• 6 oz blanched almonds, finely ground or almond meal or almond flour
• 6 oz sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/3 cup egg whites (from ~ 2 eggs)
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 18 - 20 whole blanched almonds

www.aturkishcookinamerica.com

These are referred to as "bitter" cookies because a small amount of bitter almonds are added to the mix, however, because bitter almonds are poisonous, they are not available in US. In this recipe, we have substituted almond extract in place of the bitter almonds.

In Turkey, you can find these cookies in practically every bakery. Unfortunately, this is not a very simple cookie to make. If you are interested in replicating the taste, it is relatively straightforward. If your goal is to achieve the authentic look as well as the taste, you are in for a challenge. There are two key challenges: the egg-white volume changes from one egg to another, making it difficult to reproduce the same cookie every time. Second, the cookie is very sensitive to variations in the oven temperature. The temperature given below is for our oven but you may have to experiment ntil you find the right temperature. The consistency is the key to obtain the crinkles and for this, you need to be patient.

Preheat the oven to 315F.

Cut a baking a sheet for your baking tray. We recommend using a silicone baking sheet, which you can easily find in kitchen stores.

If you are beginning with whole blanched almonds, grind them finely in your food processor. You can also use raw almonds with the brown skins, the cookies will be a little darker but you may even like that. Alternatively, you can use almond meal or almound flour.

Combine the almond flour, almond extract, sugar and egg whites in a non-stick pan.

At very very low heat, allow the sugar to melt while mixing the batter continuously with a wooden spoon. Approximately 10 minutes should be sufficient to reach the desired consistency. In this step, the temperature is very critical, we do not want to cook the egg whites. The temperature setting must be really low!!!

Pour the mixture onto a cold surface and let it cool down to room temperature. This can be a non-stick silicone liner. You have to be patient here! The batter hardens as it cools down and this is essential for the cookies to preserve their shapes when you drop them on the tray one by one.

Add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice to the mixture, mix well.

Use a tea spoon to measure and drop the cookies on the baking sheet. If the mixture is too dry for dropping, add a teaspoon or two of egg whites. If the mixture is too runny, add almond flour. When dropped, the cookies should not spread on the baking sheet easily. Achieving this consistency is the most important thing you will have to learn.

Optional: Place a whole blanched almond on each cookie - the original recipe calls for half an almond on each cookie - we believe this is preferred to reduce the weight of the the almond so the cookie can rise freely.

Bake on the middle rack for 15 minutes. Do not overbake these cookies. They will harden fairly quickly - they are supposed to have a soft crust with a slightly chewy core. For the same reason, when you take the tray out of the oven, we recommend taking the baking sheet off the hot tray so the cookies do not continue baking. This is very easy to do if you use a silicone sheet on your tray.

To remove the cookies off the baking sheet, wait until they cool down to the room temperature.