Monday, January 30, 2006

Mondays with Maida - Cinnamon Almond Cookies


Page 106 in the old book / page 145 in the new book

These are another of my old favorites from this book. It's possible they were the first cookies I made from the book, but I can't remember for sure. They are rich, buttery cookies with a generous dose of cinnamon, topped with sliced almonds and finshed with a lemon glaze.

I purchased the pan I use for these cookies (a 10 by 15 jelly roll pan) years ago, specifically for the purpose of making these cookies. At that time the only properly sized pan I could find was one of those Cushionaire pans which has two metal layers with a space in between. I think the idea behind the design is that your cookies won't burn on the bottom. Bad idea. Your cookies won't burn, but they won't cook properly either.

This is a long-winded way of telling you that I suspect I've been undercooking these cookies for years. Maida describes the cookies as crisp, but only the edge pieces are crisp when I make them. Not that I'm complaining... I love these cookies regardless of the texture.

I hadn't noticed before that the recipe actually calls for sliced blanched almonds - something I had never seen before, but which I just came across in Whole Foods today. I think I'll stick with the regular sliced almonds, though. I prefer the way they look, and almond skins are loaded with good-for-you flavanoids.

Here's the panel...

Suzanne: "I liked the cinnamon almond bar because it had a crunchy cookie base and a crunchy almond topping. There was a definite lemon taste to the cookie. Rating - 4.5"

Denny: "I think they are fairly crunchy but a tad non-descript. I'd give them a 2.5 as fairly average. Rating - 2.5"

Laura: "Crunchy and yummy. Rating - 4.0"

Phil: "Elegant almond coated squares with just the right combination of sweet, buttery and curious (cinnamon & lemon). Seemed out of place for office fare but sure helped endure the email/to do list onslaught. Rating - 4.5"

Overall rating by the panel - 3.9

Next week - Georgia Pecan Bars

Nutrition Facts

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those look absolutely delicious!

I love Maida ... thanks for sharing those lovely cookies!

Reid said...

Hi Cathy,

These cookies look great. I love cinnamon and almonds. Looks like the panel enjoyed them as well.

Banlieue Blog said...

Kathy,
I bought one of those cushionaire pans for cakes, I really don't like it either. It sounded like a good idea, but it doesn't bake worth a darn.
The cookies look great!
Melissa

Nic said...

I found Phil's comment to be interesting, as I never really thought that cookies could be out of place in the office, though any cookie that could possibly be described as elegant could qualify.

Cathy said...

Hi Ivonne - thank you!

Hi Reid - they are, they are! You should try them - they have so much butter and cinnamon I was thinking when I was eating one that was still warm that they taste sort of cinnamon toast (with lemon glaze of course!)

Hi Melissa - I was afraid I'd have people piping up to say how much they love those pans - glad I'm not alone!

Hi Nic - I'll have to ask him what he was saying. I think it was just a clever/nice way of saying the cookies were better than average, or as he said earlier in the comment, "elegant". I could be wrong though!

Cathy said...

Hi Meena - welcome and thank you!

Anonymous said...

I always serve these at an afternoon tea party. They are easy to make and quite swank. The perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea or coffee for that matter.
Pie Susan

Anonymous said...

I love cushionaire pans!!!