Mandelspritzgebäck (german Christmas Almond Cookies)

Total Time: 1 hr Preparation Time: 45 mins Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups unsalted butter (softened)
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 1/3 cups ground almonds (blanched)
• 3 drops bitter almond oil (see note)
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Recipe

• 1 preheat oven (375°f, 190°c).
• 2 grease baking trays.
• 3 mix butter with sugar until creamy. add egg and egg yolk and mix until foamy.
• 4 add almonds and a few drops oil of bitter almonds.
• 5 add flour (mixed with baking powder) little by little and mix. the dough should be elastic, but will not be smooth.
• 6 fill in the dough into a cookie press with big star nozzle or better into a meat grinder with a big star nozzle.
• 7 make/press dough strings of about 2 to 3-inches. form dough strings into rings, "s", horseshoes or any other shapes you like and place on baking tray.
• 8 bake for about 12 minutes. cookies should still be light.
• 9 note: oil of bitter almonds: if you can't find it, use almond extract.
• 10 note on cookie press: the dough is elastic but not smooth. so using a simple icing bag could be difficult. i use a meat grinder with a special cookie star nozzle. you can use a suited cookie press.
• 11 note on custom yield: i really can't give the correct custom yield. but the amount will make several baking trays. baking time is given for one tray.