I saw a recipe that needed roasted skin-on almonds, got them, then forgot what I wanted them for: definitely something Spanish, probably dessert-like. So I hit upon Almendrados, almond cookies. I found some variations and decided to make three. Below, the first two are similar techniques and I used the skin-on whole almonds (ground up), while the final one was more fussy and I used store-bought finely ground almonds; you can see the difference in the color. It's not quite a fair comparison, and I probably wouldn't buy the whole skin-on nuts again: they give the cookies an unappealing "health food" look.
 | |
|
TL;DR: the first recipe below is the easiest and was quite good; the second was quite dry and requires a glass of sherry; the last is visually the most appealing (pale finely ground almonds) and was like a shortbread, similar to Spanish polvorónes we see in wintertime.
#1: Spain On A Fork: 3 ingredients -- an easy treat
Some of the other recipes I've made from his site turned out well, and his videos are quite helpful.
These had a good chew and definite sweetness that made them a treat.
260 g Almonds, ground fine
120 g Powdered Sugar
1 Egg, separated
Grind the Almonds as fine as you can in a food processor or blender, but watch out it doesn't go so far as to turn into nut butter. Mine are not as fine as I'd liked, and I wouldn't use the skin-on nuts again.
Add to a large bowl, and add the Powdered Sugar.
Separate the Egg into White and Yolk.
Whisk the Egg White about 15 seconds to fluff and add to the Almonds and Sugar.
Mix together and when it starts combining, use your hands to squeeze it together; if it's too sticky, add a bit of ground Almonds or Flour; if too tight, add a little water.
He shapes them into "chicken nugget design" but I kinda rolled the mass between cling film to a bit under a centimeter then cut into rectangles with a knife -- it was easier.
Set on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and press grooves into the tops of each.
Whip the reserved Egg Yolk and paint each one.
Bake convection at 190C for about 10 minutes.
Remove from oven, then dust with a bit more Powdered Sugar, and let cool.
These didn't look too impressive but they were a treat to eat: sweet, a bit of a chew, and much more fun than the ease of this recipe would suggest.
I expect using finely ground, pale, store-bought ground almonds would make this more appealing.
#2: Spruce Eats: similar technique, more fussy -- dry, no joy
Spruce Eats recipes seem well-researched and others I've made have turned out well.
This one, however, made me think of "health food": dry, almost no sweetness -- it didn't bring joy.
I halved their recipe here to accommodate the amount of ingredients I had.
Perhaps it would have been better with store bought almond powder but the extra work compared to the first recipe doesn't seem justified.
 |
| Not appealing, in looks or taste; this shouldn't be "health food" |
1/2 Lemon, zest
1 Egg
227 g Almonds, ground
125 g Sugar, granulated
Zest 1/2 Lemon.
Separate Egg into White and Yolk; use an electric whisk to whip the Whites in a glass until stiff peaks formed.
Mix the Yolks then gently combine with the whipped Whites, don't worry about getting it uniform.
Add the Sugar, Lemon Zest, Ground Almonds, and combined Egg to a bowl.
Mix with a spatula then your hands until it's well combined.
I used a disher (miniature ice cream scoop) to load the dough, compress, then emplace onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
Bake at 190C convection about 15 minutes until golden; this was hard to tell with our skin-on almond color, but no problem.
Remove and cool.
These were too dry, with almost no sweetness; any hints of lemon were lost. They cried out for Sherry.
I'm surprised how "sad" these seemed compared to the previous recipe since the ingredients are basically the same; I would have figured the inclusion of yolks would have made these richer but, the the whipped whites would have made them puffy, but it wasn't the case.
I probably wouldn't bother with these again.
#3: Visit Southern Spain: totally different technique -- impressive looking, shortbread-y
This was a totally different technique and yielded cookies that looked ... like cookies. It involved chilling, rolling, and cutting the dough but wasn't really that difficult.
They had a shortbread crumbly texture, almost like the "polvorónes" that appear everywhere here in Barcelona around Christmastime.
 |
| Appealing and rather good "short" cookies |
200 g Flour
125 g Ground Almonds (store-bought, finely ground, pale)
4.5 g Baking Powder (1 tsp)
125 g Sugar, white, granulated
125 g Butter, room temperature
2 Eggs (one reserved for garnish)
Sliced Almonds, for garnish
Sift Flour into a large bowl.
Happily, the bag of store-bought ground Almonds was 125 g so I didn't have to do anything.
Add Almonds and Baking Powder.
Make a well in the center and add Sugar, Butter, 1 Egg.
Combine as well as you can with a spatula, then use your hands to bring it all together.
Form into a ball and wrap in a large piece of cling film; refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Remove and spread out film, top with another layer of film, and roll out to about 3/4 cm thickness.
Chill in fridge again for about 10 minutes.
Use a glass to cut circular cookies; I dipped mine into ground almonds to keep it from sticking, but the amount of butter in these would probably prevent any stickage.
Place on parchment-lined cookie sheet, whip up the reserved Egg, and paint with the egg wash; garnish with Sliced Almonds.
Bake about 12 minutes at 190C convection until browned.
Shape and roll the remaining dough, cut, and place on another parchment-lined sheet, wash, and garnish; bake.
Remove and let cool.
These are fairly impressive looking, like something you'd get at a bakery.
They're rather good, maybe a bit crumbly -- "short" -- for my taste, but worth the trouble of chilling, rolling, cutting.
No comments:
Post a Comment