Pignolettas

 

Delicious little sweet bites coated with luscious pine nuts, this Italian cookie recipe originally calls for butter. Almond paste is substituted here, and with excellent, quite yummy results. A little goes a long way, but be careful - they may be habit-forming. Buono Appetito!

Pignolettas

2 cups pine nuts

1/4 cup almond paste

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup powdered sugar

1 large egg

1/2 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. In your food processor, combine 3/4 cup pine nuts with the almond paste, vanilla, and the sugar until the mixture becomes crumbly and fine. Add the egg and pulse several times until combined. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt, and process until the dough all comes together.

Roll the dough into little balls, about 1″ each, and then roll the balls in the remaining pine nuts, pressing them into the dough. If your hands get to sticky with dough during this process, wet them with a scant amount of water rubbed into your palms, and the little balls will form more freely.  Space the balls about an inch apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly golden. Cool completely on a wire rack. Makes about 2 dozen pignolettas.