pistole

A surname from German.

A Spanish gold double-escudo coin of the mid-sixteenth century, or any of various gold coins derived from or based on this.

Ralph and I were inseparable Companions. We took Lodgings together in Little Britain at 3/6 per Week, as much as we could then afford. He found some Relations, but they were poor & unable to assist him. He now let me know his Intentions of remaining in London, and that he never meant to return to Philadelphia. He had brought no Money with him, the whole he could muster having been expended in paying his Passage. I had 15 Pistoles: So he borrowed occasionally of me, to subsist while he was looking out for Business. [...]

A disc-shaped piece of chocolate, the size of a coin, designed for melting when cooking.

They were exceptional semi-sweet chocolate chips, with a flat shape that I’ve recreated here with chocolate pistoles, flat wafers or disks each about ⅞ inch in diameter. The pistoles disperse randomly through the dough, so that slicing the logs into cookies creates an attractive mosaic, with little spokes of chocolate scattered here and there.

The chocolate that I prefer for most recipes for this book is bittersweet chocolate pistoles. I like their flavor, size, and convenience.