Scandinavian Christmas baking 7 ~ Lemon almond cookies

Lemon Almond Cookies
December 20th    

Today I bring the 7th and last bake of cookies in the run up to Christmas.  I have so enjoyed this year trying out new 'små kjekks' for the traditional 7 bakes of a Norwegian Christmas and have found some new favourites.  It's lovely to have such a selection now to choose from each year.  Here you can find a link to each of the other 6 bakes for 2017:   1 Pepperkaker  2 Hvite Pepperkaker    3 Julecookies    4 Juliga Kolasnittar   5 Havreflarn Cookies   6 Bordstabelbakkels  For previous years bakes visit the drop down heading on the home page and click on Christmas posts.

All 7 cookies baked for Christmas in true Norwegian tradition

Lemon almond cookies,
photo from Trine's Mat blog

The 7th cookie today comes from the talented Danish cook Trine In this cookie recipe  almonds, a favourite of any Norwegian cook is used but the twist with these is that she adds lemon zest to give the cookie an entirely different flavour and feel.  Not so typically Christmas in taste, yet, I found the lemon took away the almost too sweet taste that an almond cookie can have, try this as something different, I would be surprised if you did not like this.  For Trine's original recipe and how the cookies should look, I urge you to visit her page:  here

Ingredients for Lemon almond cookies

Lemon Almond Cookies
You will need:

♥  175g ground almonds
♥  175g sugar
♥  1-2 lemon zest
♥  1 tbsp plain flour
♥  1/2 tsp baking powder
♥  2 egg whites
♥  icing sugar for decorating, optional

1  Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius

2  Mix the almonds, lemon zest and sugar thoroughly.

3  Add the sieved flour and baking powder and mix well.

You can see the mixture here is
lumpy and I think over whisked

4  In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites so they are only just stiff, DO NOT OVER WHISK ~ I over whisked and think that is why my cookies did not spread out well on the baking tray and were difficult to pipe!  More on this in a minute. 

5  Add the egg whites carefully into the almond mixture until you have a smooth and soft mixture.  Mine was a little stiff and I suspect because I over whisked.

6  Put the mixture into a piping bag and place small drops on a lined baking tray leaving a good space between each cookie 'drop' to allow them to spread.  You should be able to get between 10-14 on each tray.

The cookies in the foreground have been
squished half way through baking whilst
those at the back show what they looked like
before I squished them!

7  Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until they are a lovely golden colour. NOTE:  As my mixture was a little too stiff halfway through baking I could see they had now spread out as expected so I took them out of the oven and squished them with a palette knife to the desired cookie depth and width. 
 It is important that they are not over baked, the cookies should be still soft inside.

8  You can decorate the cookies with some drizzled icing sugar and let them rest for a few minutes on the baking tray before transferring them onto a wire rack for complete cooling.  Moving them immediately from the baking tray could result in broken cookies as they will be very soft.

9  Place in an airtight box until needed.

Lemon almond cookies, not as pretty as they could
be but worth making as the taste is amazing. 
I am adding these to my must make each year list

Trine's lemon almond cookie, mine will
look like this next time, I must remember
not to over whisk the egg whites!

Feeling festive and ready. 
All the  pre baking is now complete ♥

 

The 7 Norwegian Christmas cookies for 2017

   

In the cup are caramel cuts, to the right are table stacking cookies,
tied in string are oat cookies, in the middle are the cranberry
and almond cookies, to the left are the lemon almond cookies,
in front of those, the dark hearts are pepperkaker and to the
side, the paler hearts are the white pepperkaker. 
All 7 cookies for Christmas ♥

 In case I do not pop back to eclecetichomelife before Christmas as there are still many more things I wish to do in 'real' life that I may not have time.  It has been such fun sharing my December journey with you and hope you have enjoyed it as much as I.

♥  I wish you all the warmth, health and happiness 
in the world my friends, 

♥  Merry Christmas & God Jul  ♥