Description
Buttery, crisp Italian-style cutout cookies made with flour, almond flour, butter, egg yolks, and vanilla, cut into festive shapes and finished with a simple white icing.
Ingredients
For the cookies: 2 cups (300 g) all-purpose flour (Type 00 if available)
1 cup (120 g) almond flour
2/3 cup (120 g) granulated sugar
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon (180 g) cold unsalted butter, cubed
2 egg yolks
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped (or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract)
For the icing: 1 egg white (pasteurized, if you prefer)
1 scant cup (120 g) powdered sugar
Instructions
1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, almond flour, and sugar. Add the cold cubed butter and rub it into the dry ingredients with your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
2. Add the egg yolks and vanilla seeds and mix by hand until the dough is compact and homogeneous. Shape into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about 1 hour.
3. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
4. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to about 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick. Cut into Christmas shapes with cookie cutters and place on the baking sheets, rerolling the scraps.
5. Bake for about 6 minutes, until the cookies are set and just barely golden at the edges. Cool on the pans for a few minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. For the icing, whisk the egg white and powdered sugar until smooth and glossy, adding a few drops of water if it is too thick.
7. Spread or pipe the icing onto the cooled cookies and let it dry completely before stacking.
Notes
Adapted from the Christmas Almond Cookies by GialloZafferano: Type 00 flour (300 g), almond flour (120 g), sugar (120 g), butter (180 g), 2 egg yolks, 1 vanilla bean, with an icing of 1 egg white and 120 g powdered sugar, about 40 cookies, a rest of about 1 hour, and roughly 6 minutes of baking at about 356°F (180°C). Those amounts and the bake time follow the source listing. The rolling thickness, the order of mixing, and the icing consistency tips are estimates, and the recipe has not been tested.
Chill the dough well so the cutouts keep their shape.
Use pasteurized egg white for the icing if serving to young children or pregnant guests.
Nutrition is an approximate estimate per cookie (about 40 cookies).
- Prep Time: 30 minutes (plus 1 hour chilling)
- Cook Time: 6 minutes per batch
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 100
- Sugar: 5g
- Sodium: 3mg
- Fat: 5g
- Saturated Fat: 2g
- Carbohydrates: 11g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 2g
- Cholesterol: 19mg