Almond Squares
Almond Squares
Monday, April 8, 2013
Tomorrow, if everything goes as I hope it will, I'll bring a couple dozen Almond Squares to the Gopher men's hockey office — a token of my appreciation for an autograph on a picture of my brother and the Gopher hockey coach. I am shameless and transparent.
I was paging through the cookie section of my recipe notebooks looking for a recipe that was a little different and did not have to go far before finding these. The recipe came from Byerly's in 1988 and it appears that I haven't made it before today. What captured my interest after a quick scan of the recipe was the fact that I have all the ingredients in house, including the Amaretto and the sliced almonds. Well, that and the Amaretto and the almond extract. I love almond anything. It seemed to be a no-brainer.
Almond Squares
Recipe Source: Barb Schaller, adapted from a 1988 newsletter from Byerly's supermarket
Yield: 40 squares
1 cup butter softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg separated
1 tablespoon almond liqueur (Amaretto)
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons grated orange rind
2 cups flour
3/4 cup sliced almonds (2-1/4 oz.)
In large mixer bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
Beat in egg yolk, almond liqueur, almond extract and orange rind. Stir or mix in flour only until combined. Spread and pat dough evenly into an ungreased 10x15” jelly roll pan.
In small bowl, beat egg white until foamy—almost to a soft peak, but not quite. Using a soft pastry brush, brush evenly over dough.
Sprinkle almonds over egg white. Bake in a preheated 300° oven until light golden (about 30 minutes). Cut into 2” squares while still warm. Transfer to cooling racks to cool.
Store in container with loose fitting lid. Makes 40 squares.
Notes: Made 4-8-2013 to take to Gopher Hockey office next day. Dough is tricky to pat out -- I used floured hands and fingers. Oh, my. . . .
I softened two sticks of butter in the microwave on 10% power for a minute or so, let them stand a moment and then did it again — they were just right. I actually measured everything and even set a timer for 5 minutes when the butter and sugar were creaming.
Egg, Amaretto, and almond extract added and mixed; the flour mixed in on low speed
until it was just mixed in. I was trying for dollops of the dough but did not distribute them in the pan especially well.
I used floured fingers and hands to pat the dough to fill the bottom of the pan. I beat the
egg white until it was just this side of soft peaks. That may not be what the recipe was after but I am happy with the results. After putting dollops of the egg white on the dough,
I spread it with my maskailo, my goose feather baster. It’s soft and was perfect for the task. I sprinkled the almonds on top as directed and put it in the oven for 30 minutes.
The original recipe said 40 minutes or until golden, and that came at 30 minutes. I cut 40 squares about 10 minutes after taking the pan from the oven and sampled almost immediately. It’s a keeper, definitely!