Almond Cookies

 

I love almond flavor cookies. I think my love for them developed, as a kid at Christmas time; surrounded by Italian cookies made by my Italian grandmother and Italian great grandmother. Oh, I really miss them (my grandmothers) 😦

Carrying on with some tradition, my mother made many types of cookies including almond cookies with icing, pizzelles, Italian sugar cookies, annisette sponge cookies. The list goes on.

I consider myself the healthy Italian now. I convert like every recipe I find.

I found a recipe on amourfoud.blogspot.com for almond cookies and liked the ingredient list. I just had to alter it though. I don’t like sugar, in general. It’s a rare occasion when I bake with anything but coconut sugar or sucanat. This one called for a little normalcy though. I reduced the sugar, added a little fructose, because of it’s fine texture, and added stevia to make up the remaining needed sweetness.

I also bake nut-based cookies on a lower temperature to preserve the delicate oils in the nuts as much as possible.

I hardly eve use confectioner’s sugar either, so this is another rare occasion. You can try, as I do, to mix in a little tapioca flour to make up a little of the bulk. you could also use more tapioca flour and a little stevia too, but be careful not to use too much as it is incredibly sweet.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/3 cups almond meal
• 1/2 cup organic evaporated  cane juice
• 2 tablespoons fructose
• 1 tablespoon stevia powder
• 3 large egg whites (* you can beat these until soft peaks form; see note)
• Grated zest of 1 organic orange
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 1 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon tapioca flour (optional)

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine the almond meal, sugar, fructose, stevia, egg whites, orange zest, and almond extract in a bowl, stirring well.  Place the almonds in a separate bowl.  Roll a tablespoon of the mixture into a rough ball, then roll the ball in the almonds.  Using your thumb and forefinger, and middle finger, pinch the ball into a sort of pyramid shape.  Place on the baking sheet and repeat with the remaining dough.

Bake the cookies for 15-17 minutes, until lightly browned.Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Mix the confectioner’s sugar with the tapioca flour in a small bowl.

Let cool, then dust with confectioners’ sugar mixture using a small fine mesh strainer.  You can store the cookies in an airtight container. Makes 2 dozen cookies.

• For  more classic amaretti, beat egg whites until soft-stiff peaks form; fold into almond mixture. Spoon batter by tablespoonful onto baking sheet; sprinkle with almonds. Bake for 17 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack.