Soft cookies filled with almonds and mandarin. These little treasure troves of goodness hide a wealth of flavors: almonds, mandarin paste (in this case, I had kumquats, but if you have regular mandarins, feel free to use those) that create a soft and enveloping heart. A perfect gift to surprise your guests. They are also great packaged in a Christmas stocking or a gift box. Try them, and I assure you that due to their simplicity and deliciousness, you will make them very often. Recipe by the talented Simone Esposito who always provides very interesting insights!
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- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Rest time: 1 Minute
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 20 cookies
- Cooking methods: Oven, Slow Cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter
- Energy 236.57 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 23.32 (g) of which sugars 13.70 (g)
- Proteins 4.30 (g)
- Fat 14.21 (g) of which saturated 3.65 (g)of which unsaturated 2.07 (g)
- Fibers 2.41 (g)
- Sodium 10.81 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 50 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 9 tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup egg
- 1 tsp baking powder (level)
- 9 oz mandarins (organic kumquats or regular mandarins)
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 cups almond flour
Tools
- Immersion Blender
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 Baking Tray
Steps
Wash the mandarins thoroughly and boil them in water for about 5 minutes.
Drain them and place them in a bowl. Cut them into pieces.
Add the sugar to the bowl
and the water. Stir
When you see larger bubbles in the pot, it’s ready.
Transfer the mandarin paste to a bowl and use an immersion blender to make it creamy
While the mandarin paste is still warm, add the almond flour
Form the paste and let it cool.
Now, in a bowl, prepare the shortbread by combining the flour, sugar, baking powder, cold butter cut into pieces, and the egg.
Knead it well with your hands
until you get a smooth dough that we will let rest in the fridge for 1 hour
At this point, take the shortbread from the fridge and, with the rolling pin, roll it out to form a rectangle measuring 16×10 inches with a thickness of about 1/5 inch.
With the cold mandarin and almond paste, form a roll
Brush the shortbread rectangle with beaten egg
and place the almond and mandarin paste.
Gently roll the paste in the shortbread
and extend the roll as much as possible. The more we extend the roll, the more cookies we get.
Cut the roll to your preferred size
Brush the cookies with beaten egg
bake in a preheated oven at 392°F for 10 minutes; they should be soft.
Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 7 days.
