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Health & Fitness

Christmas Almond Slices

Well it's that time of year again where I go through my recipe box and pull out my favorite Christmas cookie recipes. Over the years I mix it up sometimes, but there are always a few that I just have to have on my Christmas Cookie Tray. 

The Christmas cookies I make come from my childhood, they are my mom's recipes and the best. She was a great cook and baker. Being Italian, there were the Pizettes, Pizelles, Stuffed apricot cookies, the white cookies with annisette flavoring (over the years, she changed it to lemon flavoring or vanilla, as annisette, is very strong and as kids, I wouldn't touch it), they were iced and colored sprinkles on top, loved making those with her. One of my all time favorites we would make were the Russian Teacakes. Some people call them Mexican wedding cakes, but we called them snowballs. They were triple coated in confectioners sugar and to this day, I make them and wouldn't be Christmas without that cookie. 

One of my mom's favorites was her Almond Slices. You could almost call it a biscotti, but its not.  It's not hard or twiced baked. It's got a crunchy top but the inside is loaded with almonds and soft and chewy, it's the perfect bite and they are cut on a diaganol. 

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I use to make these with my mom and back then, before silpat silicone sheets, we use to roll the logs out onto the counter top that was coated with canola oil, so the dough wouldn't stick to the counter and we'd oil our hands. Now with a silpat, you roll it on the silpat, and no sticking and not mess with oil.

It's my mom's Almond Slices for Christmas that smell scrumptious, taste great and bring back memories of making Christmas cookies with my mom. Love you mom and dearly miss you. This was always her Holiday!

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Almond Slices

  • 1 Cup Dark Brown Sugar (use light if you don't have dark brown)
  • 1 Cup Granulated Sugar 
  • 2 Teaspoons Cinnamon
  • 2 Teaspoons Nutmeg
  • 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
  • 3 Cups Flour
  • 1/3 Cup Canola Oil
  • 1/4 Cup Warm water
  • 2 Large Eggs
  • 1lb Whole Almonds, toasted for 15 mins on 350 degrees, cool completely, then place in a ziplock bag and hammer away at them or use a food processor on Pulse and let it go, don't pulverize them though, there should be big and small pieces of the almonds.

Directions: Okay years ago we used a hand mixer, but I use my Mixmaster. On low speed, add your sugars to the bowl, then the flour and baking powder. All the dry ingredients, then whirl in then nuts. Then I add the wet ingredients, Water, Oil, Eggs, on low till it forms a dough. Scrape out and divide dough into 6 equal parts.

Roll out each part into an even log. Place the logs onto a silpat on a cookie sheet. If you don't have a silpat use parchment paper.  2 Logs per cookie sheet. Then flatten the log down and peak the centers with your fingers, and brush each log with an egg wash. Bake at 325 for 30 mins. Cool about 10 mins then cut on a diagonal with a sharp serrated knife.

Hope you enjoy!

Merry Christmas and Happy & Healthy New Year

 

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