I had to wait till Christmas to make these cookies. I searched high and low for almost paste but the stores only seem to sell it around Christmas time.

So 330 days after coming across this recipe in a cook book, I finally got to make it.

I tried buying almond paste online, but all the almond pastes online contained egg whites and I even went as far as trying to make this paste at home, without success. So I just had to sit back and patiently wait.

These cookies were easy to make but the rolling in pine nuts and ensuring that the pine nuts actually stuck to the cookie as it baked, well that was the blady nerve wrecking part. It seemed the more I rolled them round and round in the nuts, the more nuts just refused to stay stuck.

Nothing like forcefully pushing them down into the dough to stay stuck and shoving them into a preheated oven to bake for 15 minutes to make all the rolling and rolling in nuts seem worth it.

To tell you the truth, I was a bit sceptical to try eating one of these. I ate the almond paste straight out the packet and let me just say for the record my stomach and my taste buds were not happy with me at all.

The verdict, these cookies were delicious and chewy in the center.

My parents verdict and try not to laugh when reading this. When my mother first saw these cookies, she took a double take and asked me if there was worms on top of the cookies or had I just lost my mind. But after the first bite she was hooked and couldn’t stop asking for more.

And my all time favourite question to ask my mother during, and after every meal. “If I had to make it again, would she eat it?” and most of the times her answer is yes and most of the time she answers my question before I even get to ask it. These cookies were on her yes I would eat these cookies again list.

Another thing I loved about these cookies, they were eggless which means that everyone in our house could eat them anytime of the week.

Ingredients:

• 7 x ounces, almond paste, cubed.
• A pinch of salt.
• ½ x tsp baking powder.
• 2/3 x cup castor sugar.
• ½ x cup butter, softened.
• ½ x tsp almond essence.
• 1 x cup cake flour.
• ½ x cup pine nuts.
• 3 x tbsp. almond milk.

Method:

• Place the almond paste, salt, baking powder and 1/3 of the castor sugar into a blender.
• Blitz until the mixture becomes crumbly.
• In another bowl, cream together the butter and remaining castor sugar until the mixture is pale and fluffy.
• Add the almond paste mixture and almond essence.
• Beat till the mixture is well combined.
• Sift in the flour and beat until the dough starts to come together.
• Place the pine nuts in a bowl and the milk in another bowl.
• Break off pieces of the dough and shape into balls.
• Dip the cookie dough into the milk and then roll into the pine nuts.
• Place on a greased baking tray and pop into a preheated oven.
• Bake at 180 degrees for 15 – 20 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the baking tray before placing on a cooling rack and allowing to cool completely.