Ingredients

Cookies

18 ounces blanched almonds, whole or sliced

2 1/2 cups sugar

4 egg whites

2 Tbsp. cinnamon

2 Tbsp. corn syrup

Royal Icing (recipe follows)

Directions

In a food processor grind almonds until very fine. Add sugar, egg whites, cinnamon and corn syrup to almond flour. Process until the mixture becomes a smooth paste.

Remove the dough, pat into a disc, cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour (or overnight).

With a rolling pin, roll dough out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut the dough with a 2-inch star cookie cutter and place on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Brush a thin layer of royal icing onto star cookies and bake in a preheated 425 F. oven. Cook only 4 to 5 minutes. The icing should stay almost white. Cool cookies on baking sheet.

Makes approximately 36 cookies.

Royal Icing

Ingredients

3 egg whites

1/8 tsp. cream of tartar

16 oz. confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Directions

In a mixing bowl, whip the whites on low until they begin to foam. Add the cream of tartar. Whip until the whites become frothy. While the mixer is running slowly, add the sugar and whip until the icing holds a peak. Store tightly covered in the refrigerator.

Ricciarelli

Adapted from Carol Field, “The Italian Baker”

Ingredients

1 cup blanched almonds

1 3/4 cup almond paste

2 Tbsp. egg white

1/2 tsp. baking powder or 1/4 tsp. ammonium carbonate

1 tsp. vanilla

Confectioners’ sugar

Directions

Grind the almonds to a fine powder in a nut grinder or food processor fitted with a steel blade. Transfer to a mixer bowl and mix in the almond paste with an electric mixer. Add the egg white and mix at the lowest speed until thoroughly blended. The dough should be firm. Add baking powder to almond paste. If using ammonium carbonate, crush it with the flat side of a cleaver to a powder and add it to the almond paste. Add vanilla and mix until well blended.

Transfer the dough to a floured surface and roll into a long log about 3/4 inch in diameter. Slice the log at 2-inch intervals and shape each piece into a diamond. Sift confectioners’ sugar lightly over the shaped dough and flatten each piece slightly with a sugar-coated hand. Place the ricciarelli 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets and let stand uncovered at room temperature at least 1 hour or overnight.

Heat the oven to 300 F. Bake until very light tan, 20 to 30 minutes. Cool on racks. Take care not to bake until brown or crisp; it is the softness that makes ricciarelli so delicious.

World Peace Cookies

Dorie Greenspan “Baking, From My Home to Yours”

These butter-rich, sandy-textured, slice-and-bake cookies are members of the sablé family but unlike classic sablés, they are midnight dark and packed with chunks of hand-chopped bittersweet chocolate. Perhaps most memorably, they’re salty. Not just a little salty, but remarkably and sensationally salty. It’s the salt — Pastry Chef Pierre Hermé uses fleur de sel, a moist, off-white sea salt — that surprises, delights and makes the chocolate flavors in the cookies seem preternaturally profound.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 stick plus 3 Tbsp. (11 Tbsp.) unsalted butter at room temperature

2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. fleur de sel or 1/4 tsp. fine sea salt

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or a generous 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips

Directions

Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.

Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, the salt and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more.

Turn off the mixer. Pour in the dry ingredients, drape a kitchen towel over the stand mixer to protect yourself and the kitchen from flying flour and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time. Take a peek — if there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple of more times; if not, remove the towel. Continuing on a low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough. For the best texture, work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added and don’t be concerned if the dough looks a little crumbly. Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half. Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months. if you’ve frozen the dough, you needn’t defrost it before baking — just slice the logs into cookies and bake the cookies 1 minute longer.)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.

Using a sharp knife, slice the logs into 1/2 inch thick rounds. (The rounds are likely to crack as you’re cutting them. Don’t be concerned, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie.) Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets with about 1 inch between them.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12 minutes. They won’t look done, nor will they be firm, but that’s just the way they should be. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cookies rest until they are only just warm, at which point you can serve them or let them reach room temperature.