that the rest of the ingredients, minus the Strawberry Inspiration. Scoop 2 tbsp-sized balls of the dough and place each ball 3 inches apart from one another on a lined sheet tray. Bake at 350 degrees F for 12 minutes. While the cookies are still somewhat warm, press into them the Strawberry Inspiration and then allow them to cool completely.

To assemble:
To assemble, scoop about 2 tbsp of ice cream onto one cookie and sandwich on the other one. For optimal neatness when it comse to assembly, I recommend using the cookie with the Strawberry Inspiration as the top half so that the feve doesn’t get crushed through the cookie by mistake. Freeze the sandwiches if not eating right away.