Crisp and crunchy almond cookies
Crisp and crunchy almond cookies

Inspired by one of my vegetarian friends I decided to bake eggless. Since I was quite unsure of the outcome of not having a binding agent, I researched in great details and confused myself further. However, when you have taught yourself to cook and cook well, it means you have the innate qualities that a recipe developer trains to gain. I figured that confidence, common sense and a thorough knowledge of the ingredients used is all that matters. I was trying to use a bag of almond flour for quite some time and this looked like a good time to get it out.

Ingredients
Butter – 120 grams at  room temperature
Brown Sugar – 150 grams (I used soft light brown sugar cane sugar)
Greek Yoghurt –  50 ml (this was my binding agent. If it works for scones, why not cookies?)
Vanilla Essence -1teaspoon
Almond flour – 300 grams ( essentially double the amount of sugar)
Baking powder – 1/4 teaspoon
Salt  – a pinch
100 grams of  roughly chopped almonds

Method
Cream together butter and sugars. At this point  I separated the mixture and made a small batch with buttermilk and the rest without.Add the vanilla essence and buttermilk and beat until creamy. Mix almond flour, baking soda and salt. At this point the one without buttermilk should have a sandy and crumbly dough like consistency. The buttermilk ones will have a smoother dough.

Add the chopped almonds, knead well and refrigerate for 1 hour.

The almond studded dough
The almond studded dough

Preheat oven to 180 C. Make small lemon sized balls out of the dough and flatten them slightly. Place them apart on a parchment lined baking tray or plain flour. Flatten each ball slightly with your hands taking care to keep them from developing cracks.
Bake for 15 minutes. Look out for browning at the bottom of the cookie. Remove from oven and let it cool on the tray. Remove the cookies carefully from the paper and place on wire rack and let it cool completely. Store in airtight jar. These will keep for around two weeks without going soggy. The buttermilk ones on the other will keep for less time.

These are without the added buttermilk and they were crunchier. The buttermilk ones tend to be chewy.
These are without the added buttermilk and they were crunchier. The buttermilk ones tend to be chewy.

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The secret of the crunch and texture is the almond flour. I think semolina  mixed with flour will have a similar effect but that’s another story. Serve with coffee or tea or just eat them. Believe me when I say, they don’t last two weeks!

Written by Amrita Dasgupta - Visit my blog for more food and travel stories
I love to travel, discover new things, experience new cultures and then I get back home and experiment with the new food and recipes I discovered on my travels. My blog is about all those life experiences. If you’ve enjoyed this post, keep in touch with Drifting Traveller on Twitter and Facebook or by adding my blog to your RSS feed. Follow my blog with Bloglovin or Networked Blogs! If you really like reading the Drifting Traveller why not share it with people you know who'd like to read it too.