Almond gingerbread cookies

Do you like getting and giving presents? Of course you do, you are nice people.I have mixed feelings, I always had. You see I was always too responsible and too picky. I spend hours trying to pick a present and never feel sure enough if that was the right one. I always felt bad for all those gifts that have never been used. And how anybody can find a gift for me, if I don’t know what I would like to get, I almost have everything I need (ok, there is a cookbook list I wouldn’t mind getting).

This year I decided to sign up for The great food blogger cookie swap. You would think that baking and sending cookies should be pretty easy comparing to picking a perfect gift, but I baked five different types of cookies and then decided I need to bake another type as I had second thoughts. Finally packing wasn’t a piece of cake either, but finally I send it off and a soon I got cookies from Tash. By the rules I should send three packages and receive three back, but as there was only myself and Tash participating from Ireland so other cookies were eaten by my coworkers.

It was a dull, grey day, when the cookie package got to me. It wasn’t Monday but it felt like one, but getting a box of beautiful cookies made it so much better. And then I thought it was so worth it to share homemade food, it is such an easy way of sharing goodness and making somebody’s day brighter. Thank you Tash for your lovely rose water & pistachio shortbread, they were lovely and I can’t wait to save your recipe as they are so good. I hope you got my cookies in decent shape.

I decided to send Almond gingerbread cookies. They were a little bit different and they look so cute with an almond in the middle.

• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

Recipe from Moje wypieki

Cookies

• 100g dark brown sugar
• 3/4 cup honey
• 2 Tbsp black treacle
• 50g butter
• 300g wholegrain rye flour
• 200g ground almonds
• 1/2 cup almonds, blanched and chopped
• 1 1/2 Tbsp gingerbread spice mix
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 egg
• 2 Tbsp almond or orange liqueur

Plus for decoration

• 120g whole almonds, blanched
• 1 egg
• 2 Tbsp milk

Directions

In a small pot heat sugar, honey, black treacle and butter until just melted. Leave it to cool. In a large bowl mix rye flour, gingerbread spice mix, baking soda, ground almonds, chopped almonds and egg. Add liqueur and cooled sugar and butter mixture and knead it. The dough will be quite sticky . On the floured surface roll the dough to 0.5-cm thickness (my dough was really sticky, so I was quite generous with flour, but try to avoid using too much flour if you don’t need to). Cut the cookies with a cutter and place them on a baking sheet. Squeeze an almond into every cookie. Beat an egg with milk and using a pastry brush, brush the cookies with the egg white. Bake at 190ºC/170ºC fan for 8 to 10 minutes or until they just start to get some colour on the very edges.