This Nordic inspired recipe is perfect for the holidays. Pair it with cozy homemade hot chocolate and fresh whipped cream with a nutmeg sprinkle. I developed this recipe over several different tries tweaking a classic sugar cookie recipe and adding some spice!
Buttery Nordic Almond Star Cookies
1 1/3 cups flour
7 tbs sugar
1/8 tsp baking powder
7 tbs butter, chilled
1 egg beaten with 1 tsp water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp Almond Extract
Whisk together flour, sugar, and baking powder. With a pastry cutter, fork, or in a food processor, cut the butter into the flour mixture, until it looks clumpy. Blend in the egg/water mixture. Blend in vanilla and almond extract. Do this until the dough forms a ball. If the dough seems too dry add a bit of water and until it gets clumpy and ball like. Do this slowly. Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. On a well floured work surface, roll dough until 1/4 inch thick. Use your star cookie cutters (or whatever cutters you prefer) to cut 12-16 cookies. Place them on an ungreased cookie tray. Bake for 7-10 minutes, checking periodically. When the cookies have a slight brown toasty look around the edges, they are ready. Take out of oven and transfer to a cooling rack. Let cool COMPLETELY. See glaze recipe below!
Simple Cookie Glaze
I used this simple glaze recipe lovingly created by Cleverly Simple - check out this great site by Lynette for easy recipes for those in a hurry!
1 cup powdered sugar
4 teaspoons milk
1 tsp vanilla
Nutmeg for sprinkling on top of cookie once glazed
Combine the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla in a bowl by mixing with a fork until smooth. The powdered sugar will dissolve as you stir. Make sure cookies are totally cooled. Use a small spoon (think espresso spoon or baby spoon) to carefully add the glaze and spread it over the stars. Add a sprinkle of nutmeg to each star (to add some extra spice sprinkle a bit of ginger too!)
You could also use food coloring and sprinkles to add holiday colors. Enjoy!