Utterly simple, these buttery bites have a flavor all their own, thanks to the inclusion of orange liqueur and ground almonds in the dough; the crowning touch is a single clove on top of each cookie. The original recipe calls for you to cream butter with sugar for an hour, but thankfully today’s mixers will do the job in about 8 minutes. The result is a cookie that almost sings Noël when you take a bite.
Gourmet’s Favorite Cookies: 1941-2008. Although we’ve retested the recipes, in the interest of authenticity we’ve left them unchanged: The instructions below are still exactly as they were originally printed.In the bowl of an electric mixer cream 4 sticks or 2 cups butter, softened, at low speed for 1 hour, or until it is almost white. Add 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted, 1 tablespoon at a time, 1 egg yolk, and 1 tablespoon orange-flavored liqueur or brandy and blend in 4 1/2 cups flour and 1/2 cup finely ground blanched almonds, 1/2 cup at a time, to form a soft dough. (If the dough seems sticky, chill it, wrapped in wax paper, for 1 hour.) Form the dough into 1 1/2-inch balls and stud each ball with 1 clove. Put the balls on baking sheets and bake them in a preheated moderate oven (350° F.) for 15 minutes, or until they are pale golden. Transfer the cookies to a rack, let them cool for 2 minutes, and dredge them in sifted confectioners’ sugar. Makes 48 cookies.
Ratings
Comments
Post a Comment