Me and my Spelt flour again – yay! 🙂
This time, there is no real story behind these cookies other than the fact that I REALLY wanted something sweet and crunchy for dessert. These cookies were perfect because the dough needs to be stored in the fridge for 2 hours prior to making the cookies, and that gave me enough time to finish eating (and preparing) dinner and then move to next favorite thing which is making these cookies.
They are easy to make and the best part is (aside from the flavour) that you can make the dough, roll it into a tube (kind of like a sausage) and freeze for up to a couple of months, and then when you have company over or when you have that sweet tooth craving, all you need to do is remove the dough from the freezer, slice it and bake it and within minutes you got yourself freshly baked cookies.
Now how’s that for a huge bonus feature. You’re welcome.
- 2 Cups Spelt Flour (Whole Grain)
- ½ Cup Powdered Sugar
- Lemon zest from 1 lemon
- 150gr Butter (⅔ cup) - Cubed
- 1 tsp Almond Extract
- 6 tsp Water
- ¾ Cup Blanched Sliced Almonds (break them between your hands a bit)
- ½ Cup Brown Sugar - For Coating
- In a stand mixer bowl place the flour, powdered sugar and lemon zest and mix together
- Add in the cubed butter and almond extract and mix well until you get a grainy texture (like sand)
- Add in the water, one tablespoon at a time until the dough all sticks together into one dough ball and is no longer grainy (do not mix for too long, only until a dough ball forms)
- Add in the sliced almonds and give it a short mix until they are blended in evenly.
- Pour the dough out onto your working surface and divide it into 4 equal parts
- Roll each part into a tube/sausage shape 1 ¼ inches thick (3cm) and about 6 ½ inches long (16cm).
- Sprinkle a quarter of the ½ cup brown sugar for coating and roll each tube in the brown sugar until well and evenly coated.
- Place the 4 sugar coated dough tubes in the fridge (cover with plastic wrap) for 1 ½ - 2 hours.
- Before removing the dough from the fridge, preheat the oven to 350F (180C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Take the dough out from the oven (work on one tube at a time to avoid heating of the other tubes) and using a sharp knife slice each tube into thin circles about ¼ inch (½ cm).
- Place the sliced cookies on the layered baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until cookies start to brown a bit.
- Let the cookies cool completely before moving them to the cookie jar.
