Almond Sablé Cookies
I first made this almond pastry working at Abac restaurant in Barcelona. I’ve never been in a restaurant where almonds are so generously used—it seemed like every other dish had almonds in it. This pastry is really versatile: it can be the shell of a tart filled with some fresh berries, or cut into circles to make cookies, or baked on a cookie sheet and crumbled over ice cream. Rather than buying almond flour, I prefer to begin with fresh Marcona almonds and grind them myself in the food processor. The resulting flour has a richer, more complex flavor.
Ingredients
- 1 cup roasted Marcona almonds, or 3/4 cup almond flour.
- almond flour
- 1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
Preparation
In a food processor, grind the almonds to a fine powder. Combine the ground almonds (or almond flour), butter, and sugar in a standing mixer fitted with a paddle. Cream on medium low speed until thoroughly incorporated, about 3 minutes. With the mixer running, slowly add the eggs to incorporate. Add the flour, a little bit at a time, stopping the mixer periodically to scrape down the bowl.
Shape the dough into a ball and place between 2 pieces of parchment paper or plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Pre-heat the oven to 350 °F. Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut out shapes for cookies, or make a tart shell. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes.
