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cimoreneYou may remember that one of Wax's newer hobbies is baking desserts, mostly cakes. But at some point last summer we were discussing what recipes to try next, and I remembered these cookies, which you can only get at big or posh grocery stores around here usually:
Jules Destrooper almond thins.
Could we duplicate these, I wondered? I didn't actually know what these cookies are called; I'd never seen another version of them, from another brand other than this one, that is. They are very thin and crispy, buttery, golden brown, dotted with sliced almonds, a little less sweet than most American cookies, and other than almonds the dominant note is warming spices. So I examined a package, determined that the company hails from Belgium, and then did some web searches and eventually learned what the cookie type is called: pain d'amandes ("almond bread" in French).
Pain d'amandes is a traditional recipe from the region, and once you know what it's called, it's easy enough to find multiple recipes - very similar but not always identical - already translated into English.
And you know what? Not only could we duplicate the store-bought ones - the homemade cookies are significantly better!
I'm not sure why that surprises me. It's usually true with baked goods. I guess because they have a sort of poshness aura around them, because of the marketing and the price point? At any rate, yes, if you are familiar with this brand and like them, then rejoice! Because the homemade ones are even better, and they're not that hard!
Wax has made these four or five times since the summer, not because I couldn't make them, but because of her hobby she has become the managing director of all kitchen activities and prefers to be in charge of desserts herself with few exceptions. The recipe she chose out of the four or five we read through can be found here, with metric measures and quantities given in weight (a far superior method to measure ingredients for baking because it's much more precise). But a quick web search would no doubt find a version with Imperial measurements too.
This time I had the brainstorm that the sort of crispy almond cookies that are often eaten with tea and coffee often also come in an orange-flavored version, and that orange, almond, and warming spices seem to be a winning combination. We had some clementines that weren't very tasty to use up, so we just used those. (In future I would increase the orange a bit - maybe some more zest, maybe by using a more flavorful orange or some orange extract.)
Another brainstorm: pain d'amandes is very similar to Nordic gingerbread, which has a similarly-colored and -textured dough and also is dominated by the flavor profile of warming spices. Wax's family are loyal to a well-known recipe called Ronneby pepparkakor, where the main secret to success that makes them so much better than the average gingerbread cookie you buy in the store is that the spices are heated on the stovetop at the beginning of the recipe. So Wax also did that this time around with the pain d'amandes.
Pain d’amandes
(makes around 100 cookies)
modified from https://londoneats.wordpress.com/2020/06/01/cookie-of-the-week-pain-damandes/
• 100g (7 US tablespoons) butter
• 165g (3/4 US cup) dark brown sugar
• 30ml (2 US tablespoons) freshly-squeezed orange juice (we used clementines)
• 2-3 tsp orange zest (we used the zest of three clementines)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 250g (two cups and four teaspoons) plain flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 75g (2.6 oz) whole almonds, hazelnuts or pistachios
1. Put the butter, sugar, orange juice and zest, cinnamon, and salt into a saucepan. Warm gently until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved, but do not let it boil. Omit the zest and swap water for orange juice if you want the orange-less version.
2. Add half the flour and mix well. Add the rest of the flour and the baking soda and mix until combined. Mix in the nuts.
3. Put the mixture into a container to set. You want something with straight sides, and aim for a rectangle of 10 x 20cm. I used a square baking tray, then built a little “wall” of tin foil to get the right side, and lined it with greaseproof paper. Pop it in the fridge for a couple of hours to firm up.
4. Time to bake. Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F). Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
5. Remove the dough from the fridge. Cut it in half lengthwise. Now use a very sharp straight-edged knife to cut thin slices off the dough. Aim for around 2mm, and push the knife down in one clean movement. Arrange the slices on the baking sheet, leaving space fo them to expand(*).
6. Bake the cookies for around 8 minutes (or longer if your slices are thicker), turning half-way to get an even bake. They will be soft when they come up, but will turn hard once they cool. Store in an airtight container, and enjoy with coffee.
(*) I found it easiest to slice off as many piece of dough as I needed to fill the tray, then bake them in batches. Pop the dough back in the fridge while a batch is baking so it stays firm and easy to slice.
Jules Destrooper almond thins.
