Almond Thin Cookies

These cookies can be made ahead. This recipe makes 24 cookies and these are perfect for dunking! 

Line an 8x4 bread loaf pan with plastic wrap, allowing it to overlap the sides for easy removal. 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 tsp. ground cardamon

1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 cups flour or 1 1/2 cups gluten free flour

1/2 tsp. salt

8 T. butter, cut in tiny pieces

1/3 cup water

1 T. fresh orange zest

1 1/2 cups turbino sugar or part turbino (large crystals) and part brown sugar

1 tsp. almond extract

1 cup sliced blanched almonds 

1/2 cup chopped pecans 

Directions:

Heat butter and water until butter is just melted. Do not allow it to boil. Allow the mixture to cool 5 minutes. 

Mix zest, almond extract, butter, and almonds in a small bowl. In another bowl, mix salt, cardamon, and baking soda with flour. Stir flour mixture into melted butter. Add sugar mixture to flour mixture and combine thoroughly. The mix will be slightly crumbly. Press dough into pan patting it down securely taking special care along the sides so that the cookies will cut without falling apart. Cover tightly with plastic wrap. Freeze for 1 hour. Remove dough from pan with plastic wrap handles and slice like Melba toast thin slices as possible with a chef’s knife and place cookies on a parchment-covered tray to bake, spacing them an inch apart. These will spread. You may need to use two trays. For smaller cookies, cut in half before baking. 

Preheat oven. Bake 350 F. for 8-10 minutes. Turn off the oven and allow cookies to sit in oven until they are brown and crisp. If you want to make them perfect rectangles, they may be trimmed with a sharp knife before they cool. They will harden even more as they cool. These are great for dipping in tea, coffee or a glass of milk. 

Local resident Myrna Ossin is an author of several books. Her new book is “Orlando and Central Florida On and Off the Beaten Path,” 270 pages of everything there is to do in Central Florida will be published at Nov. 30.