Thursday, February 17, 2011

Quick and Crispy Cookies

Cookies are my favorite sweet treat.  I didn't have any cookies in the house today and pretzels were not satisfying my craving for sweets.  I checked out my new cookbook and found a quick recipe.

These cookies are called croquants, which is French for crunchy.  The recipe for croquants reads like a meringue with egg whites and sugar.  Unlike a meringue, these cookies also require flour, yielding a less delicate cookie.  

I found the croquants recipe in this book by Dorie Greenspan.

3 1/2 ounces nuts (about 1 cup)  almonds, hazelnuts (I used salted cashews)
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 large egg whites
1/2 cup flour plus 1 tablespoon, sifted

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Give the nuts a rough chop. Mix the nuts with sugar in a medium bowl.  Add the egg whites and stir until the nuts are evenly coated.  Add the flour and stir to blend.  The result is a thick dough-like batter.  Drop by the teaspoonful onto cookie sheets covered with parchment paper, leaving 2 inches between them.  Pat the dough into mounds.  Bake 8 minutes, rotating sheets midway through the baking time.  Remove from oven when puffed, crackled and golden.  Let cool on rack for 10 minutes and they easily will peel from parchment.  
Store in cool, dry container and the cookies will last about a week...if you don't eat them first.  

These cookies are popular with ice cream in France or with espresso.  
Enjoy!





1 comment:

  1. these sound delicious! (and i'm partial to anything "french" anyway...)

    ReplyDelete

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