I will be the first one to say I have never made cookie dough in a food processor. My poor KitchenAid looked very sad, sitting in the corner and not being used for this week's cookies. But this was an eye-opening experience. I did read that you could prepare your dough in a food processor but was having a hard time thinking this was a good idea.
I wouldn't do it for all my cookies, but for this recipe, it is acceptable. So what the heck I wanted to try this and see if it worked. The reason I thought it was worth trying is I pulsed to death blanched almonds till it was like powder. My Breville has a small inner bowl that is perfect for making blanched almonds look like flour. Since I had the food processor already out, I figured I would finish the dough in the processor.
So I dumped 1 cup of the almond flour into the big 16 cup bowl and added everything else into the processor bowl. I pressed the pulse button 6 or 7 times, and WOW I had cookie dough. Be careful not to over mix, so I just pulsed till it started to come together and brought the rest together on a pastry sheet. There wasn't much left to kneed together, so this was very easy.
I reserved enough blanched almond slivers to put one on top of every cookie before it baked in the oven. If you decide to add almond extract instead of vanilla extract remember that almond extract is potent, I recommend cutting the amount added at least in half.
Italian Almond with Lemon Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup Almonds blanched ground to flour consistency
- 2 cups All purpose flour 240 g
- 1 cup Butter unsalted 2 sticks
- 2 Egg yolk
- ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
- ½ cup Sugar white 99 g
- ¼ tsp Kosher Salt
- 1 TBSP Lemon zest 1 lemon
- Powdered sugar For topping
Instructions
- I had a container of blanched almonds that weighed about half a pound and added all most of them (reserved some for one on top of each cookie) to the small bowl of my food processor. I pulsed it till it was like grain flour. I measured out a cup and added it to the large 16 cup bowl of my food processor.
- I took the butter and sliced it into cubes adding it to the food processor bowl. Next, I added the sugar, flour, salt, vanilla extract, lemon zest, egg yolks, and put the lid on the processor. Using the pulse button, it pushed it about six or seven times, just till the dough started to come together.
- I took the cookie dough out of the food processor bowl and onto a pastry mat and kneaded it a little just until all the small pieces came together into a ball. I wrapped it in plastic wrap and flattened it, so it was a shape of a loose square. Refrigerate for an hour. Taking the dough out divide the dough into quarters and place one quarter on a lightly floured surface and roll out about ¼ inch thick.
- Using a cookie cutter you can use whatever shape you like. I choose a small square and got 24 cookies on a cookie pan lined with parchment paper. Taking a blanched almond slice I place one on the top of each cookie before putting them into the oven. Bake at 350° for 6-8 minutes depending on the size of your cookies. Just don't let them get brown or they are over baked. They do not rise or spread so they do not need much space between them.
- After taking them out of the oven leave them on the pan until they have cooled enough to touch. Then move them to a cooling rack. After they have completely cooled dust them with powdered sugar.
Notes
Nutrition
More Almond Cookies
Dates with Almonds and Ginger Cookies
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