Almond Snow Balls

19th January 2010

I'm in love with this almond cookies. It's not overly sweet and the texture is very fine and crisp. This recipe is a keeper and I may list it in my CNY to bake list.





Recipe adapted from Chef Keiko - Okashi

Ingredients:
Pastry flour - 150g (cake flour/top flour/Nissin violet flour)
Unsalted butter - 120g
Icing sugar - 50g
Salt - a pinch
Ground almonds - 50g
Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp
Snow or icing sugar for dusting (prefer snow powder, not so sweet)

Method:
1. Preheat oven at 160 deg c. Sift flour once. Line tray with parchment paper
2. Beat butter, sugar, salt and vanilla until softened (no need to be fluffy). Fold flour and almond into butter mixture using a spatular or scaper. Chill dough in refrigerator for about 20mins.
3. Roll dough into small balls (about 8g each) and place them on a baking sheet. Place dough balls in alternating rows to ensure good distribution of heat for even baking.
4. Bake cookies for 20mins, then remove from heat and leave to cool on a wire rack.
5. Once cooled, dust cookies with snow/icing sugar and store in airtight container to keep them crisp.