Almond Spritz Cookies
- 2 cups unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/3 cups sugar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 3 2/3 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup almond flour (almond meal)
- 9 oz (250g) semisweet or milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
- Cookie press or pastry bag
- Preheat the oven to 350F (180C).
- Line 3 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Beat the butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer set on high speed until smooth.
- Gradually beat in the sugar, and beat 2 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts.
- On low speed, beat in about two-thirds of the flour and the salt.
- Stir in the almond flour and the remaining flour.
- Knead in the bowl until smooth.
- Fit a pastry bag with a 3/4 in (2cm) wide star tip.
- In batches, transfer the dough to the bag.
- Pipe out 3in (5cm) lengths of the dough, spacing them 1in (5cm) apart onto the baking sheets.
- Bake 1215 minutes until golden.
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool, but reserve the parchment-lined baking sheets.
- Melt the chocolate in a small bowl placed in a pan of barely simmering water, taking care not to splash any water into the chocolate.
- Dip one end of the cookies into the melted chocolate, and return to the baking sheets to cool and set the chocolate.
- Store in an airtight container for 2-3 days.
- Variation: Marbled Cookies
- Sift 2 tbsp cocoa powder with 1 tbsp sugar.
- Mix into a third of the dough.
- Combine two-thirds plain dough and one-third cocoa dough in the pastry bag.
- Pipe out and proceed as above.
unsalted butter, sugar, vanilla, almond, flour, salt, almond flour, milk chocolate, pastry
Taken from www.cookstr.com/recipes/almond-spritz-cookies (may not work)