Easy Italian Pignoli Cookies
An Italian classic that is as simple to make as it is delicious for the Holidays!
I love Pignoli cookies so much and never realized how simple they were to make!
There are a ton of different recipes out there with slightly different ratio and ingredients to them, but they most all come down to this handful of ingredients: Almond paste, pine nuts, egg whites, a pinch of salt and some confectioners sugar.
Many recipes add a bit of extra sweetness by adding in some honey while others just stick to regular granulated sugar to or confectioners sugar. But at the end of the day, these recipes are largely very similar and really just have slight leans towards personal preference (like adding in some lemon or orange zest to your batter)!
Below is the full recipe and step by step instructions for this, along with a recipe mod and a social video!
Cheers,
Joey
Video on my Youtube
More recipes and videos on my Youtube HERE
Full Recipe Below
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Serves: Make about 20 cookies when rolled into 1" balls or 10 cookies when rolled into 2” balls.
Mods: You can sweeten with either honey or regular granulated sugar (see below) • You can also add a touch of lemon or orange zest to the dough to mix it up if you like.
Ingredients:
2 7oz tubes of almond paste (I used Odense brand Almond Paste)
2 cups pine nuts
2 large egg whites
1 ½ cups confectioners sugar
2 tbsp honey (or ¼ cup of granulated sugar if you prefer)
1 teaspoon salt
Steps:
• Preheat your oven to 350°F and adjust rack to middle position
• In a food processor, add in your almond paste and pulse until finely crumbled. Then add in your confectioners sugar and salt, pulse until well combined.
• In a large bowl, whisk egg whites for a couple of minutes until nice and frothy. Add in your almond paste mixture and your honey. Whisk until well combined. Note: You can alternately use about ¼ cup of regular granulated sugar instead of honey if you prefer
• Roll your mixture into either 20 1” balls (for smaller cookies) or 10 2” balls (for larger cookies.
•Place your pine nuts on a small plate and coat each ball with pine nuts by rolling them around on the plate, one by one. Place the coated balls on a parchment lined baking sheet.
• Bake until golden brown (about 15ish minutes), let cool and enjoy!
