Almond biscuits, originating from Italy, are popular for dipping in tea, coffee, milk, or wine. Authentic recipes use few ingredients, including roasted almonds, and have a dual cooking method for crunchiness. They can be adapted with different nuts or dipped in chocolate.
Almond biscuits are a delicious biscuit that originated from Italy and are now popular in many countries, especially for dipping into tea, milk, coffee or even wine. American palates not used to cookies may be a little surprised that the cookie is typically not very sweet. It does contain some sugar, but it usually doesn’t have anything like cookies made in the United States. Once you get used to the taste, Americans clearly love these cookies too. Of course, some companies have corrupted the original recipes by creating almond biscuits that are much sweeter than the Italian recipes.
Authentic recipes for almond cookies tend to rely on very few ingredients. Typically these are flour, eggs, sugar, yeast and flavorings such as vanilla and almond extract. Roasted almonds are of course essential to almond cookies, although people can certainly substitute other nuts, raisins or pieces of citron if they prefer, or use aniseed flavoring. One nice thing about these cookies is that they are usually low in fat because they have no shortening. However some recipes require shortening and can be considered less traditional.
Almond cookies get their crunchiness from two sources. Firstly the nuts provide a natural crunch and they really need to be roasted to be more crunchy. Thinly sliced almonds may be preferred over whole almonds or halved almonds. The second reason the cookies dip so well and provide such a satisfying crunch is because it has a dual cooking method.
When the pasta is first made, it is formed into semicircle logs and cooks for about an hour (recipes may call for different cooking times). The hot log is removed from the oven and cut. Each slice is then baked again for another 20 minutes or so and the biscuits are turned over, allowing them to be toasted evenly on each side. While this process is a bit labor-intensive, almond cookie fans say it’s worth it.
For extra fancy almond biscuits, the cooled biscuits can be dipped in chocolate. The traditional method for dipping is to dip the cookies on one side only, although others may prefer a cookie covered completely in chocolate. Cookies can be made with many adaptations. In particular, the types of nuts used can transform traditional almond biscuits into hazelnut, pine nut or pistachio biscuits. Hazelnuts and pine nuts are particularly good substitutes and favored by many Italian bakers. Alternatively, those who don’t care for nuts needn’t include them and can make the cookies without almonds instead.
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