Chocolate Dipped Almond Horns

Ah childhood memories! Nothing quite like ’em, are there? These cookies evoke a memory of going with my father, of blessed memory, to a bake shop which the whole neighborhood patronized, named Henry’s, where the white bakery boxes were wrapped in green and white string and you took home a heady scented array of goodies. I truly remember it since literally every item they produced was amazing. Friends of mine of long ago still sigh over Henry’s. Since DH and I grew up in the same neighborhood, this is a shared memory and we both remember the almond horns from the shop.

So, just in time for Passover, I knew I had to make these beauties for the delectation of the family and to share with y’all. But I wanted to make them in advance a few times to perfect them cuz that’s how I roll.

Since we just finished another lockdown, I had a bunch of family to taste test them and decided to bring them for the Purim feast to my SIL and brother’s house, Diane and Avi. Especially since my nephew in law, David, is gluten free and I wanted him to have a serious goodie and not feel deprived. That’s the great thing about these cookies, they are super elegant and nobody can tell they are gluten free so everyone is happy to eat them. They have a chewy texture that satisfies every craving and a hint or distinctive almond flavor depending on how much almond extract you use. Some like more, some like less. After dipping the cookies in the chocolate, it’s just beautiful to look at and I can’t imagine anyone not craving them. By the way, everyone snatched two cookies, even those who don’t normally eat sweets. So onward!

For this recipe you MUST use almond flour, that powdery, floury substance that’s sorta beige in color, not the almond meal which is almonds ground with their skin and has flecks of brown in it. If you don’t, they simply won’t turn out correctly and isn’t that a shame.

So believe me on this and next you need powdered/icing/confectioner’s sugar, also a must. The dough of these cookies is very soft and supple and the texture is dependent on these ingredients. So put the almond flour, powdered sugar, almond extract and 3 out of the 4 egg whites into a food processor. You may need a bit of orange juice to bind them but if the dough is kinda soft, that’s correct, you haven’t made an error.

Now it’s simple as pie (or cookies, heh) and you pulse pulse pulse just till the dough comes together and is quite soft. Wrap this in plastic wrap and bung it in the freezer. Now you could put it in the fridge but the freezer is better and the dough remains very pliable since it’s so soft. Leave for about 30 minutes to chill. It will not freeze and will still be pretty soft.

Now this is also an important step for both a beautiful looking cookie and added crunch to the chewiness, sliced blanched almonds. If you can’t get any, a potential substitute is ground fine almonds but it’s definitely second choice.

Now preheat your oven to 350 F.

Take a rimmed baking sheet and put a piece of parchment paper on it and sprinkle heavily with the sliced almonds.

Pinch off a lump of your dough and roll into a snake, oiling your hands only if necessary to keep the dough from sticking. The amount you use determines the size of your horns. I like them medium sized, like so:

They get sticky super quick so it’s best to divide the dough into about 4 parts and keep in the fridge the ones you aren’t working with. Dip or brush the log of dough with the remaining egg white and roll the log in the sliced blanched almonds. Don’t worry if you don’t coat every bit of the cookie, it’s fine. Gently shape into a crescent and place on parchment paper lined rimmed baking sheet like so:

As you can see, they are loosely coated with the almonds. That’s fine. Now pop them into the oven for about 13-15 minutes or till lightly golden in color. Remove and cool on wire racks ON THE BAKING SHEET!!! This matters since till they set up and harden a bit they are quite fragile and you don’t want them to crack on you. K, they’ve rested about 10 minutes or a bit longer (till cool) and prepare your chocolate dipping mixture. This is simplicity itself in the microwave (or double boiler if you haven’t got a microwave). Take the oil (do not skip the oil, it prevents the chocolate from stiffening up too quickly and it keeps it “dippable” longer.) just zap it for 30 secs, stir, zap again, stir till the chocolate forms a smooth somewhat liquidy mass like so:

Let it cool a bit and start dipping the ends of your crescents in one at a time carefully so as not to break the cookies.

Note the color of the cookies btw, the ends lightly brown but the majority of the cookie very light. Here the cookie is just dipped hence the high shine of the chocolate. As it hardens it’s less shiny. Unless you are in a mad hurry, the chocolate will harden quite nicely at room temp. If, however, you are under pressure, pop the dipped cookies in the fridge to harden the chocolate.

These cookies are both beautiful, elegant to end an elegant meal and chewy, crunchy, almondy and chocolatey. OMG, what more can one ask? Oh yeah, gluten free!!

Chocolate Dipped Almond Horns

3 cups (300 grams) almond flour, not almond meal! 
3 cups (345 grams approximately) powdered/icing/confectioner’s sugar 
4 – egg whites  -3 for cookies save 1 egg white for brushing/dipping cookies in 
1-2 teaspoons almond extract, depending how strong you like your almond flavor. I use 2 teaspoons 
2 teaspoons orange juice 
2-3 cups (140-210 grams) blanched sliced almonds for rolling 
Dipping chocolate mixture

1 1/2 (255 grams) cups chocolate chips
1 1/2 tablespoons oil 

Directions:

In a food processor (you can use a mixer as well) mix together the almond flour (not almond meal), confectioner’s/icing/powdered sugar, 3 egg whites (remember save the 4th for dipping cookies in), almond extract and the orange juice, start with 1 teaspoon. Pulse, pulse, pulse just till it forms a very soft dough. You might wish to oil your hands to scoop out dough and place in plastic wrap and freeze for 30 minutes. This dough stays quite soft and pliable so really, freeze it preferably or fridge it.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Take two rimmed baking sheets and line with parchment paper. One is to bake the cookies on, one to sprinkle heavily with sliced almonds. Divide dough into 4 parts, refrigerating the dough you aren’t working with otherwise it becomes terribly sticky and difficult to work with. Take a lump of dough, size of a walnut, and roll into a log or “snake”, dip in remaining egg white, or brush with egg white and roll in sliced almonds. Don’t worry if they don’t stick perfectly. Bend gently into a crescent shape and place on parchment paper leaving about an inch or so between cookies. Place in hot oven and bake for 13-15 minutes or till ends turn light brown but rest of cookie is like a pale golden beige. Let cookies cool on baking sheet and place baking sheet on wire rack. They are quite fragile till they cool and harden up somewhat. While they cool, melt the chocolate chips with the oil either in a microwave, 30 seconds zap, stir, and repeat just till chocolate becomes smooth and stirs into a somewhat liquid mass perfect for dipping, or a double boiler. Take the cooled cookies and dip the ends in the chocolate, one at a time coating the tips, letting chocolate drip off and lay back on parchment paper to set. These harden on their own at room temp but if you are in a big hurry, pop into fridge to set. Serve with your finest, tea, coffee or hot chocolate!