Purgatory Cookies

Wednesday it's my turn to provide a snack for choir practice. Since it is All Souls' Day, I am trying to make the "purgatory cookies" I encountered last year in Perugia. (See the archives for November 2004, and look for the story about Perugia.) Well, to tell you the truth, the cookies are called "dolci dei morti" and not "purgatory cookies," but the meaning is the same, right? With the help of a recipe from the label on the can of almond pastry filling, I did some tweaking and came up with a fairly reasonable approximation of the sweets. Here it is:

Note: you have to chill the dough for 4 hours, so do this in two segments.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup sugar

1 stick butter

1 can almond paste

1/2 tsp. almond extract

1 egg

2 cups flour

extra flour and powdered sugar

 

Beat sugar and butter 'til fluffy. Add almond paste, extract and egg, and blend in (using electric beaters on slowest setting). Gradually add flour. (I beat in the first half-cup, then stirred the rest in.) When the dough is thick, stop with the flour and put the whole thing in the fridge for 4 hours.

To resume, preheat oven to 325. Take a half-tablespoon of dough and (with floured hands) form into a little ball. Flatten it and form it into a slight oblong. Dust with flour and put on ungreased baking sheet. Put completed sheet of cookies in the oven for about 20 minutes. (The cookies should be a bit soft.) Cool on wire racks, and dust with powdered sugar. (I tapped it through a strainer for a nice even coat of white.).

Store in airtight container.

 

Let me know if you tried this!