Recipe

Prepare Pistachios and Brown Butter

1. Place pistachios in bowl of food processor and pulse several times, until chopped but not yet finely ground. Scoop out and set aside 2 to 3 tbsp of chopped nuts (we’ll use those later on for cookie tops). Continue pulsing pistachios in long pulses until very finely ground, about 1 minute.
2. Cut butter into 1″ pieces. Place in medium saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring pot every minute or so, until butter has turned very foamy and bubbling but not yet browned, about 6 minutes.
3. Quickly add finely ground pistachios and cook, stirring constantly, until they smell very nutty and are golden brown and butter has browned, 2 to 3 minutes more. The nuts should no longer be bright green and butter around them should be deeply speckled with brown.
4. Using rubber spatula, scrape brown butter mixture into large bowl. Add ice cube to butter and let ice cube melt and butter cool for 10 minutes (it will foam up again momentarily).

Make Cookie Dough

1. Chop dark chocolate into irregular 1/4″ to 1/2″ chunks.
2. To cooled butter add dark brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg and vanilla extract. Whisk vigorously until well combined and thickened, about 1 minute.
3. Add flour, salt and baking soda, and stir well with spatula or wooden spoon, until combined and sticky dough forms.
4. Add half of chopped chocolate along with 2 oz. of halva, crumbling it lightly with your fingers as you add it. Gently stir to combine. Cover top of dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 3 hours and ideally overnight. The longer you chill the dough, the deeper and more complex the flavour of the cookies will be, so, if you can, plan ahead!

Scoop, Top and Bake

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Using 2 oz. ice cream scoop (or large spoon), scoop out 12 equal portions of dough, rolling them into a rough ball shape.
2. Working one at a time, dip tops of dough balls into reserved chopped pistachios, then place on baking sheets about 2 1/2″ apart.
3. Dot tops of each cookie with a few more big shards of reserved chocolate chunks and another crumble or two of remaining halva, pressing lightly with your fingers to encourage chunks and crumbles to adhere.
4. Bake, rotating baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back after about 8 minutes, until cookies are browned at edges and no longer wet on top, 12 to 14 minutes total.
5. While still warm, sprinkle cookies with flaky sea salt. Once cool enough to handle, transfer to wire rack to finish cooling. Store cookies in an airtight container to make them last longer!