Catalan Almond Cookies - {Panellets}

Panellets are rich almond cookies made in every peasant household in Catalonia for the eve of All Saints Day and eaten accompanied by roasted chestnuts and aged wine. Panellets are best a day or two after baking. They keep very well and are always made in quantities. The recipe given above makes enough to fill the cookie jar, but is only half what any peasant household would undertake at a time. If you start with almonds in the shell as the peasants do, shell and scald them the day before you bake. Spread them out to dry. If they are not completely dry when you want to use them, put them in a slow oven for 10 minutes.

Cuisine: Spanish
Courses: Dessert
Serves: 1 people

Recipe Ingredients

1 lb	454g / 16oz	Blanched almonds
1 lb	454g / 16oz	Sugar
2 lbs	908g / 32oz	Potatoes (medium)
1		Egg
1		Vanilla pudding mix
1 teaspoon	5ml	Vanilla extract
		Grated rind of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon	15ml	Cognac or rum
		Garnish Ingredients
		Pine nuts, slivered almonds,
		Toasted hazelnuts, candied fruit,
		And sugar (all in small quantities)

Recipe Instructions

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Grind almonds to a fine paste in mortar or electric blender (1/2 cup at a time). Boil potatoes and mash them. Mix all ingredients except garnish in a large bowl. Work paste with hands until well blended. With wet hands, form cakes the diameter of a silver dollar, but high and rounded. Put a toasted hazelnut on some; on others, a piece of candied fruit. Dip some in pine nuts, sugar, or slivered almonds. Dip bottom of cookie in flour and put on greased tray in 500 degree oven for a few minutes. Watch closely and remove cookies as soon as they are lightly browned. When hot, cookies will taste not quite done, but they will be just right when cooled.

Source:
THE SPANISH COOKBOOK by Barbara Norman - Published by Bantam Books, Inc. (c) 1969

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