They have these cute little cookies with jam filled centers at my local grocer. I looked at them fondly as I walked by the display, then a magical word hit me "frangipane!!I" - it's a sweet almond paste that I can whip up with no trouble -and I bet it makes AWESOME cookies! That's a bet I won! Here's how you do it!
Makes about 30 cookies
Ingredients:
2 cups almond meal (or ground almonds)
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp almond (or vanilla) extract
2 tbsp flour
8 tbsp melted butter
2 cups Splenda Granular (or equivalent sweetener of choice)
Sugar Free Preserves (for centers)
- In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients except the preserves/jelly, unril completely combined.
- Wrap in plastic wrap
- Chill completely - at least 1 hour in the refrigerator - preferably overnight
- Preheat oven to 350 F
- Form cookies. I used a small cookie scoop for uniform size and pressed the balls out with a fork for the cross hatch design
- Using your finger or thumb, make a depression in the middle of each cookie
- Microwave a small quantity of preserves or jelly and use a spoon to drizzle into the depressions.
- Bake at 350 10-14 minutes util bottoms and edges begin to brown
- Allow to cool completely (if you can wait that long!)
Cook's Notes:
Store in a sealed container. Best if eaten within 3 days (that's how long until they were all gone at my house!)
I used Smucker's Sugar Free Strawberry Jelly, but the apricot and orange marmalade are equally delicious. Experiment!
