SWEET ALMOND COOKIES FOR EASTER
Easter baking! These cookies are easy and absolutely worth it. If this doesn’t sweeten the atmosphere in the home from the delicious dough batter right through to THAT cookie smell wafting from the kitchen and then that first, fresh-from-the-oven bite, I don’t know what will. Sweet food is Kapha, it’s love, it’s grounding… in just the right amounts, and these sweet almond cookies hit the spot. Marzipan and Easter go pretty much hand in hand, but it’s not to everyone's taste. These cookies have just the right “almond-ness” about them, the right bite, the right chew, not too sweet but super fragrant and homely. I’ve made this with chickpea flour and rice or tapioca but it’s also yummy with buckwheat. You can easily adapt with whatever is in your cupboard.
INGREDIENTS
Makes 7 cookies*
25g rice flour or tapioca flour
25g chickpea flour (or try buckwheat flour)
½ tsp baking powder
40g jaggery or coconut sugar**
50g ground almonds
2 tbsp ghee or coconut oil, room temp (if your oil is very cold, you might want to warm it first)
2 tbsp water
7 whole almonds, blanched***
⅛ tsp almond extract (or a touch more if you’re more of a marzipan fan)
METHOD
Line a large baking tray with parchment and preheat the oven to 170°C.
Sieve the flours and baking powder into a bowl (or use a whisk to combine and break down any lumps like I do) and stir to combine.
Add the jaggery and ground almonds, and mix well.
Add the ghee, the almond extract and the water into the bowl, then beat with a wooden spoon to make a dough/paste. Taste a tiny piece and add a touch more almond extract if you like.
Take a walnut-sized piece of dough and shape into a ball on the baking tray, leaving space between each to allow for spreading.
Flatten lightly (or a lot) and place a blanched almond in the centre of each cookie.
Bake for 20-22 minutes at 150°C for crisper cookies or 170°C for 12-13 minutes if you want them crisp and crumbly. You can check on them once the oven timer goes and add on a minute or so.
Remove from the oven. The cookies will still be a bit soft, but harden as they cool. As soon as they are OK to handle, move to a wire rack and enjoy warm or room temp. Store in an airtight box when completely cooked for up to a week.
East by West tips:
*You can turn this recipe into almond thins by dividing the dough into 14 equal portions and flattening until each is 5ml thick. Cook for 10 minutes at 150°C, check and add more cooking time if need be.
**If using maple syrup, reduce the water by at least a tablespoon.
***You can buy ready blanched almonds, but if you don’t have any, you can blanch your own by soaking in boiling water for a minute, then rinsing in cold water and slipping them out of their skins by pinching them.