Starry Night Marzipan Cookies

• Refrigerated

  • 1 Lg egg, whole
  • 1 Lg egg yolk

• Condiments

  • 1/4 cup Honey *preferably, raw

• Baking & Spices

  • 1 1/2 cups All-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 tbsp Almond extract, pure
  • 1 1/4 tsp Baking powder
  • 3/4 cup Cocoa powder, unsweetened
  • 2 3/8 cup Granulated sugar
  • 1/8 tsp Salt
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract, pure
  • 5 oz White chocolate

• Nuts & Seeds

  • 1 lb Almonds *i used trader joes prepackaged raw almonds, raw

• Snacks

  • 1 Cookie sheets
  • 1 set Star cookie cutters

• Dairy

  • 3/4 cup Butter

• Liquids

  • 7 tbsp Water

• Tools & Equipment

  • 1 Parchment paper

• Other

  • Rolling pin
  • gallon size ziplock bag
  • TOOLS

Found on thefedupfoodie.com

Description

Ingredients

• Tools
• cookie sheets
• parchment paper
• gallon size ziplock bag
• set of star cookie cutters
• rolling pin
• 5 oz white chocolate for drizzling *optional
• For the Marzipan
• 1 lb raw almonds *I used Trader Joes prepackaged raw almonds
• 1⅛ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup honey *preferably raw
• 7 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp pure almond extract
• For the Chocolate Sugar Cookies
• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1¼ tsp baking powder
• ⅛ tsp salt
• ¾ cup butter *softened
• 1¼ cups granulated sugar
• 1 whole lg egg
• 1 lg egg yolk
• ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
• ½ tsp pure almond extract

Directions

• For the Marzipan- Blanch almonds by bringing a lg pot of water to a boil. Add almonds to boiling water, boil for 1 minute. Skins of almonds should be very loose, boil for an additional 30 secs if skins are not loose. Strain almonds in colander and run cold water over them to stop the cooking process. Remove skins pinching gently as they can spring across the room. Place skinned almonds on a dry towel-pat dry. Once almonds are dry place in food processor and throughly grind- set aside. In a small saucepan mix sugar, water and honey together. Bring to rapid boil over medium/high heat stirring consistently. Once rapid boil starts, take off heat and pour over almonds. Begin processing and add almond extract in the beginning of the processing through feeding tube. Continue processing until marzipan is smooth, approximately 10 minutes. Spoon onto parchment paper in shape of thick snake and wrap around marzipan. Wrap thoroughly in plastic wrap to keep air out. Refrigerate over night. About 45 minutes before assembling cookies place in freezer to thoroughly chill.
• For the Cookies- Sift together dry ingredients and set aside. In a standing mixer or medium bowl, cream butter and sugar together until smooth. Beat in egg, egg yolk and extracts. Gradually add in dry ingredients a few spoonfuls at a time while mixing. Mix well making sure to scrape down sides of the bowl a few times. Once mixed, put half of dough between two sheets of parchment paper, repeat with other half of dough. Roll dough out to almost the thickness you will want cookies- about 11 inch diameter. Fold sides of parchment over rolled dough. Place in ziplock bag and seal making sure to rid bag of excess air. (rolling dough out ahead of time will save time the next day). Refrigerate over night.
• Assembly of Cookies- Preheat oven to 375 ℉. Roll sugar cookie dough out between the sheets of parchment to desired thickness of cookie, approximately ¼ to 5/16 of an inch. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper- set aside. Cut out larger star with cookie cutter. Line up smaller cookie cutter star within the large star. Gently place lg stars on 1 cookie sheet and small stars on other cookie sheet. Chill large stars while cutting out marzipan to help hold their shape. Cut marzipan into disks approximately the same thickness as cookies. Gently press with finger if diameter is not big enough to accommodate small cookie cutter. Cut out small star and gently removed marzipan star from cutter. Line small star within large star and gently press. Any small gaps will fill in while baking.
• Bake large stars for 12 - 13 minutes and small stars for 8 minutes, both at 375 ℉. Let cool on pan for about 5 min. Transfer sheet of parchment onto cooling racks. Leave on parchment for drizzling white chocolate. In a double broiler melt white chocolate over simmering water on a low heat. Once melted, use a spoon to drizzle over cookies. Let chocolate harden and enjoy!