Almond London Cookies ...........

 

• 125g unsalted butter, softened
• 75g icing sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 200g plain flour
• 25g rice flour
• 300 toasted whole almonds (toasting is optional!)
• 100g chopped nuts (I used hazelnuts as I had some to hand. You may also use sprinkles or melted white chocolate to decorate the biscuits if you prefer.)
• 400g dark/milk chocolate

1. Sift the plain flour and rice flour into a medium sized bowl. Set aside.
2. Place butter and icing sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer (or use a hand-held mixer). Cream the butter/sugar mixture at medium speed (I use the K beater) until it turns pale and fluffy.
3. Add the egg yolk, and mix until just combined.
4. Add the sifted flour mixture in two parts, mixing well after each addition. You should now have a cohesive dough.
5. Take a small piece of dough (approximately the size of a marble (~1.5cm diameter)) and flatten it slightly. Wrap the dough around the almond, then form it into a cylinder. Alternatively, you may prefer to form it into a round ball.
6. Place the wrapped almond on a baking tray lined with baking paper/a Silpat.
7. Repeat with the remaining dough and almonds, until all the dough is used up. You may end up with some extra almonds, you can either snack on these or chop them up to use as a topping.
8. Bake in a 175′C preheated oven for 20 minutes, until slightly golden. I would advise only preheating your oven when you’re halfway through wrapping the almonds in the dough, to save on electricity. Cool the baked cookies on a wire rack.
9. Once cooled, place each cookie in a small paper case.
10. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler (I use a Pyrex bowl over a pot of simmering water). Take care to ensure that the chocolate does not come into contact with any water, as this will cause the chocolate to seize.
11. Using a teaspoon, spoon the melted chocolate over each cookie. Try to ensure the chocolate goes up to the edges of the paper cases, as it makes for a prettier cookie.
12. Sprinkle the tops of each cookie with chopped nuts/sprinkles/melted white chocolate.


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Ingredients: (Recipe Yields-300 pcs)

250 g of butter

550 g of all purpose flour

140 g of castor sugar

1 tsp of emplex (for cookies crispiness-I didn't add)

300 pcs of whole almond ( baked for 10 minutes)

2 egg yolk ( I have used whole eggs)

1 tsp of vanilla extract

300 pcs of small paper cups

Topping:

600 g of cooking chocolate

1 tbsp of vegetable shortening

50 g of almond nibs (baked for 5 minutes)

Whisk butter, sugar, vanilla extract, eggs incorporate well

Add flour knead the dough well until soft and pliable

Take 1 whole almond and wrap some dough covering it, per piece should be 5g each 

and arrange on a baking tray, bake at 150 degree for 10- 15 minutes

All perfectly baked, set aside to cool down while we prepare the topping

Double-boil the cooking chocolate and once it completely melted turn off the flame 

and add the shortening for shine, I kept the bowl over the water bath until I completely 

finish decorating the cookie as the chocolate will harden if left too long outside

Arrange cookie on a small paper cup 

Spoon over some melted chocolate over the cookie

Drain the excess chocolate

Cookie well coated in melted chocolate

Add some almond nibs and let the chocolate harden

Cookie coated in melted chocolate and almond nibs

All the cookies should be arrange very near to achieve the oval shape, 

once chocolate harden transfer to a container and seal tight