OLD FASHIONED ALMOND COOKIES

Well, I didn't complete the chosen item for Tuesdays With Dorie last week. Instead, I wanted to try out a recipe for OLD FASHIONED ALMOND COOKIES that I had copied out of a magazine while waiting in a doctor's office (which magazine and which office I can't remember). Usually I note where the recipe comes from, but in this instance I didn't. I ended up being very disappointed with this recipe. The cookies burned like crazy, and I wasn't too impressed with the taste, either. Using my microplane, I attempted to save some of the cookies, but probably grated away half of the cookies! I baked another batch at a lower oven temp (350), but it didn't stop the burning. The recipe says the cookies should "puff and turn lightly brown around the edges," but since I used cocoa powder, they were too dark to be able to judge whether they were browning around the edges.




Tried to save a few by sandwiching them together with a little lemon curd. Still not worth swallowing!


I've decided to post the recipe here, in the hopes that someone will try it and let me know if they have better results, and what I may have done wrong.

OLD FASHIONED ALMOND COOKIES

8 1/2 oz. blanched almonds
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon, 3 tblsp unsweetened cocoa powder, and 1/2 c. finely chopped pecans to flavor (these are all opt'l)
3 large egg whites, lightly beaten with a fork

1. Position oven racks to divide the oven into 1/3's and preheat the oven to 375 degress (F). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Put almonds and sugar in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade and pulse, scraping down the sides of the bowl now and then, until almonds are finely ground, about 2 minutes. If using cinnamon or cocoa, put it in now and pulse to blend. If you are using chopped pecans, wait to add them after all the ingredients have been added.

3. With processor running, add egg whites in a steady stream. Mix about 30 seconds, only until egg whites are blended into the almonds and sugar. You don't want to incorporate too much air into the batter. Add the pecans, if using them, and pulse just to mix.

4. Spoon out a level tablespoon of batter for each cookie, spacing the cookies about 1-inch apart on the baking sheets. Slide baking sheets into the oven and bake 18-20 minutes, rotating the sheets from front to back, and top to bottom, at the halfway points. The cookies should puff, firm and turn lightly brown around the edges. With a wide metal spatula, carefully lift the cookies off the baking sheets and onto cooling racks. Cool to room temperature.

NOTE: The cookies can be packed airtight and kept for 4 days at room temperature.
These cookies are prime sandwich material. You can "glue" them together with anything from raspberry jam to lemon curd, or ganache!
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Since cookies are usually an easy no-brainer type of baking, I really can't figure out what went wrong here. I probably will be crazy enough to try this recipe one more time...MINUS the cocoa powder, so I can monitor the browning process.

I really am hoping someone else will take on the challenge of this recipe...and if they come out great, please send them my way!