Elevate Any Breakfast Pastry with Our Pistachio Cream Recipe

There’s nothing like a good sauce to elevate an everyday meal into an extraordinary dining experience. Pretty green pistachio cream is just such a sauce, with a seemingly magical ability to enhance the flavor and appearance of everything it touches. A drizzle of this sweet cream can transform breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks into a chic café spread. Though it seems a rare and sophisticated ingredient, it’s surprisingly simple to make it at home. 

Pistachios are the star of the show in this luscious cream. They have a buttery texture with a subtle nutty, slightly earthy flavor with just a touch of delicate sweetness, and they blend beautifully to create a luxurious and smooth cream. Their striking pale green color adds to the appearance of this special sauce, making it just as beautiful as it is delicious.

Wellness coach and recipe developer Miriam Hahn brings us this homemade Italian pistachio cream recipe and says, “Although you can find pistachio cream premade in a jar, nothing beats the homemade version. I first used pistachio cream as a filling in between cake layers, and after that, there was no going back. It is a sauce with a hundred uses.” Our version of pistachio cream calls for melted white chocolate for extra-silky creaminess and a dash of vanilla for a depth of flavor, and is perfect for slathering on croissants, Danishes, muffins, and just about any breakfast pastry you can think of.

To make this recipe, start by picking up pistachios. There are many varieties available, but the best choice is shelled, unsalted, and raw pistachios. If you can’t find them raw, lightly toasted will work fine. You’ll need some milk, and any variety will work. If you want the sauce to be dairy-free, soy milk, almond milk, or oat milk are all great choices. From the baking aisle, grab white chocolate chips, sugar, and vanilla extract. We’re using avocado oil in the recipe, but refined coconut oil or a neutral vegetable oil are also suitable.

Add the pistachios to a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let sit 15 minutes.

Drain the pistachios, discarding the soaking water.

Rub the pistachios with a paper towel to remove any loose skins.

Add the pistachios to a food processor and pulse until a crumb mixture forms.

Add the white chocolate chips to a saucepan and stir for 5 minutes on low heat to melt.

Add the milk and sugar and cook on low heat, stirring frequently for 5 minutes or until the sugar is dissolved.

Remove from heat and add the oil, vanilla, and salt.

Add this mixture to the pistachios in the food processor and blend until smooth.

Serve the pistachio cream.

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Pistachio cream, also known as crema di pistachio, originated in Sicily, Italy, where Bronte pistachios are grown in the volcanic soil of Mount Etna and harvested every two years. The timeline allows the trees to rest every other year to produce higher-quality nuts. The nuts are picked by hand to protect the delicate branches. The intense flavor and vibrant color of these prized pistachios have inspired many creative recipes like pistachio gelato, pistachio pesto, pistachio cannoli, and the luxurious pistachio cream. Pastry makers in Sicily experimented with ground pistachios and found that blending them with sugar and milk created a spreadable filling for pastries, croissants, and cakes. The cream soon became a common accompaniment with desserts of all kinds.

As the years passed, modern versions emerged that called for the addition of white chocolate for extra sweetness, a trend that may have been inspired by Nutella, another nut and chocolate combination that was rising in popularity at the time. The white chocolate makes the cream richer and more indulgent, and it is a delicious twist on the original cream.

We have a few tips to follow when making pistachio cream that will ensure a beautiful batch. To start, the pistachios should be fresh — avoid using ones that you may have had in your kitchen for over a month. Fresh pistachios will provide the best flavor and most vibrant color. It’s crucial that you don’t skip the soaking step, which softens the nuts and helps to make them perfectly creamy when blended with the other ingredients. After they have soaked, rubbing them gently with a towel will loosen the skins. You don’t have to remove every single skin, but even partially removing them will make the cream smoother.

A food processor works well for this recipe, but a high-speed blender will also do the job. With either tool, you’ll need to pause while blending to scrape down the sides. When melting the chocolate, stay close by and be careful with the temperature to avoid burning. If the cream is too thick for serving, add a small amount of warm milk to get to your desired consistency. The cream will last for up to a week if kept in a sealed container in the fridge.

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