Eggless Almond Moon Cookies

Love at first bite. :)

It is hard to escape from the magic of festivities and the baking spree going on in the blogosphere during this holiday season. And yet this post is here not for that reason. The month of December and Christmas are special to me too, though not for the obvious reasons. I was brought into this world by my wonderful mother on Christmas day and my blog was also born this month. While I turned 30+ something this Sunday, my blog turned 5 a couple of weeks ago. And I thought of celebrating the occasions with these delicious, melt in the mouth kind cookies.

First of all I would like to mention that I am not good in gushing about things I have come to love in this culinary journey or present a dish emphatically / humorously to convey the "awesome"ness (if there is such a word) of a recipe. It is really hard for a person like me who loves to live in her own cocoon but still I would unabashedly love to proclaim that these cookies are really awesome. Just a bite into it, I knew that this is going to be one of those cherished recipes one would love to treasure. One of the local shows on TV featured these cookies as a part of holiday celebrations and I was instantly attracted to the recipe since they were eggless. After trying these cookies, I was so glad that I did not miss the show that day and could get hold of this amazing recipe. They are crunchy and at the same time have a crumbly and melt in mouth kind of texture. Just try them once and I am sure this would find a permanent place in your recipe repertoire.
Don't skip the sugar dusting; without it the cookies are barely sweet. At first bite, you think they are just subtly sweet but after completing the cookie, you realise that that is the right amount of sweetness you need in a cookie.

Ingredients: (Yield 28 cookies. I halved the recipe and got 15 cookies.)
Unsalted butter, warmed to room temperature - 2 sticks (16 tablespoons or 1 cup)
Confectioners' sugar or powdered sugar 1/4 cup + 1 cup for coating the cookies after they're baked (I used about 2 - 3 Tbsp for coating)
All-purpose flour - 2 cups
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Almonds, slivered, finely chopped - 1 cup

Prep work:
1. Put the butter out of the refrigerator a couple of hours before the cookies are made. Or nuke the butter in a microwave just to soften it.
2. Grease the baking sheets.
3. Sift the all purpose flour and sugar seperately. Keep aside.
4. Toast and chop the almonds.

Method:
1. Put the greased baking sheet(s) in the freezer. (I did this eventhough it was not mentioned. Somewhere in the prep work, it was mentioned that doughballs need to be placed in the refrigerator but I did not see the step mentioned in the recipe given. I therefore chilled the baking sheet.)
2. Cream the butter until it is light and fluffy. You can use a stand mixer / hand mixer.
3. Slowly add in the 1/4 cup sugar,  the flour, and the vanilla. Mix until well combined.
4. Turn off the mixer and slowly add the chopped almonds. Mix until the almonds are just combined, about 1 minute.
5. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
6. Use the cookie scoop to scoop out balls of dough, and place those balls 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Try not to touch the dough balls, as doing so will warm the dough. (I did not have a cookie scoop and so I just used a tablespoon. I quickly patted the dough into the measuring spoon using my fingertips and it did not matter.)

7. Bake at 325 degrees F for about 30 minutes, or until the bottoms are lightly brown.

8. Cool the cookies completely on a wire rack. Pour the remaining 1 cup confectioners' sugar into a low bowl and roll the cooled cookies around in it until covered.

9. If they are not gone by the day they are made, take the trouble to store them in a sealed, airtight container at room temperature.

Note:

The cook mentioned that the dough can be frozen upto two months.

This is going to be my day 5 post in BM#11 with "holiday cooking" theme. Check here to find out what my fellow marathoners are cooking during this marathon.

These are being sent to the following events -
Bake Fest # 2, hosted by Sangee, originally started by Vardhini
Bake With Your Heart by Khushi
CC - Holiday Baking by Sravs
Christmas Delicacy by Julie
Let's Cook - Baked Goodies, an event by Radhika.

Sinful Delights hosted by Vardhini

Sweet Baked at Krithis and Dennys.

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