I had a yearning for a chewy , almond paste cookie with a crisp crust enrobed in almonds and an amazing dense chewy almond paste center when bitten into . In all my travels to italy , France and Morocco , where almonds are included in most speciality cookies , I have stopped at bakeries and indulged . The most exqusite almond paste cookies are , however , from a gorgeous cafe in Malta , with hand painted frescos on the celings and food and especially a variety of almond cookies to swoon over . This cookie from Isa Chandra Moskowitz and terry Hope Romero come close to perfect , the only change I made was to roll them in roasted slivered blanched almonds prior to baking instead of pine nuts as I really prefer almonds .
Terry Hope Romero and Isa Chandra Moskowitz
Makes 2 dozen cookies
Photograph by Rahul Mahtani
7 oz almond paste , sliced into 1 inch cubes
A pinch of salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup non hydrogenated margarine , softened
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup pine nuts ( I used 6 oz toasted slivered blanched almonds )
2 to 3 Tbs almond milk for dipping
Preheat oven to 325*F . line 2 medium size sheets with parchment paper.
Pulse almond paste , salt , baking powder , and 1/3 cup of the sugar in a food processor until mixture is crumbly , about 1 minute.
In a large bowl , cream together the margarine and remaining 1/3 cup sugar with an electric mixer until mixture is pale and fluffy , about 2 minutes . Add almond paste mixture and almond extract and beat until fluffy. Sift in the flour and beat until a slightly crumbly yet soft dough forms .
Pour the pine nuts (or almonds ) into a shallow bowl and pour 2 Tbs of almond milk into a small saucer . For each cookie scoop 1 tbs of dough and roll it in your palmsto form into a ball . Dip one end of the ball in the almond milk and press this moistened end into pine nuts ( I rolled the whole ball into the almonds ) . If necessary , use your fingers to press the nuts into the dough . Place the balls , pine nut side up on a baking sheet at least 2 inches apart . Bake for 14 minutes until cookies have puffed and spread a little and the nuts have just slightly toasted .
Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes to firm up before carefully transferring them to wire racks . Store in an airtight covered container .
Filed under: Desert, Eggless, Vegetarian Tagged: | chewy almond paste cookies, Isa Chandra Moskowitz Terry Hope Romero, vegan almond paste cookies, vegan almond pignoli cookies
Is this from the vegan cookies book? Never had cookies with pine nuts. Seems like a tasty recipe. Thanks for posting!
Yes as a matter of fact these cookies are from that wonderful book . As I mentioned in my post I made these cookies with almonds instead as I prefer their flavor , but Pinoli ( pine nuts ) are really popular too .
These look really good! I think you made the right call with the almonds.
These look delicious – but be careful with the almonds! Almonds aren’t vegan.
I will certainly look into this , thanks for the update.
This recipe sounds good but I have a couple of questions. 1. What kind of sugar did you use because white sugar is chemically bleached. 2. What kind of almond paste did you use because the almond paste I found contains sugar and potassium sorbate? Please let me know if you have vegan alternatives to these products. Thanks for the recipe and the anticipated info. T.
Hi Tina,
I use a vegan granulated sugar from Whole Foods , but , I believe an organic granulated sugar would work too . I know commercially prepared almond paste contains sugar , but I am still trying to source a vegan one , will update you if I find one . As for the potassium sorbate , it is used as a preservative and , I believe , would be in any comercially prepared almond paste.
Of course almonds are vegan!
OMG what am I doing wrong?? Mine are flat as pancakes!! I’ve gone over the recipe and I didn’t miss a thing????? Any suggestions??
I am not sure where the error is, the levening agent must be exact or they will flatten