Wednesday 10 April 2013

Almond crinkle cookies

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After a really long time I took my camera out to take some pics only to realise there was absolutely no motivation. But since it was a sunny day (for a change) and since I didn't have anything in my drafts to post, I decided to bake and make use of the lighting to take some pics.

I had bookmarked a recipe for almond crinkle cookies, but then the measurements seemed a bit confusing and so I ended up doing my own thing. I was 90 percent sure it wouldn't work out, but was pleasantly surprised at the end result. I made chocolate crinkle cookies a long time back and it is one of my most popular posts on the blog. They are an absolute crowd pleaser and perfect gifts- especially Christmas, because those powdered sugar tops make them look like snow mountains.
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Anyways, we are not here to talk about the chocolate crinkles are we? The star here are the almond crinkles which are not bad at all, in fact I like them better than the choc crinkles and hot out of the oven, they are delish. I also thought they were easier to put together compared to the choc ones- the entire process was done in half an hour. Its a one-bowl, no-fuss recipe which I'm sure I'll be making again.

The pictures however, are horrible. Once I was done with baking, my mind just went blank. I just didn't know how to style them and make them look great. Even the perfect lighting couldn't inspire me. So I just chucked them all in a bowl and did the easiest possible thing...used a white background and back lighting to take boring pics. That said, I took 125 pics of the same damn thing in different angles. Transferred them on to the computer only to realise most of them were out of focus and the harsh lighting was hurting my eyes. So I had to re-do the whole setting with diffused lighting and then cleaning up the mess just made it so exhausting, I stayed away from pictures and editing and writing for two days. Hence the delay in posting the recipe after teasing you all with the picture on fb. Apologies!

Makes 20 small cookies
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Egg- 1 medium
Granulated sugar- 63 grams
Lime juice- 1/2 tsp (optional)
Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp (optional)
Ground almonds- 150 gms
Fine semolina- 40 gms
Baking powder- 1/2 tsp
Vegetable oil- 1 tbsp 
Powdered sugar- to roll the cookies
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Beat the egg and sugar together in a mixing bowl till pale yellow. I used my hand whisk to do this, but feel free to use a hand blender if you please.
Add the lime juice and vanilla extract to it and continue whisking till well mixed.
Throw in the ground almonds, semolina and baking powder one after the other and fold it all in using a spatula. The mix would be slightly coarse, but that's ok. Just make sure you mix it well.
Pour the vegetable oil and give a thorough mix till they all come together.
You can either chuck the bowl into the refrigerator for a couple of minutes for the dough to set which would make it easier to roll, but I didnt need to do this as the dough was of perfect consistency.
Even after you have refrigerated, if your mix still is a little too loose, just add more semolina, or if its too thick, loosen it up with a few drops of milk.
In the mean time, preheat your oven to 160C and get the baking tray ready with baking paper.
Put a couple of spoons of powdered sugar on a plate and start rolling the dough.
Wet you hands lightly and make small balls with the dough (about half tbsp per ball) and roll in icing sugar. The ball should be completely covered with icing sugar.
place them about an inch apart on the baking sheet. The cookies expand when baking and the icing sugar cracks giving it that crinkly top effect.
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Take out of the oven and cool for about 5 minutes after which you can (eat them non stop or) transfer on to a wire rack and cool completely before storing in air tight containers or zip lock bags.
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Notes: Feel free to double the recipe for a larger batch
I used gluten free baking powder.
The cookies are not really crunchy, but more cakey in consistency (in a nice sort of way, I promise). bake them a little longer if you want them crunchy

24 comments:

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
divya said...

looks very tempting. Irresistible.

Manju @ Manjus Eating Delights said...

u took 125 pics?? I remeber taking around 110 or so pics of a pumpkin trifle pudding and got only 2 decent snaps to put on the blog, just so that the recipe is atleast there, if not for good pics :-)
I think the pictures look fab, but I know how you feel! These cookies sound fab n easy...

Luv,
Manju

cookingwithsapana said...

Neat presentation ! looks delicious

Hamaree Rasoi said...

Delicious and guilt free cookies.
Deepa

KrithisKitchen said...

Gorgeous pictures...

Vineetha Sush said...

Oh really u took that much pics ?? but anyway i loved ur pics...especially the 4 th pic..i m gonna try this if its tastier than chocolate crinkles :)

Dolly Sharma said...

Beautiful Crinkle Cookies and Superb Clicks !!! I love this post. I love the fact that you do not sugar coat your words,say it the way it is. Its inspiring for bloggers like me.

Priya Suresh said...

Omg, those cookies are fantabulous, very catchy and extremely attractive..

Ann said...

These look lovely Nisha. I love all your photos too. You somehow incportate so much light and dreaminess into them!

http://www.quirkylifestyle.com/

Reshmi Mahesh said...

The chocolate ones are great as u said and I would love to try these as they look lovely too..Loved the clicks..125 clicks and then again redoing it..oh that is something very tough and irritating..Hate the clean up needed after that..

Katie Mar said...

your photos are gorgeous and so are the cookies! i love crinkly cookies.

Revathi Ramkumar said...

looks so delicious awesome cilcks dear..have started following you and you have great collection of recipes,When your free plz drop into my space and will be encrouging if you follow my space...Thanks

Unknown said...

Lovely presentation, makes me want to grab some cookies and gobble them up!

Suja Manoj said...

Love almond flavor,bookmarking this one,Nisha clicks are awesome.

Anonymous said...

Nisha - i totally feel your pain. I too have experienced the same issues zillion times :( I have tonnes of stories to share with you on this topic and i did started writing it down but deleted it coz i just feel there are not appropriate here:) we will take it offline ;)
Anyways, coming back to the topic - these cookie look terrific and i love the way you have styled them, very elegant!
~Shema | LifeScoops

Anonymous said...

These look terrific.. too good to eat.
Will try them out definitely.
Vaishali

Rose from Magpies Recipes said...

I think the photos are divine Nisha!Look forward to trying these soon :)

Shabs.. said...

Very beautiful looking cookies and i loved the napkin!!

Unknown said...

Awesome blog you have. Just made your cookies and they are delicious. So easy to make too. And I love it how the recipe makes just 20 cookies instead of the usual three dozen and so on. Thank you for this keeper of a recipe.

My Kitchen Antics said...

Thanks for trying them out poornima. And yes, I always scale down the measurements to suit just the two of us at home :)

Unknown said...

you say these pictures are horrible, now where do i go and bang my head! I'm finding these picture magical with those pick straws ad big napkin, gorgeous just gorgeous girl!

Unknown said...

Wow you make a almond crinkle cookies with great presentation. I have bookmarked this recipe for future use and you efforts in presentation are really appreciable. If you want to enhance your skills in other cuisines , join any cookery school .

Angela said...

I am confused isn't semolina wheat? Are these really gluten free?