Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Yarn Along & Almond Star Cookie Recipe

A post of my current read and what is cast on my needles ~ Inspired by Ginny over at {Small Things}

Yarn Along

I finally cast on one of the leg warmers for my daughter this week but with all of the cookie making and holiday fun going on around here these days I didn't get very far *grin*. I have started a new book as well. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. I'm only about 60 pages in but it is quite mysterious! The young child stow away, a grandmother full of secrets and a deed to a house an ocean away left to a very suprised granddaughter... how intriguing :)

Almond star cookies

Since my knitting was rather dull this week I thought that I would share my recipe for Almond Stars. These are one of our favorite recipes! They are little crunchy, sweet, one bite delights *grin*.

You will need:

3 egg whites
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 pkg. vanilla sugar (I use Dr. Oetker 9 gram pkg)
2 tsp. cinnamon
3 1/2 cups of ground almonds
icing sugar

Almond star cookies

Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add your sugar and vanilla sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Set aside 1/4 cup of your egg mixture. You will use this later to brush the tops of your stars with for a little glaze :) Now fold the cinnamon and ground almonds into the remaining egg.

Roll out your dough 1/4 inch thick on a counter that you have heavily dusted with icing sugar and cut out stars rinsing your cookie cutter in hot water frequently to keep it from getting gummy. This dough is quite sticky when you first start but as you ball it up each time to re-roll for new stars you will find it will get much firmer and easier to work with. It is definitely worth the work though!

Almond star cookies

Spread a little bit of your reserved egg white on each of the stars and bake in a pre-heated oven at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for about 20 minutes. Store in an airtight container :)

My star cookie cutter is roughly an inch and a half wide and I got around 150 of these little guys this afternoon out of one batch of dough. They won't last long though *grin*.

Hope you like them :)

Hugs,
Rosina

22 comments:

Em said...

I love the colour of the yarn you're using for the leg warmers, and I'm going to try out your almond star recipe - they look delicious!

Jarka said...

wow, that book sounds interesting!!! I'd love to read it (but I'm pretty sure I won't find it in our bookshop - really poor selection of english books :( ...maybe one day when I'll travel again I'm gonna get it! :D )

legwarmers fascinate me - my favorite piece of clothing but I've never been courageous enough to knit ones myself - it kind of scares me that you need to make two...I'm stop after one :P :D

Cheryl said...

I like the idea of making the star shape cookies. It looks a bit like the recipe I use for cinnamon macaroons. When you say one packet of vanilla sugar, how much is that?

Hope you finish the leg warmers in time. :)

Joy said...

The legwarmers look so cozy. Love the texture of that yarn. Those star cookies look delicious!

Kathryn said...

The leg warmers do not look dull to me, very pretty actually. I like the yarn choice, they will be soo warm!
Thanks for the cookie recipe, yummy!

Jess said...

Those legwarmers look wonderful! I think I need some for myself.

erin said...

the almond stars look delicious. I love little kids in leg warmers, its the most adorable thing. Can't wait to see yours done. :-)

Barbara said...

Oh those are my husband's favorite cookies. I usually make them in "fingers." They are such a pain though! ;-)

Anonymous said...

Oh, that book sounds like one I ought to check out!

Tonya Gunn said...

Thank you for sharing the recipe.

S/V Mari Hal-O-Jen said...

oh yum! Those cookies look delicious! I've got gingerbread dough chilling in the fridge right now, trying to decide if I should cut out sailboats (our traditional shape) or reindeer this year...

Elisa said...

That book sounds good! Those cookies remind me of my Swiss Zimtsterne...check out my pics from last year. Yumm. I think they are the same. I haven't made them yet this year. http://www.elisaloves.com/2009/12/christmas-cookies.html

Unknown said...

I have some yarn almost that shade. I love it, but haven't found the right project for it yet. I tried to crochet a pair of leg warmers for my little one, but since she's on the small side, they just fell right off of her. So disappointing when you spend all that time and the project doesn't turn out as you had hoped. Oh well, maybe I'll use the grey yarn and give it it another go.

Cookies look yummy. I love almond cookies.

Jodi Nelson said...

Loved the Forgotten Garden. Very good read. It's on my favorites list. ;o)

Anonymous said...

Mmm . . . Beautiful and yummy looking!!

Lori Holt said...

Hi Rosina...
I know you will LOVE the book!...I read it last winter and blogged about it. It's one of my very favorites!
Loving the legwarmers too:)
xx
Lori

Lise said...

Ooh, the book sounds intriguing! And the legwarmers look lovely.

Thanks for your comment on my yarn-along post. I love your description of my hat as a sea urchin--that's just right!

Wendy said...

Legwarmers are one of the next things I'd like to knit. Like the gray!

Sweetness and Light said...

ooh, legwarmers, that is next on my list for my dancing dd :) Thanks so much for the yummy recipe, we'll have to try these! Blessings!

Tara said...

That book does sound intriguing. Love the colour of the leg warmer and thanks for the cookie recipe. Can't have too many of those.

Sarah said...

Those leg-warmers are going to be so cozy! And it is fun to see all of your yummy cookies =) I am going to request that book from the library. Seems like a good one.

Rose Gold said...

That book looks interesting. I like the idea of making the star shape cookies especially with almonds.