Lip Smackin' Good Cookies

Most of you know that my littlest cookie cannot eat wheat products. This is a relatively new development in our household, and all in all, saying ciao to wheat products has not been a huge problem. Sure, we've had to get creative when it comes to meal planning, and yeah, our forks won't be twirling any whole wheat pasta, and our knives aren't carving up thick slices of multi grain sandwich bread. Adjustments? Yes, definitely. But if you could see the difference in her, how good she feels sans tummy aches, you'd totally get why I'll do whatever it takes for that little sass, I mean lass. It's fair to say, though, that I've got a huge learning curve going on.

One thing that I'd like to do with these little eaters of mine is bake some cookies. But what cookies are there that don't have wheat in them? Plus, I'm not a big baker at all. Cooker: Yes, Baker: Nope. Oh, I did have this husband pleasin', come hither chocolate cake that I crank out every once in a while, and I've got the Tollhouse thing down pat, but neither of those will work for my youngest gluten-free-er. And while we aren't huge sweet eaters, every kid should enjoy a homemade cookie once in a while.

Marjie from Modern Day Ozzie and Harriet came up with a solution for me. Thanks, Marjie! Marjie knows baking. Well, she's actually knows a great many things, one of which is a baking. She can whip up a batch of this and that, and then, you know, sew up a few outfits, and then prepare dinner. Anyway, Marjie suggested I try this amazing Greek almond cookie recipe that is flourless that she tried from Peter's blog, Kalofagas. Oh lordy, that was great advice, and lordy, lordy these were lip smackin' good. And Gluten Free. The recipe sounded familiar to me in that I've had something similar that had powdered sugar on it. I just can't remember where I've had them. Hmm ... It will come to me eventually. Anyway ... the unaltered form of these Greek beauties is called Amygdalota. The cultural diffusion alteration that I added was dusting them with powdered sugar, and it was a HUGE hit with my little g/f cookie. And husband. And those other children I gave life to. And me. The kids love them as a snack; I think these could pass for an adult breakfast pastry to pair up with a coffee.

2 cups of blanched almonds (I used the slivers)
3/4 cup of white sugar
2 tsp. of almond extract
2 egg whites, at room temp.
Powdered sugar
Reserved almond slivers

Preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, and have a cooling rack set out.

1. In a food processor, pulse the almonds into a fine grind.
2. Add the 3/4 cup of white sugar, the almond extract, and the egg whites into the almond mixture. Pulse until the mixture is combined and starts pulling away from the sides of the food processor bowl.
3. Drop 1 inch mounds (1 inch apart) onto the sheet. I used a 1" scoop. The mixture is very sticky, but holds together very firmly.
   
4. Gently sprinkle powdered sugar over the cookie mounds. (I divided my batch in half. One batch I sprinkled with sugar, and the other I placed an almond sliver or two on top.)
   
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until firm at the edges but still soft in the center and golden.
6. Remove from the oven and parchment to a wire rack to cool.
   
7. When cool, peel off and store in a tightly covered container.

Note: I wasn't sure if the cookie would spread out when baked, especially because of the sugar content. LOTS of sugar in here, folks. I was surprised that the cookie didn't spread out at all; rather, it stayed in a nice little ball form. I will definitely make these again ... next time I might try adjusting the shape. You definitely want to keep them thick, though, because the insides are very moist and yummy.

See how the dough sets up in nice little balls? Sticky little things ... remember to either sprinkle with sugar or set in some almonds before baking. Hmm ... I wonder if chopped almonds on top would be good? Not traditional, certainly, but gooooood!

See how pretty they cook up? They are a two bite cookie, or one bite if you are my husband. I think the sugared ones are my favorite. Which would be your favorite?

Hey, back off cookie thief!!! Stop stealing the cookies! And get some sun, for goodness sake, those fingers are looking pretty pale.

Yuuuummm, look at how good that cookie looks on the inside! Isn't it cute? Just a tiny, perfect two bite, lip smackin' good cookie. Ignore the thumb nail in desperate need of a manicure. Just look at that yummy, chewy, cookie instead. Want one?