Could we duplicate these, I wondered? I didn't actually know what these cookies are called; I'd never seen another version of them, from another brand other than this one, that is. They are very thin and crispy, buttery, golden brown, dotted with sliced almonds, a little less sweet than most American cookies, and other than almonds the dominant note is warming spices. So I examined a package, determined that the company hails from Belgium, and then did some web searches and eventually learned what the cookie type is called: pain d'amandes ("almond bread" in French).
Pain d'amandes is a traditional recipe from the region, and once you know what it's called, it's easy enough to find multiple recipes - very similar but not always identical - already translated into English.
And you know what? Not only could we duplicate the store-bought ones - the homemade cookies are significantly better!
I'm not sure why that surprises me. It's usually true with baked goods. I guess because they have a sort of poshness aura around them, because of the marketing and the price point? At any rate, yes, if you are familiar with this brand and like them, then rejoice! Because the homemade ones are even better, and they're not that hard!
Wax has made these four or five times since the summer, not because I couldn't make them, but because of her hobby she has become the managing director of all kitchen activities and prefers to be in charge of desserts herself with few exceptions. The recipe she chose out of the four or five we read through can be found here, with metric measures and quantities given in weight (a far superior method to measure ingredients for baking because it's much more precise). But a quick web search would no doubt find a version with Imperial measurements too.
This time I had the brainstorm that the sort of crispy almond cookies that are often eaten with tea and coffee often also come in an orange-flavored version, and that orange, almond, and warming spices seem to be a winning combination. We had some clementines that weren't very tasty to use up, so we just used those. (In future I would increase the orange a bit - maybe some more zest, maybe by using a more flavorful orange or some orange extract.)
Another brainstorm: pain d'amandes is very similar to Nordic gingerbread, which has a similarly-colored and -textured dough and also is dominated by the flavor profile of warming spices. Wax's family are loyal to a well-known recipe called Ronneby pepparkakor, where the main secret to success that makes them so much better than the average gingerbread cookie you buy in the store is that the spices are heated on the stovetop at the beginning of the recipe. So Wax also did that this time around with the pain d'amandes.
Pain d’amandes
(makes around 100 cookies)
modified from https://londoneats.wordpress.com/2020/06/01/cookie-of-the-week-pain-damandes/
• 100g (7 US tablespoons) butter
• 165g (3/4 US cup) dark brown sugar
• 30ml (2 US tablespoons) freshly-squeezed orange juice (we used clementines)
• 2-3 tsp orange zest (we used the zest of three clementines)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 250g (two cups and four teaspoons) plain flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 75g (2.6 oz) whole almonds, hazelnuts or pistachios
1. Put the butter, sugar, orange juice and zest, cinnamon, and salt into a saucepan. Warm gently until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved, but do not let it boil. Omit the zest and swap water for orange juice if you want the orange-less version.
2. Add half the flour and mix well. Add the rest of the flour and the baking soda and mix until combined. Mix in the nuts.
3. Put the mixture into a container to set. You want something with straight sides, and aim for a rectangle of 10 x 20cm. I used a square baking tray, then built a little “wall” of tin foil to get the right side, and lined it with greaseproof paper. Pop it in the fridge for a couple of hours to firm up.
4. Time to bake. Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F). Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
5. Remove the dough from the fridge. Cut it in half lengthwise. Now use a very sharp straight-edged knife to cut thin slices off the dough. Aim for around 2mm, and push the knife down in one clean movement. Arrange the slices on the baking sheet, leaving space fo them to expand(*).
6. Bake the cookies for around 8 minutes (or longer if your slices are thicker), turning half-way to get an even bake. They will be soft when they come up, but will turn hard once they cool. Store in an airtight container, and enjoy with coffee.
(*) I found it easiest to slice off as many piece of dough as I needed to fill the tray, then bake them in batches. Pop the dough back in the fridge while a batch is baking so it stays firm and easy to slice.
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Date: 17 Dec 2023 08:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18 Dec 2023 08:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18 Dec 2023 06:54 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18 Dec 2023 09:42 am (UTC)todayyesterday. The baking and slicing and the cooking/putting in fridge were each only about 15 minutes, and it was convenient to make it along with cooking dinner and baking the gingerbread tonight. We just did the cooking part before dinner and the baking after 😊