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| Ready to go in the oven... |
Old Italian Wives' Tale: If pregnant woman craves something and asks you to make it and you don’t, the baby will be born with a birthmark resembling the food she
craved. Yikes! So when my daughter Danielle,
who is pregnant with my third grandchild, asked me to make pignoli cookies, I
had no choice but to make a big batch. The recipe comes from my friend Doreen. I tell everyone that it’s such a process but
really it’s not; I just want them to
put me on a pedestal when I show up with the cookies. They’re always a big hit. And now I can rest easy knowing my grandchild won't have a birthmark that looks like a
pine nut! —Lisa
This recipe makes 3 dozen cookies. I always double it.
12 oz almond paste
½ cup granulated sugar
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
4 egg whites
1 ½ cups pine nuts
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line cookie sheets with foil and
coat lightly with Pam cooking spray.
In a food processor, mix the granulated sugar and almond
paste until smooth. Add the confectioners' sugar and 2 egg whites. Process until smooth.
In bowl, whisk the remaining 2 egg whites. Place the pine nuts in a shallow dish. Flour your hands lightly and roll the dough
into one-inch balls. Coat the balls in the egg whites, shaking off
the excess, and roll in the pine nuts. Put the balls on the cookie sheets and flatten them slightly to about 1 ½ inches.
Bake for about 18 minutes or until they are lightly
browned. Let cool and transfer to a wire
rack. Sprinkle the cooled cookies with some additional confectioners' sugar.
When your all done
baking, sprinkle some flour on your face
to make it look like you’ve been slaving in the kitchen all day, then serve.
Buon Natale!
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| The finished product! |
