Flourless Soft Almond Cookies (Pasticcini di Mandorle)

Flourless Soft Almond Cookies (Pasticcini di Mandorle) can be soft like marzipan or baked a few minutes more for a slightly crunchy chew. Either way, these wondrous cookies are a real Italian treat! Made with only 4 ingredients, Flourless Soft Almond Cookies are naturally gluten free and ideal for Passover or Easter sweetness.

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When it comes to dunkable, dip-able, cookies with amazingly long shelf life, Italian cookies win the prize. Perhaps this is due to espresso being so much a part of the Italian culture and the obvious need for a cookie to go along side. Perhaps Italian bakers are just genius. From biscotti to taralli dolce di pasqua (Italian Easter Cookies) to these Pasticcini di Mandorle (Flourless Soft Almond Cookies), Italian cookies are what your cookie jar and care packages should be filled with.

Flourless Soft Almond Cookies may be the easiest cookie I have ever made. There are only four ingredients; almond flour, confectioners’ sugar, lemon zest, and eggs. There is no mixer required. Just combine the ingredients, roll in confectioners’ sugar, bake, and enjoy. The naturally gluten free, grain free ingredients, make Flourless Soft Almond Cookies a lovely Passover or Easter treat.

It’s not often that I look at a cookie and think that no sprinkles are needed, but Flourless Soft Almond Cookies are a beautiful exception. I love the way the powdered, white crust cracks and the yellow almond cookie shows through. They are definitely eye catching without any bling. Should you want to add a bit of spring color, turning Flourless Soft Almond Cookies into lovely pastel Easter cookies, I found an easy way to color the confectioners’ sugar. Color Kitchen sells little packets of all natural food coloring powder. I bought mine at Whole Foods. The packets come in red, yellow, and blue, which can be combined to create all the colors of the rainbow. Mixing the powder in a small plastic bag with the confectioners’ sugar, colors the sugar in soft pastel hues.

Disclaimer: There are rarely any Monday Box recipes that use nuts. I am extremely allergic to tree nuts and can’t even bake with them. Almonds are a partial exception for me. I can’t eat them, but it doesn’t bother me to bake with them. That said, in order to evaluate the flavor of Flourless Soft Almond Cookies, I had to rely on the reactions and comments of my taste testers. I can’t tell you first hand that these cookies live up to the rave reviews I read while researching. However, I can tell you that no one I gave them to stopped at one cookie. Two or three cookies into their “taste testing”, each person was still smiling, munching, and muttering some version of, “Mmmmm,” while reaching for another.

Flourless Soft Almond Cookies are a cookie for all occasions. They are simple enough for everyday enjoyment, yet so pretty you will want to share them at your Passover or Easter celebrations.

5 from 1 vote

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Flourless Soft Almond Cookies (Pasticcini di Mandorle)

Adapted from Rachel Roddy @ TheGuardian.com

Makes 32 cookies

Author Wendy Sondov

Ingredients

• 3 ¼ cups almond flour
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar plus about ½ cup for coating
• Zest from 1 lemon
• 2 large eggs lightly beaten
• Optional for colored sugar coating:
• 3 packages of Color Kitchen powdered natural food coloring red, blue, yellow

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the almond flour, confectioners’ sugar, and lemon zest.
3. Add the beaten eggs. Mix until combined and dough forms.
4. Put ½ cup of confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl.
5. Optional: For colored confectioners’ sugar, divide evenly into three ziplock bags. Add ¼ teaspoon of powdered coloring and knead bag until the sugar is evenly colored. Add additional powder in ¼ teaspoon increments until desired color is achieved. (Combine primary colors to create additional shades. Red and blue were combined for the purple coloring.)
6. Scoop dough into slightly rounded 1 tablespoon portions. Roll to coat in the confectioners’ sugar. Roll in palm, over the sugar bowl, to form a ball and to remove excess sugar.
7. Place 2” apart on the prepared baking sheet. With a finger, make a small indentation in the middle of each cookie to promote even baking.
8. Bake for 11-12 minutes for soft, marzipan-like cookies or 14-15 minutes for slightly crunchy-chewy cookies.
9. Remove from the oven and move the cookies onto a wire rack to cool completely.
10. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one month.

Packing Tips

Wrap pairs of cookies, bottoms together, in plastic wrap. Stack the wrapped bundles in a freezer weight ziplock bag. To use a plastic storage container, layer cookies between sheets of wax paper. Add crumpled tissue paper between the cookie and the lid, if necessary, to prevent ANY movement while shipping.

Baking tools I used and recommended in this post:

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