italian dessert recipes

Almond Cookie Recipe

"Buttery Almond Balls For Any Occasion"


Buttery almond balls are more than a holiday almond cookie recipe with candied red cherries. You can swap out the candied cherries for a million other things. See the ideas in the substitutions and FAQs below almond cookie recipe

If this isn't the kind of almond cookie recipe you were looking for - see these other almond cookie variations:

  • Amaretto Cookies
    Crescent Flat Sugar Cookie - made with Amaretto


  • Almond Butter Cookies
    Made with real almonds - ground into almond meal.


    • This particular recipe surprised me. I was looking for a holiday almond cookie recipe that was Italian and something like I had when my great grandma had her cookie trays. And *poof* I found this poking around the net and of all places it was in the Southern Foods section (*gasp*) of about.com.

    These cookies are quite popular in our Italian cookie recipes, we just use a different names for them. My great grandma used to call them jelly cookies, others call them thumbprint cookies. Regardless, there a tons of ways to spin these to fit any occasion other than Christmas.

    Have fun! Substitute often! Like other Italian dessert recipes, this is very forgiving and has room for creativity. And eat dessert every day at least once.


    Almond Cookie Recipe

    Buttery almonds balls for any occasion


    Yield: Makes 24 to 30 buttery almond balls.

    Ingredients



    * 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

    * 1/2 cup granulated sugar

    * 2 eggs, separated

    * 1/4 teaspoon almond extract

    * 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

    * 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

    * 2 tablespoons milk

    * 1 cup sliced almonds

    * 12 to 15 candied red and green cherries, halved

    Procedure

     * Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

    * Cream the butter then beat sugar in gradually.

    * Add the egg yolks and extracts and beat until fluffy.

    * Stir in about half the flour; add the milk then beat well.

    * Stir in the remaining flour and knead just until blended in.

    * Shape into small balls, roll in lightly beaten egg whites, then in the almonds.

    * Place on greased baking sheets and press a half cherry into the center of each ball.

    * Bake for about 20 minutes, until lightly browned on bottoms.

    * Cool on rack.






    So what can I substitute for the candied cherries?

    Lotsa things work.

  • any jam


  • almond paste


  • bourbon date filling see the recipe for that on the date cookies page.


  • raisins soaked in rum


    • Can I substitute margarine in place of the butter?

    Don't! Margarine not only tastes gross, these won't hold the round buttery ball shape. They will be gross-tasting-puff-oval-flat-balls.

    See More Italian Cookie Recipes



    See my home page Italian dessert recipes for a ton of other ideas for dessert.

    Back to this Almond Cookie Recipe.
    lisa gianotti I love sugar and I eat dessert EVERYDAY! Ok, not MASSIVE amounts. But I do have to finish off the evening meal with a little sweet something.

    When I was a kid my health conscience mother would ration my Halloween candy. Her mantra was, "white sugar will kill you". But my Italian grandma always told me, "Everybody needs a little bit of sugar." :-) So, to get my October Halloween sugar fix I will make the traditional Italian cookie recipe, Venetian Bones of the Dead. Italians make these for the Day of the Dead on November 2nd. So - hey, our holiday in America - Halloween is the closest.

    So - while the neighborhood is slamming down a bunch of gross mass produced candy on October 31st, I'll have a real goodie. Oh yeah, I'll have to post it too! (Eventually!) You know how it is. Work. Kids. Clean. Cook.



    I'll see if Bones Of The Dead is in my grandma's first recipe file she started when she married in 1932. Most of the recipes on my site came from her influence. If they aren't in her file - then I got them from her friends. And the remainder I experimented with adapting her style.

    I hope she looks down and smiles this Halloween.

    Lisa


    Would you like to share this page? You know how to do it! Thanks for sharing the sugar love!



    easy italian dessert
    Italian Dessert
    Recipes
    Enjoy This Site?
    Keep checking back!
    I update at least once a week.

    Recipes on this site are from family cookbooks, family traditions, or intentional adaptations from traditional recipes to add an Italian flair. If a recipe was adapted or used from another cook - it is mentioned on the recipe page and the recipe author is given credit.