These cookies are simple, chewy, and good! They are made without flour - the ground almonds give rich flavor and even add a little healthiness to these easy treats. I knew they were good when my family quickly devoured an entire batch and whined for more.
Even though we are in New Zealand where it is Spring time, as native Northern Hemisphere dwellers, we have the Winter holidays on our mind. The kids and I whipped up a batch of these cookies one day and dubbed them - “Snowy” in honor of the holiday season.
Maybe it’s the holiday of year, maybe it’s the preponderance of sweets temptimg me at every cafe in NZ, or maybe it’s the adorable tiny cottage we are staying in with a white picket fence... all I know is I need to bake. For ages, I have been wanting to make my own macarons. I did some research into recipes and decided they would take way too much time, effort, and equipment for me in my temporary, basic kitchen. Plus I am way too impatient for intricate and complicated baking recipes - not my forte. So here I am making a faux-macaronish chewy almond cookie... and I am totally satisfied.
INGREDIENTS
adapted from Jo Segar the Chelsea Cafe
- 2 cups ground almonds
- 3/4 cup sugar (fine/caster is preferable)
- grated zest of one orange
- 2 egg whites, room temperature
- 1 heaping tablespoon honey
- powdered sugar
Whisk room temperature egg whites until soft peaks form. (The air you whip into the egg whites will provide volume for the cookies.) Our rental's kitchen doesn't have a mixer so I found this trusty old-school-hand-mixer at the local vintage shop.
Fold sugar into egg whites. Then grate orange zest into the mix. Fold in ground almonds. Finally stir in honey. Stir to incorporate all ingredients until you have a thick sticky dough.
Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. Sift powdered sugar over the parchment. Set aside.
Dust your work surface with sifted powdered sugar. Make small balls of dough. Roll them in the powdered sugar until well coated.
Place prepared cookies on lined and sugared cookie sheet. Make sure you leave at least 3/4 of an inch between cookies to allow for spreading during baking.
Bake for 15-18 minutes.
Let cool on a wire rack. (You can sift additional powdered sugar over the tops of the cookies if you wish.)
Makes 30 small cookies
It feels great to have a kitchen again and be able to share new recipes: I have been cooking like a fiend and there are many more recipes to come!
Sounds even better than the one I already have. I can't wait to try it out with the orange zest!
ReplyDeleteThanks.
Just in time for the cookie swap I am going to. Thanks for a new recipe!
ReplyDeleteJennifer Burt
Thanks for the nice comments,Alice and Jennifer. This recipe is so easy - I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
ReplyDeleteSnap! And they're gluten free too! Yipee! I'm with you on the macaron thing, just reading some of those recipes tires me out!
ReplyDeleteLove your photos! Looking forward to try the recipe :)
ReplyDeletelovely e,
ReplyDeleteso cool to see you in action in your temporary kitchen. no matter where you are you beautifully capture the spirit of the room with your camera. nice to see your girl cooking! i love the combo of honey, almonds, and orange. can't wait to try them.
dash and i said hi to your house yesterday. and then he said, "when is she coming back? when?"
love, p
just like phyllis, I'm amazed you can pull off some cooking and baking while traveling! the little cottage you guys are staying at must be really inspiring :)
ReplyDeletegreetings,
M.
Thanks Kristina, Phyllis and M - so good to hear from you three!
ReplyDeleteIt has been fun to really cook again. I feel like I've done months worth of cooking in just a few weeks. I guess I needed the fix!
I hope you guys like the cookies. We dug them so much, we made them 4 times in a week!
Phyllis, tell Dash I miss him and that I am glad he is keeping an eye on our house:)
xxxooo
E
I've got a pan of sweet potato cookies in the oven as we speak, but the flavors of your little snowy cookies are so appealing. Definitely giving them a try!
ReplyDeleteLemons and Lavender, I've never had sweet potato cookies but would love to try. Yum! Happy holidays to you!
ReplyDeleteCurious Baker, thanks for stopping by. Us gluten-free folks need to stick together:)
E
Thanks for sharing, I am always on the look out for gluten & dairy free cookie recipes - they can be so hard to find!
ReplyDeleteI can't eat grains, so I was so happy to have stumbled upon this recipe for a festive-looking cookie. I'm happy to say that not only did it taste great and agree with my stomach, but my family (who is NOT grain-free) loves the recipe just as much as I do!
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting. :)
Liana, I am thrilled you and your family enjoyed the cookies. I am such a fan of using ground nuts in cbaking - no need to feel deprived!
ReplyDeleteYou might also want to try these...
http://yummysupper.blogspot.com/2010/05/3-ingredient-peanut-butter-cookies.html
http://yummysupper.blogspot.com/2009/11/salted-rosemary-almond-shortbread.html
Here's to holidays without belly aches:)
-E
Happy Holidays!
ReplyDeleteEmmett and I made these cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.... delicious! We made many Yummy Supper recipes for our many holiday guests (Carnitas were a huge hit too).
Much love and happy new year from C,A,R,& E
These look great! I just returned from a trip to California - while there, a friend gave me 4 meyer lemons from a tree in his backyard (oh how I wish I could walk into my backyard and pick a few of these off my tree!). I have a similar recipe to your Snowy Almond Cookies that uses lemon instead of orange. Your post reminded me of them. Think I'll make them today using my four little baby meyer lemons!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ellen.... Meyer lemons may be my favorite ingredient of all time! I am sure they'd be wonderful here. Especially the zest. Yum!
ReplyDelete-E
These cookies looked great. I had never the chance to make some last year. Hopefully, today is the day!
ReplyDeleteThanks Dining Room Tables, I hope you enjoy the cookies!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this ... Ive been diagnosed as allergic to gluten and trying to find things that taste nice and dont make me more sick has been a real mission. This is simple and quick to make and is a perfect treat so thanks
ReplyDelete