almond + cinnamon + meringue biscuits

{oh wait wait, we're in america...}

almond + cinnamon + meringue cookies

i have a few very dear friends that are gluten-free. showing them i love them can be difficult because how is a girl to do that without a good, homemade baked good on every occasion?? so i am constantly on the lookout for good gluten-free recipes, substitutes, and mixes. the best is finding a yummy looking recipe that isn't labeled as gluten-free, glancing through the ingredients, and realizing that everything is gluten-free. it feels like finding the afikomen because in the rare case that you win, there is a yummy treat at the end!!

so here is a recipe that i found yesterday in the rose bakery cookbook, breakfast lunch tea. these cookies are chewy, sweet, butterless, and naturally gluten-free {and christmasy, but who gives a shit}.

almond + cinnamon + meringue biscuits

{makes 40-50 biscuits}

4 egg whites

4 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar {plus extra for dusting}

juice of 1/2 lemon

grated zest of 1 lemon

3 1/3 cups ground almonds

generous 1/2 cup finely chopped candied citrus peel

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

first make the meringue. beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, then, very gradually, add the sugar. when the mixture is very stiff, beat in the lemon juice.

set aside 6 ounces of the meringue for the topping and put the remaining meringue in a bowl.

add the ground almonds, mixed peel, cinnamon, and lemon zest.

mix until you have a dough-like paste, then chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

line a baking tray with parchment paper.

dust your work surface with sugar and roll the paste out to make a sheet 1/2 inch thick. cut into your desired shapes {stars, squares, or rounds}.

brush the tops with the reserved meringue and leave to dry on the prepared baking tray for about 1 hour.

preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit and bake the biscuits for about 10 minutes, until the bases are lightly golden. the tops should remain white and the bases must be soft and moist.

cool and enjoy.

dear little cookies,

if you get stale in the mail, i will shoot you.

love,

molly

-yeh!!

the little cookie that could. and would.

{cambridge}

sometimes my favorite part about living in new york is that it is a bolt bus away from massachusetts. meaning, acquiring a hi rise bread company little sandwich cookie is all the easier. because sometimes the only thing that will soothe your vibraphone-laced worries is some rich chocolate-y crumbly but not crunchy melts in your mouth not in your hand filled with just enough creme that doesn't ooze out all at once with the first bite because that's annoying and common with this type of thing incredibleness. 
i've had this cookie three {3} times in my life:
1. i was a junior in high school, on college visits with my daddy, and wearing turquoise spandex. we sat up stairs, my dad had soup.
2. i was a senior in high school, it was my birthday, and i was with my mum. later that day i had a red velvet cake.
3. it was last sunday and the day was extremely crisp. hammer and i were killing time before his audition by winklevoss hunting in harvard square. and that takes a lot out of you, so we needed a little sandwich cookie break. and then hammer won his audition. thanks, cookie!


it's a significant, happy cookie and i highly recommend that you get one right now. 


-yeh!!

back in new york. and some ice cream sammiches.

i'm back to the city!

and how nice of the weather to warm up just in time...

a few highlights from my weekend at home:

lemon jalapeño cookies with chocolate ice cream

chocolate chili cookies with vanilla ice cream

fireworks

the deep gutty sounds that fireworks make

the echoes of the deep gutty sounds that fireworks make

the car alarms erupting from the fireworks 

{...playing in the pool}

eating 

eating schnitzel

puppies and dogs

parade

stilt people at the parade

steve reich's music for 18 musicians in my room by my lonesome with straggling fireworks of neighboring villages periodically exploding in the distance in an otherwise silent and beautiful night

premixed, store-bought margaritas 

more premixed, store-bought margaritas

xoxo

yeh

what's black and white and red all over?

homemade black & white cookies

sprinkled with red jimmies

{that i made for bestie brian... 

who has not left his practice room since 2009}

-used this recipe

-discovered that buttermilk is what gives them their distinctive taste!

-they were scrumptious. 

then again. not many black and white cookies compare to the ones at barney greengrass

xoxo

yeh

p.s. i tried roquefort and morbier this evening.

i liked roquefort in that masochistic sort of way.

and morbier was good... in a... vague sort of way...