Looking for a recipe for Italian cookies? These Sicilian Almond Paste cookies or Almond Paste Macaroons will remind you of days baking with your Grandma in their kitchen.

These cookies are soft with a hint of almond and a delicious nutty flavor that will have you reminiscing of the old days.

Pasticcini di mandorle or Almond Paste Macaroons, are fragrant with the flavor of almonds. They can be baked plain, decorated with almonds or maraschino cherries, drizzled with chocolate, or made into thumbprint cookies.

Sicilian Almond Paste Cookies – Almond Macaroons

1 dozen

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 egg whites, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 lemon, zested
• 2 ½ cups almond flour
• ½ cup powdered sugar, for rolling
• Crushed almonds, for garnish, if desired

Preparation Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper

In a small bowl mix sugar and lemon zest then mix with flour

In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until fluffy then add in the extract

Add the flour mixture slowly, stirring as you go with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together

Scoop out, roll into a ball then roll in powdered sugar

Place the balls on the lined baking sheet and use the bottom of a glass to flatten slightly

Bake 15-18 minutes

Cool on pan 5 minutes before moving to wire rack to cool completely

Top some or all cookies with crushed almonds if desired

Serve and enjoy!

How to Bake in Batches to Make the Most of Your Baking Time

One way to handle your holiday baking is to bake in batches, then freeze and store for the big day. You can do this successfully over a couple of weeks with batch baking and batch preparing.

The biggest thing to remember is to only try a few different types of things in one day, or focus on just one type of baked good in one day. For example, you might want to bake all your quick breads in one day. Another day you can prepare all your cookie dough. Yet another time, you can bake all your fruit pies and so forth. This process makes the most of the time you have, the space you have, and your skill level.

Be Prepared

Don’t try batch baking without a plan of action. Be sure to write down your plans in advance so that you are sure you have enough time to do everything that you’ve planned. To figure out a basic time line, add up the prep time, the baking time for each oven full, and then multiply that by 1.5 to account for a little extra issues happening. Then you should be sure that you have enough time.

Get Everything Ready to Go

Your kitchen should be spotless when you start, and ensure that you have all the ingredients and appliances necessary to make each item ready to go. If you know, for example, that today you’ll be using about 10 pounds of flour, consider using a large bowl to hold the flour so you can easily spoon the flour into the measuring cup, flatten off over the bowl, without having to get into the bag over and over which usually means spillage.

Clean as You Go

Fill your sink immediately with hot soapy water so you can clean as you go. You will want to wash your mixing dishes and other utensils during the baking process so that you can use them again. There’s no point in totally destroying your kitchen as you batch bake, and you don’t have to. Set out a draining board, fill the sink with hot soapy water, and wash as you go. There are many opportunities during baking to wash a couple of dishes, and this will make the clean-up faster, and the process more organized.

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