We’ve been spending a lot of our time lately clearing out the DVR, watching or erasing a ton of stuff we’ve recorded, and I ran across a really old Melting Pot that we recorded on Cooking Channel. Hosting, were a really green Rocco DiSpirito and Cat Cora – they were so cute! Anyway, the theme of the show was citrus, and the last thing Cat made were these adorable pear-shaped orange-almond cookies, that were – get this – no bake! Okay, they spend a very small amount of time on top of the stove, but that’s it! I thought these would be just perfect for Week 2 of our Twelve Weeks of Holiday (fine, Christmas) Cookies series.

Just don’t ask me to pronounce them.

Orange-Scented Almond Cookies: Amygdalota me Orange
(adapted from a recipe by Cat Cora on Cooking Channel)

Ingredients:

3 cups blanched almonds
2-1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon orange water
1/4 cup orange juice, plus more, for shaping

Preparation:

Grind the almonds in a food processor until ground fine. Add in 2 1/2 cups of sugar. Put the almond mixture into a large saucepan on medium high heat. Add in the liquids and warm until sugar is dissolved and the mixture becomes a cohesive ball. Put aside to cool.

Once cool, shape tablespoon-sized portions of the mixture into 1 1/2-inch-high pear shapes, wetting your fingers with the juice. Dredge each cookie in confectioners or granulated sugar to coat.

Wrap individually in cellophane or place in a box with a lid. Let stand for at least 3 days before serving.

Notes:

If you like marzipan, you’ll love this cookie, and if it weren’t for the 3 day drying period, this would be the fastest cookie, ever. The big advantage is that you don’t have to heat up the oven at all!

Yes, I’m a day behind, but I will catch up! I promise! Didn’t you enjoy yesterday’s French macarons? Twelve cookies in 12 days from the Bon Appétit 2008 Holiday Cookie-a-Day collection – that’s the goal and I refuse to disappoint you!

First the recipe, then my notes.

Hazelnut-Butter Cookies with Mini Chocolate Chips

Preparation:

Notes:

Let’s start with my changes, which were not made out of preference, but rather because I didn’t want to go shopping. I didn’t have any hazelnut butter in the house, but I did have almond butter (which my husband bought awhile back purely out of caprice), and so I used that. I also didn’t have any mini chocolate chips, so I used regular-sized ones. In the end, we decided that these changes had no affect on the outcome.

Well, maybe the mini chips would have fit better in these little, ittty-bitty, bite-sized cookies. If you look at the cookie photo on the Bon Appétit site, they look enormous. They are not. These cookies really don’t spread much, if at all, and the one-inch spacing on the cookie sheet is more than enough.

I don’t know whether to call this a dough or a batter, but either way, once you manage to get the nut butter stirred up, this comes together really fast and easy. In fact, it probably took me twice the time to get the almond butter stirred up, than it did to put the whole recipe together!

When you’re ready to bake, you should absolutely let the dough/batter warm up for at least 30 minutes. When it chills, it gets hard as a rock. I tried to scoop some out for the first cookie after 15 minutes, and not only did I nearly bend my measuring tablespoon, I managed to fling a wad of the stuff across the room. You could put an eye out! Be patient. Or wear goggles.

I also reduced the baking time from the recommended 12 minutes to 10 minutes.

The verdict? This is a rich and tasty chocolate chip cookie. It’s got a lot of flavor, and I suspect you could use any of the smooth, natural nut butters in this recipe. It’s quick to put together and isn’t high maintenance. Of the nine cookies I’ve baked for this series so far, my husband rates this is as a top 3 contender (along with the biscotti and pecan lace cookies). I would definitely bake this cookie again. I’ll just make my husband stir the nut butter.

Please visit my partners in holiday baking, below, and see what they’ve got in store for you. And don’t forget to come back tomorrow for the tenth (and maybe the eleventh!) installment!

Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes (honorary member and our founder but not participating this year)
Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen
Courtney of Coco Cooks
Di of Di’s Kitchen Notebook
Judy of No Fear Entertaining
Kelly of Sass & Veracity
Michelle of Big Black Dog
RJ of Flamingo Musings (hey! that’s me!)
Sandy of At the Baker’s Bench
Tiffany of The Nesting Project