Ingredients
* 1/2 cup heavy cream
* 5 oz semi-sweet chocolate
* 2 oz pistachios (unsalted)
* 2 1/2 cup flour (all purpose)
* 1 cup butter (unsalted)
* 3/4 cup sugar (granulated)
* 1/2 tsp baking powder
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 1 egg white

Directions
1. Heat the heavy cream in a small bowl or saucepan until boiling, then remove from heat.
2. While the cream heats, chop the chocolate into fine pieces, then add to the cream when heated and mix until smooth and melted.
3. Allow to cool slightly, then place in the fridge until needed.
4. Finely chop the pistachios, reserving 2 tablespoons for garnish, and put the rest in a large mixing bowl.
5. Add the unsalted butter, sugar, baking powder, salt, and vanilla to the bowl and mix to combine, then add the flour and knead until a dry dough is formed. Don't worry about overkneading it, just make sure it sticks together.
6. Divide dough in half, cover, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
7. Preheat the oven to 350 °F and set the dough on the counter to soften slightly (may take longer to be workable if it was in for more than 30 minutes).
8. Roll the dough on a very lightly floured surface until 1/8 inch thick, then cut into 3 inch diameter rounds.
9. Spoon 1 tsp of the chocolate in the center of half the rounds, top with another round, crimp with a fork, and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
10. Brush each cookie with the egg white and sprinkle with the reserved pistachios.
11. Bake 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown on top.

Notes
* Most semi-sweet baking chocolate comes in 4 oz containers, if you want to make this using only 4 oz, cut the amount of cream down to 100g and it'll work just fine.
* If you want to be faithful to my grandmother's recipe, make this with oleo instead of butter. They are better when made with butter though.
* The round size can be adjusted to whatever you have on hand to measure/cut with, just make sure they're consistently sized and you adjust the amount of filling accordingly. Other shapes are also acceptable!
* The dough can be difficult to work with, and will crack while rolling it out. When that happens, just patch over it with a small piece and roll over it again. If it's really difficult, allow it to warm up a bit more.

Story
This is a recipe my grandma on my mom's side used to make every Christmas when I was a kid. Even as she got older, and even though we never had a great relationship, she'd send us a box of cookies for Christmas, and these are the ones I'd always look forward to.

Back in 2022 my mom passed away from ALS, and then my grandma passed in 2023 from old age. This year, I realized I never learned how to make these, and my connections to the recipe were gone. I looked all over the internet and couldn't find a recipe even close to what I remembered, and I was really sad that I may have let a family recipe die. And then, a few days ago, I remembered my mom's old recipe box. I looked through all the old hand-written recipes in it, and in the middle of the dessert section, I found it! I could not be happier to be able to hold on to this recipe.

I want to share this recipe with the community, because I don't want it to be lost when I some day am also gone. So please, make these, enjoy them, pass the recipe on to your own family, and keep it alive!