On a trip to Wild Oats in Portland last month, I bought a jar of almond butter. I had been reading a book on macrobiotics, and for reasons that were not revealed, almond butter is the only nut butter the author thinks we should consume. It sounded pretty good to me! When I got it home and tried it, I was pretty disappointed. It tasted a lot like peanut butter, but with a less intense flavor. I don't know exactly what I expected, but it was something other than that. I went back to my Maranatha organic peanut butter, and the almond butter sat in the cupboard... until...
Earlier this week, I saw a recipe for "Almond Unsparkle Cookies" at Tenacious Flog. What a perfect opportunity to use up that almond butter! The cookies sounded intriguing, and I thought maybe the recipe would highlight the almond flavor a bit more that just eating it on crackers did. Here's my version of the recipe...
Almond Sparkle Cookies
1 cup Sucanat
1 cup almond butter
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
Demerera or Turbinado sugar
Lightly beat eggs in medium bowl. Add sugar, vanilla, and baking soda; combine. Fold in almond butter. Chill for 1 hour. Drop by tablespoons (I have a tablespoon sized "disher," like a tiny ice cream scoop, that I LOVE for making drop cookies!) onto silpat, parchment lined pan, or greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with turbinado/demerera.
Kinda looks like the cow pasture across the road from where I grew up... but anyway.
Bake at 350, 9 - 10 minutes. Cool completely before removing from pan.
What an oddly gooey, sticky batter this makes! I chilled it for about 45 minutes, and the batter still spread quite a lot as I dropped it, and then even more as the cookies baked. These are close to 4" in diameter!
They just don't look like the ones on Tenacious Flog... and, of course, this is the batch I forgot to sprinkle with sugar, so these would be more like the "Almond Unsparkle Cookies." Sorry... the ones with the sugar did sparkle a bit! =)
They're not bad, but they do, in fact, taste a lot like peanut butter cookies. The texture is fascinating to me -- I never would guess that they had no flour if they were served to me! They're very soft, and almost cakey, and light and puffy. Very interesting...
I will probably try these again sometime, but I need to figure out how to keep the batter from spreading. Maybe I should chill it, spoon it out onto the cookie sheet and then chill it some more? Or even put it in the freezer for a bit?
Miss Tenacity December 17, 2004 04:13 PM PST Wow, I'm so flattered. I think this is my first documented proof that someone made a dish that I at least slightly invented. I'm tickled!
Now, the dough spreading.... yes, mine spread a little when baking, but not a ton. I did chill mine at least an hour. I wonder if the 1/2 Splenda did something different to the baking process as compared to all real sugar. I only cooked mine 7 minutes, and they were VERY fragile and soft, like a loose brownie. I also think adding the extra flavor (in the form of cherry brandy) helped a little with the almond-y aspects.
