Mexican Chocolate Almond Cookies
These cookies combine all the traditional hot chocolate flavors in an ethereal crispy bite. You can sandwich them with the ganache or apricot jam or skip the ganache and simply roll warm cookies in cinnamon sugar. For best results, allow the delicate dough to chill before rolling out and baking.
Ingredients
FOR THE COOKIES
- 400 grams almonds
- 454 grams butter
- 264 grams powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 500 grams flour
FOR THE CINNAMON GANACHE
- 1 stick Mexican (Ceylon or Sri Lanka)cinnamon
- 300 grams cream
- Pinch of salt
- 340 grams dark chocolate, finely chopped
Instructions
FOR THE COOKIES
- Heat oven to 350º F. Place almonds in a baking pan, and bake for 8 minutes or until lightly toasted. Allow to cool. Grind toasted almonds into a fine powder using a mixer or food processor.
- In a mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter with the almonds, sugar and salt until soft. Incorporate the egg and vanilla extract. Mix in flour, being careful not to overwork it.
- Flatten dough into a disc and cover with plastic. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
- Roll out dough to ¼-inch thickness and cut 2-inch rounds out of it. Refrigerate cut out cookies for 30 minutes, then bake at 350º F for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on wire racks.
FOR THE CINNAMON GANACHE
- Meantime, make the cinnamon ganache.
- Break cinnamon stick into smaller pieces. Place in a small saucepan with cream and salt. Heat until it simmers. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.
- Strain cream mixture into chocolate and stir until it melts. Keep stirring until the mixture is smooth, warming over low heat if necessary. Allow to cool to room temperature.
- Drizzle ganache over 1 side of the cookies. Place a dollop of filling between 2 unfrosted sides, sandwich together and serve. Makes 20 sandwich cookies.
Notes
PRO TIPS: The cinnamon sold in stores as Mexican is from Sri Lanka and has a milder floral flavor than the commonly sold cassia powder. A generous pinch of ancho chili powder makes a great addition to the ganache.
About the author
Analuisa Béjar loves exploring flavor routes as the chef at her Sunny Bakery Cafe in Carmel Valley. She is a recent transplant from Mexico City, where she was a food critic, award-winning writer, editor, recipe developer, culinary teacher and organizer of Latin American gastronomy competitions.
