1 - This went over very well! The toasted flour added a flavor that actually augmented the almond flour flavor. It was odd, when toasting the flour, it clumped and I ended up running it through a fine sieve before using it. Odd but really neat and interesting. I only browned it until a very light golden.
Oh, and for half of them, I drizzled some chocolate and it went quite nicely.
2 - Made these again for a retreat by the SGI CJ group and they were liked, again. When rolling out I used 2 knitting needles as my thickness guide to have an even dough and it worked a treat!
2 cups flour (250 g de farine torréfiée)
½ cup + 2 Tbsps butter, room temperature (130 g de beurre)
1¼ cup icing sugar (130 g de sucre glace)
scant ¾ cup almond flour (60 g de poudre d'amandes)
2 tsps vanilla extract (La pulpe d'une gousse de vanille)
¼ cup + of water (70 g d'eau)
½ cup + 2 Tbsps butter, room temperature (130 g de beurre)
1¼ cup icing sugar (130 g de sucre glace)
scant ¾ cup almond flour (60 g de poudre d'amandes)
2 tsps vanilla extract (La pulpe d'une gousse de vanille)
¼ cup + of water (70 g d'eau)
- In a dry, hot pan, toast the flour until golden and fragrant, stirring constantly to avoid scorching. Once golden, remove from heat and set aside allowing to cool to room temperature (important!).
- While the flour is cooling, and reserving the water, put all the other ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer and thoroughly combine.
- Sift the cooled flour through a fine sieve to make sure there are no clumps (if the flour is the slightest bit damp the heat from the pan will cause it to lump up into clumps. Keep toasting and pass through a fine sieve or blitz in a food processor once it's cooled to break up the clumps).
- Add the cooled flour, then slowly trickle in the ¼ cup of water until a uniform dough forms. If it looks too dry add water, a Tbsp at a time.
- Roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper into a thick disc of about a half inch. Wrap and put in the refrigerator to rest for about 1 hour or up to 72 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F.
- Roll out the dough to about 1/8" (knitting needles trick) and cut, into squares, or circles, or with cookie cutters. Lay the parchment paper onto cookie sheets and bake for about 15 minutes.
- OPTION: powder with more icing sugar, or melt some chocolate and drizzle on top. (Saupoudrer de sucre glace.)