Pastel Cookies are perfect for Easter or Spring when you want a cookie as pretty as the flowers that are eventually going to bloom outside your window. Freeze-dried fruit blended with powdered sugar gives these cookies their pretty hues.
These cookies have the extra step of toasting almonds then grinding them in a food processor once they've cooled before you incorporate them into the dough.
Read more: Pastel CookiesThis cookie recipe is from Martha Stewart but it's very similar toBest Mexican Snowballs.
These cookies with the pastel hues are perfect for Easter as are Shredded Wheat Bird Nests.
If toasting and grinding almonds seems like too much work, just make the snowballs but follow the instructions for colored confectioner's sugar instead of using plain white.
Aren't these the prettiest cookies?
They remind me of pastel Laura Ashley dresses, soft spring bouquets and also, tins of blush that have fallen on the floor and knocked into a powdery mess.
And you won't believe how easy it is to make the colored confection's sugar.
They are delish cookies and since they contain almonds, which are packed full of protein, these cookies are really the equivalent of eating a protein bar.
p.s. don't let your nutritionist have my email address.
This is an egg-free cookie recipe.
Also, there's no need to chill this dough before baking.
This recipe is another one from Martha Stewart's Cookie Perfection.
Ingredient List
- whole, toasted almonds
- all-purpose flour
- sea salt or kosher salt
- ground cinnamon
- unsalted butter
- vanilla extract
- confectioner’s sugar
- Freeze-dried fruit
Tools for These Cookies
- Food processor
- Cookie scoop
- Baking Sheet
- Hand mixer or stand mixer
- Large mixing bowl and smaller bowls for dipping cookies into colored sugars
- Measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
Note, you dress the cookies in colored powdered sugar After you bake them and have let the cookies cool.
Caution, the clerks most likely will point you to the dried fruit when you ask where the freeze-dried fruit is located. Make sure the bag says freeze-dried.
Cookie Baking Advice
You may find these baking posts helpful, from How to Freeze Cookie Dough, Room Temperature Butter for Baking to Salted or Unsalted Butter for Cookies? to Do I Need A Cookie Scoop?, Cookie Size Chart to What Should a Beginner Bake? to Where Can I Buy Sprinkles?, Why is my sugar cookie dough too sticky? and Cookie Holidays. What is Sanding Sugar and Where Can I Buy Sprinkles might also be helpful.
Toast whole almonds for 10 to 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven stirring the almonds around once or twice. Toast slivered almonds for 8 to 10 minutes.
Yes. However people who refer to toasting almonds usually mean toasting the nuts in a skillet on a stove top while those who are talking about roasting almonds mean on a rimmed baking sheet in an oven. The end result is the same: almonds that are more flavorful.
Warming up almonds, either through roasting or toasting, makes the nuts more flavorful. Roasting or toasting almonds makes them crunchier, which is what you want in a cookie.
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Recipe
Pastel Cookies
Pastel Cookies are perfect for Easter or Spring when you want a cookie as pretty as flowers. Find out how to give your cookies a pretty color.
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole, toasted almonds
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup (two sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
- Pastel Confectioner’s Sugar for Decoration
- ½ cup confectioner’s sugar for each color
- ¼ to a ½ cup of freeze-dried fruit per ½ cup sugar
Instructions
Toast the almonds
Either toast the nuts in a dry skillet over low heat stirring occasionally until warm and fragrant about 10 minutes. Or, spread the almonds over a parchment or foil-lined rimming baking sheet. Bake at 350 for eight to ten minutes. Give the nuts a stir halfway through.
Once the nuts are toasted, let cool for ten to 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, measure dry ingredients. flour through cinnamon.
Once almonds are cool, put them in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely ground.
Add dry ingredients to the bowl of a food processor.
Pulse together for a few seconds.
Set aside.
In another mixing bowl, beat room temperature butter and confectioner's sugar until fluffy and pale in color, about four to five minutes.
Stir in vanilla.
Add dry ingredients.
Beat on low until just combined.
Portion dough onto a parchment-lined baking tray using a tablespoon cookie scoop. You should be able to fit 12 cookies on each tray.
Bake at 350 for 13 to 15 minutes.
Let cool after baking.
While cookies are in the oven, make the colored confectioner's sugar.
Blend equal parts confectioner's sugar and freeze-dried fruit.
Pulse until the sugar and the fruit are a powder.
Transfer powdered sugar to small bowls.
Once cookies are cool, put them one by one in a bowl of powdered sugar top first. Use your fingers to make sure each cookie is completely covered.
Serve with tea or coffee.
Notes
Cookies will last up to a week packaged in an airtight container at room temperature.
You can freeze cookies for up to three months between layers of freezer paper in cookie tin or rubber container. If freezing, wait to decorate with powdered sugar until you're going to eat them.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 30 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 122Total Fat 3gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 2mgSodium 73mgCarbohydrates 22gFiber 1gSugar 14gProtein 2g
Tell me what you're baking for Easter.
Have you ever baked with freeze-dried fruit before?
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