Now on to these cookies. The cookies are a blend of ground almonds and almond paste. The paste gives them a crispy edge but they are chewy inside. This makes them a great palette for the filling which is a blend of melted Mounds Bars, coconut vodka and chocolate.
The cookies are great on their own, but the rich filling does enhance the overall taste.. They are pretty good size and it only takes one to squelch my craving for the sweet. This recipe makes 36 sandwiched cookies, but it will vary depending on the size of the cutter and how thick you want the filling to be between the cookies.
Cypress Egg Cookies
by Flourtrader
Ingredients/Cookies
3 cups flour
1/4 cup ground almonds
8 oz almond paste
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
various colored sugars for sprinkling (optional)
Ingredients/Filling
15 mini Mounds candy bars, chopped
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
2 tbs coconut flavored Vodka (if not you can use 2 tbs heavy cream)
To make the cookies, line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium size bowl, beat together almond paste and sugar for 2 minutes on medium speed. Place sugar,eggs and extract in with the mixture and beat for another 2 minutes.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and ground almonds. Fold the dry ingredients into the sugar/almond batter until no dry streaks remain. Separate dough into two rounds.
Roll each piece of dough between 2 pieces of wax paper to a thickness of about 1/8 inch. Place covered dough on baking sheets and put in freezer to chill for 20 minutes. During this time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
One the dough has chilled, remove and cut into desired shapes. My cutter was about 2/12 inches wide by 3 inches in height. Place the cookies on the parchment lined baking sheets about 1/2 an inch apart. If you opted for the sugar sprinkling, proceed with that process now.
Place the cookie sheet in the oven and bake until done. Edges will be a golden hue. This should take about 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on pan for 1 minute then transfer to rack to finish cooling. Continue with the process until all the dough has been baked.
Set up the double boiler, filling bottom cavity with water to start on the filling. Fill the top cavity of the pan with the filling ingredients listed above. Let the mixture cook down until the chocolate is melted and smooth with thin strands of coconut. Remove from heat and let cool for 20 minutes.
With a knife, smooth about about 2 tsp of filling on the underside of a cookie leaving a little outer edge border. Then press another cookie over the top (underside goes on top of filling), forming a sandwich. Press down slightly to seal together. Continue with this process until all cookies are sandwiched together. Cookies can be served at room temperature or refrigerated.
**LAST YEAR: Pretzel Dogs**