Pistachio Orange Lace Cookies

This recipe is from the December 2002 issue of Gourmet Magazine. These cut and bake lace cookies are much easier to make than florentines. The dough logs can be chilled up to 5 days or frozen, wrapped in foil as well as plastic wrap, 1 month. If frozen, thaw dough just until it can be sliced. These cookies keep, layered between sheets of wax papaer or parchment in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 week. (Cookies should not overlap when storing this way.)

• Ready In: 5 hrs 10 mins
• Yields: 30 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 1⁄4 cups pistachios, shelled (not dyed red)
• 3⁄4 cup sugar
• 6  tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 5  tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 2  tablespoons Grand Marnier
• 1  teaspoon  fresh orange zest, finely grated
• 2  tablespoons  orange juice

Directions

1. Pulse pistachios and sugar together in a food processor until nuts are finely chopped (but not ground), then stir together with remaining ingredients in a mixing bowl to make a dough.
2. Spread the dough in a 12 inch long strip on a large sheet of plastice wrap and, starting with a long side, roll up dough in the plastic wrap (dough will be very soft). Chill dough on a baking sheet until firm but still malleable, about 1 hour.
3. Roll dough into a 15 X 1 inch log, using the plastic wrap as an aid. Halve the log crosswise and chill halves, wrapped in plastic wrap until they are firm, about 3 hours.
4. Preheat oven to 325°F
5. Cut 1 log crosswise into 1/8 inch thick slices with a serrated knife and arrange cookies, about 2 inches apart on 2 parchment lined large baking sheets.
6. Flatten each cookie into a 1 1/2 inch round with the back of a fork, dipping the fork in water and shaking off the excess water for each cookie.
7. Bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of the sheets halfway through baking, until golden, approximately 8 to 10 minutes total.
8. Cool cookies on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer with a metal spatula to racks to cool completely.
9. Make more cookies with remaining dough on cooled baking sheets lined with clean parchment.