Paste di Mandorla ~ Sicilian Almond Paste Cookies
Authentic Italian almond paste cookies with lemon are perfect with tea or coffee. These soft amaretti style almond cookies are easy and delicious!
Servings: 21 cookies
Video
Ingredients
for the cookies
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- zest of 1 lemon Note: peel the lemon zest with a serrated vegetable peeler ~ you want only the yellow part, try to avoid getting the bitter white 'pith'.)
- 2 large egg whites
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 2 1/2 cups almond meal or almond flour
for the coating
- 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- To make the lemon sugar put the granulated sugar with the lemon zest into a food processor and pulse/process for about a minute until the zest is fully incorporated and the sugar is moist, pale yellow, and super fragrant. Note: If you do not have a food processor you can skip this step and just whisk the zest and sugar together.
- In a mixing bowl whisk the egg whites until foamy. Whisk in the almond extract.
- Add the lemon sugar and almond flour to the bowl and mix thoroughly. It will seem dry at first, but keep mixing until you get a moist dough with everything evenly incorporated. Don't worry about over mixing, there is no gluten in this dough so your cookies will not get tough.
- Using a tablespoon or small scoop, form into small balls and coat in powdered sugar. Make sure the balls are thoroughly coated with the sugar, then place on your prepared baking sheets. Flatten slightly with the back of a knife or spatula. It's ok if they start to crack along the sides.
- Bake for 15 minutes. The cookies will not look very different, but they will have puffed slightly and formed a few more cracks. Do not over bake.
- Let cookies sit on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool.
Notes
These are meant to be small cookies, don't be tempted to make them larger. Depending on size you'll get 1 1/2 to 2 dozen cookies.
Nutrition
Calories: 117 kcal · Carbohydrates: 15 g · Protein: 3 g · Fat: 6 g · Saturated Fat: 0.4 g · Sodium: 5 mg · Potassium: 6 mg · Fiber: 1 g · Sugar: 13 g · Calcium: 25 mg · Iron: 0.5 mg
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although The View from Great Island attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
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