Ingredients
- Blanched Almonds Scant 1 cup (125 g)
- Granulated Sugar 1 1/4 cups (250 g)
- Egg Whites 2 large (60 g)
- Honey 2 tsp
- Fine Salt a pinch
- Pure Almond Extract 1/2 tsp
To finish
- Confectioners’ Sugar 4 Tbs
- Pastry Flour or Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 1 Tbs
Cook it
- Place the almonds and sugar in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Process until the nuts are finely ground and the mixture looks sandy.
- In a bowl, lightly whisk the egg whites with the honey, salt, and almond extract. With the machine running, pour this mixture through the feed tube and process for several minutes, until you have a thick, smooth creamy batter. Scoop the batter into a piping bag fitted with a 1/2-inch (3/4-cm) plain tip.
- Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Pipe 2-inch (5-cm) circles onto the parchment, 12 per sheet. Leave the baking sheets uncovered overnight, or for 12 hours, to allow the batter to dry slightly and form a “skin.”
- To finish: Preheat the oven to 375° F (190° C). Sift together the confectioners’ sugar and flour and use a fine-mesh sieve or a sugar shaker to coat the cookies. With the thumbs and first two fingers of both hands, pinch the circles of batter, lifting your fingers slightly as you go, to give the cookies an elongated shape with some height and cracks. Bake, one sheet at a time, in the middle of the oven for about 9 minutes, until the cookies are golden-brown. Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks to cool completely. These cookies are best eaten within a few days of baking. They will keep in a tightly lidded container for up to 1 week, though they will begin to dry out after about 3 days.
Recipes excerpted from Italian Cookies: Authentic Recipes and Sweet Stories from Every Region by Domenica Marchetti. Photos by Lauren Volo. Reprinted by permission of Gibbs Smith Books.
