St. Francis of Assisi Almond Cookies

St. Francis of Assisi almond cookies are chewy little bites of deliciousness. Supposedly the favorite cookies of the little man from Assisi, they are quick to make and delightful to eat. We arrive in Assisi this afternoon and it is the feast day of St. Francis so these cookies will be everywhere!

The Recipe

by volume                                                      by weight

1 3/4 cups almond flour                       168 grams almond flour

1/2 cup sugar                                            99 grams sugar

1/2 cup honey                                           170 grams honey

2 tablespoons all purpose flour      15 grams all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt                                   1 gram salt

1½ teaspoons cinnamon                   9 grams cinnamon

2 large egg whites                                100 grams egg whites

1/4 cup sliced almonds                      30 grams sliced almonds

 

Directions

Heat the oven to 325F. Toast the almond flour lightly in a pan until golden brown and let it cool completely.

Mix the almond flour with the sugar, honey, flour, salt and cinnamon to thoroughly combine.

This mixture will be crumbly.

Add the egg whites and mix well. This will create a thick, sticky batter.

Oil your hands lightly and form the dough into balls. I make the balls 1″ in diameter which produces cookies about 2″ across.

Flatten the balls slightly with oiled fingers and decorate the tops with sliced almonds.

Bake on parchment paper for 12 minutes until lightly golden brown. These cookies have very little change in color so don’t wait for them to turn golden. If you do, they will be over cooked and dry rather than moist and chewy.

Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes and then remove from the parchment. A small offset spatula will help remove them from the paper.

 

Alternatives

These cookies are traditionally almond and that is how the recipe works best. It is possible to substitute other nuts in these cookies or replace part of the almond flour and have a mix of nuts. If you want the cookies to be authentic though, they must be almonds!

I like using almond flour that contains the skins of the nuts. I like the tweed like effect it gives to the look of the cookies. If you want the color of the cookies to be more uniform, use blanched almond flour or make your own from blanched nuts.