Pain d'Amande, On Demand

It's impossible for me to approach this time of year without thinking about baking. It's time to fatten up, after all. I do try to take precautions against an expanding waistline, but it's rough. I went to the gym for the first time in months a couple Mondays ago (haven't been back since). I've gone back to my rule of not going back for seconds at dinnertime, eating open-face sandwiches for lunch, and not letting myself impulse-buy any gummy bears from the vending machine (a strange but fortunately short-term obsession I had recently).

But perhaps the most effective revelation I had of late toward keeping these things under control was the fact that I don't have to make all the cookies at once! I kind of forgot that this is an option with some cookies, where you make the dough and bake cookies in an on-demand style, or even freeze dough for a snow-day emergency.

Butter and cinnamon whirlpool

This recipe for Pain d'Amande, or almond wafers, allows you to do just that. They are simple little biscotti that are light and crunchy. I used Turbinado sugar, which made them extra crunchy, but the original recipe calls for Demerara sugar, or brown sugar, which I didn't have but I'm sure makes them a little less brittle. Either way, brittle is the point of these kinds of cookies so that you may dunk them in a cup of coffee or tea.

Pre-oven

Pain d'Amande
Adapted from Biscotti

5 T. + 1 tsp. water
1/2 c. unsalted butter
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 1/2 c. Turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw)
4 1/2 oz. sliced raw almonds
300 g. or 2 c. + 2 T. all-purpose flour
Pinch of baking soda
Pinch of salt

Warm water, butter and cinnamon in a small saucepan over low heat until the butter has melted. Remove from heat and let cool to room temp.

Transfer butter mixture to a large mixing bowl and gently stir in the sugar and almonds.

Sift flour, baking soda and salt into a medium-sized bowl. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing with a spatula until they are well combined and form a stiff dough. Divide the dough and shape into two rectangular loafs. I think you could wing this part as long as the loaf is no taller than an inch, and you know that when you slice it, it will form a 1"x6" cookie, give or take. Wrap the loaves with parchment and then plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes, or stick one or both into the freezer for a date as far as two months from now.

To bake, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Slice the loaves into quarter-inch slices (or slightly less). Evenly space cookies on parchment-lined cookie sheets, leaving 1-2 inches between each cookie. Bake 10-15 minutes, until they begin to turn slightly golden. Leave them on the sheet as they cool to crisp up. Store in a sealed container for a week or so.