Chocolate Covered Pistachio Cookies

Although nowadays I prefer bittersweet chocolate to milk chocolate, I still favor milk chocolate when the occasion calls for pairing chocolate with nuts. It must be homage to those childhood years when my favorite snack was a bar of pistachio-decked milk chocolate. I would have loved to make these cookies with milk chocolate, but I did not have any at home, so I used bittersweet chocolate instead. The recipe is from Martha Stewart's website. Some commentors reported problems with the cookie dough and ganache filling, but I had no difficulty with the execution of the recipe. The problem did arise, however, when it was time to chocolate-coat the filled cookies. To temper or not to temper was my dilemma. I previously experienced blooming with cookies that I made with untempered chocolate coating; so although the recipe did not call for tempering, I strongly felt that I should take the extra step. As it turns out, I do not find tempering difficult or troublesome. When you are working with an ingredient as temperamental as chocolate, tempering is a small price to pay in order to coax it into a well-behaved state. But once you have tempered it, how do you keep it there? I had not even considered this before I started tempering, and did not worry much about it as I dipped the cookies. They all looked fine first; but you could easily tell the ones without tempered chocolate the next morning.

Here is an unruly one without temper...

... as opposed to these with tempered chocolate coating...

I wonder if there are some amongst you who have a practical (and economical) solution to preserving the state of temper once it is achieved. People suggested sprouting pads and electric blankets, but I would like to hear if someone really tried these with success. So please drop a comment if you have any such experience. Meanwhile these cookies are really delicious, and I strongly recommend that you give them a try. If you dip them not too long before you'll serve them, I'm sure that you will not have any problems even if you do not temper the chocolate.