Best Ever Italian Almond Cookies

These are the BEST EVER, absolutely moreish and delicious Sicilian almond cookies you'll ever taste. With a thin and crispy crust outside, and amazingly soft and chewy inside, it's quite impossible to stop at one. The secret is to use roasted almond meal, which gives it a rich nutty and almost caramel-like flavour. Continue reading for the recipe.

Italian Almond Cookies
Adapted from Good Food

Ingredients

250g roasted almond meal
3 egg whites, beaten until stiff
150g white sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp almond essence
Icing sugar, to coat biscuits
Flaked almonds

Method

Using your hands or a large spoon, mix all ingredients (except icing sugar) together in a bowl and rest for 1/2 an hour.

Preheat oven to 180C. Make small balls of about 3 cm by rolling them between your palms, then lightly roll them in the icing sugar. If the mixture is too soft, that's okay. Just drop spoonfuls of the mixture in the icing sugar and gently roll them until covered all over with sugar.

Place on trays lined with baking paper.

Gently press a few flaked almonds into the top of the biscuits.

Cook until biscuits become lightly browned on top - about 12 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool before serving.

The biscuits can be stored in the fridge in a sealed container for up to one month.

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Pineapple Tarts (2016 edition)

I told myself I was not going to make pineapple tarts this year. It's just too much effort and physically challenging (for someone of my age) and I figured I'd just wait for friends passing through Singapore to bring back tarts for me to eat. No thanks to Facebook, I keep seeing posts of pineapple tarts spilled across the page, made by my baker/foodie friends. I tried to resist the temptation, really (for almost a day). I admit I have a terrible weakness for pineapple tarts. I've made them every year since I moved to Sydney and had to D.I.Y. these CNY ("Chinese New Year") delicacies to satiate my cravings. After all, it's not CNY until you've had pineapple tarts (and bak kwa, but that's another story).

And so, last night, I bought pineapples and made pineapple jam, so that I could roll them into balls and make the tarts this morning. By noon, the pineapple tarts were ready and mission accomplished for January 2016 (although that was not my new year's resolution, but an emergency mission to continue my annual tart-making tradition). So there!

There can never be too many pineapple tart recipes out there. Here's mine for this year of the Monkey!

Pineapple Tarts

(Makes about 30)

Ingredients

225g plain flour

2 tbsp cornflour

2 tbsp icing sugar

125g salted butter, cut into cubes and chilled in freezer

1 1/2 egg yolks

1-2 tbsp ice-cold water

Egg wash: 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

Filling: 300g pineapple jam (approximately from 1 medium-sized pineapple - recipe here) - shaped into 10g balls (or smaller depending on the size of your tart mould)

Method

Combine the plain flour, cornflour and icing sugar in a bowl and mix well. Place the flour mixture into the bowl of a food processor together with the cubed butter. Cover with lid and pulse it several times until it resembles breadcrumbs. Mix the egg yolks with 1 tbsp iced water and drizzle it into the flour mixture with the motor running. If the dough looks dry and doesn't come together  when pressed between your fingers, then add another tablespoon of cold water and pulse/blend again until dough comes together (but not too soft or wet).

Bring the dough together to form a disc and wrap with clingwrap. Set aside in the fridge to rest for 1/2 hour.

Preheat oven to 180C.

Roll out the pastry and cut out the shapes with tart mould. Top with pineapple and decorate the top with bits of shaped pastry if desired. Brush the pastry with egg wash and bake in oven for 18-20 minutes until lightly golden. Rest on the tray for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Enjoy and store leftovers (if any) in an airtight container.

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Almond Crisps (Almond Brittle)

 

Chinese New Year is less than two weeks away and I haven't started baking anything yet this year. Well, not until now, if you'd call throwing sugar and nuts together and melting them in the oven baking. I recently bought a packet of Bienetta Florentine Mix, which comes in powdered form. The simplest way to use it is to mix it with almonds, bake them and it miraculously turns into a crisp layer of caramelized almonds. Alternatively, you could substitute the Bienetta by using a Florentine recipe, which you can find in my previous post "Almond and Pretzel Butterscotch Brittle".

 

Almond Crisps Recipe

 

Ingredients

 

60g (2.5 oz) Bienetta Florentine Mix

80g (3.5 oz) thinly sliced / flaked almonds

1/4 tsp salt

 

Method

 

Preheat oven to 160C (320F).

 

Line a baking tray (10in x 13in) with non-stick baking paper.

 

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and pour into the tray. Spread the almonds to form a thin and even layer.

 

Bake in oven for 10-12 minutes or until it starts to turn golden brown. Remove from oven and transfer it almond crisp from the tray to a chopping board. Use a long sharp knife to slice into bite sized pieces while it's still hot. It will harden and crisp up once cool. Store in an airtight container.

 

 

 

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Melting Moments with Raspberries and Cream

These melting moments are absolutely heavenly! So good. Light, buttery, creamy and melts in your mouth. The balance between the sweetness from the vanilla buttercream and the tartness of the raspberry jam is perfect. These delightful little sandwich cookies were so popular that I had to make a second batch the day after, which I brought to work the next day only to have them all devoured by everyone. I guess the main difference between this recipe and others is that this uses custard powder, which gives it a sweet scent and flavour. It also uses baking powder which results in a light and crumbly texture. I can declare that this is now my favourite melting moment recipe, and if you try it out, I bet it'll be your favourite too! Also, don't forget to check out the recipe for quick and easy Raspberry Jam in my previous post. You can prepare the jam and refrigerate it a few days ahead until you're ready to make the cookies.

Melting Moments with Raspberries and Cream

Adapted from Masterchef Australia

Ingredients

180g (6oz) unsalted butter
60g  (2oz) icing sugar, sifted
60g (2oz) custard powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
180g (6oz) plain flour

Buttercream:

100g (3.5 oz) butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup icing sugar, sifted

Raspberry jam (click here for Raspberry Jam recipe)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Line two oven trays with baking paper.

2. For biscuits, cream butter for two minutes in an electric mixer with paddle attachment. Add icing sugar and custard powder and mix until combined. Sift the baking powder and flour together then add to the dough and mix well. Roll dough into 10g balls (about 1 tsp), place on a baking paper lined baking tray and press each ball with a fork to leave an indent. Bake biscuits for 14 minutes or until light golden. Stand on trays 5 minutes to cool then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

3. For buttercream, whisk butter and vanilla until smooth. Add icing sugar and beat until mixture forms a paste, the consistency of thick icing. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a small star nozzle.

4. To assemble, place a spoonful of jam on the base of half the biscuits. Pipe buttercream in a circle onto the base of the other half of the biscuits. Gently press one of each biscuit together to form a melting moment. Dust with icing sugar before serving.                            

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