Almond Wafer Cookies (Pain D'amande)

What luck….

Last week, the day after my last post exactly, my computer froze. Just like that. I couldn’t even turn it off. I had no other choice but to unplug it, let the battery wear out, and try to reboot it in the morning. Sometimes this works, really, though I have no idea why. I am one of the least computer savvy people left on the planet, so when I still had no luck the next afternoon I was left with no choice but to call a “geek” to come to the house. The look on his face was quite somber as he said to me “it’s not good, not good at all” and informed me that my hardrive was shot. He asked me if I had backed up all of my files, which I replied “no, is that bad?” (I said I  wasn’t savvy…) After hearing that I would probably lose all of my files, most importantly, all of my pictures(!) I started to fight back tears. How would I ever be able to tell my little girl when she grows up that I don’t have a single picture of her from 3 to 5 years old???  My very smart “geek” would do his very best to try to save my files but he wouldn’t know for sure. I quickly ran out to the store and bought an external hard drive, keeping my fingers crossed that luck would be on my side that day. After doing “whatever they do”, he told me he could put the computer in a safe mode and copy all of my files, but that was it- after that he could do no more to save my computer. At the moment, I couldn’t care less about anything but my picture files. What a sigh of relief.

 I will never not have everything backed up again. I have learned my lesson, believe me.

It wasn’t until that night that I fully realized that I didn’t have a computer anymore. Funny how you get so attached to these things. While we had no money in our budget for such a thing, we also realized that in this day and age, it’s really not an option anymore. So after a few days of searching, here I am again, new computer in hand….

My very nice “geek” even took of a 1/2 hour from the bill, so to say thank you, I packed up a bag of these cookies and sent him on his way.

ALMOND WAFER THINS

Makes about 90 cookies

5 Tablespoons + 1 tsp water (80 ml) water
1/2 C (110 g)  unsalted butter
1 tsp cinnamon (if you can use freshly ground, do so)
1 1/2 C (300 g) Demerara sugar, packed  (widely available in supermarkets)
5 oz (160 g) slivered almonds
2 C+ 2 Tablespoons (300 g) all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp fleur de sal (or kosher salt)
1 egg yolk

Warm the water, butter and cinnamon in a small saucepan until the butter is fully dissolved. Take off the heat and let cool.

In a separate bowl, add the sugar and almond slices. Pour in the cooled water/butter mixture  and the almonds; stir just to combine. Add the egg yolk, followed by the flour, baking soda and the salt. Stir to form a stiff dough. Shape into 2 rectangular blocks, 5 x 12 x 3/4, OR, line a loaf pan with plastic wrap and press into the pan to make it as even and flat as possible. Cover with wrap and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. At this point you can freeze the dough for up to 2 months.

Preheat the oven to 325 F

Slice the dough into thin slices. You want them as thin as a coin, if not thinner. My husband loves the thinnest ones he can find in the batch. If you have trouble cutting them super thin, put the dough in the freezer for 20 minutes to firm it up even more. Place them 1/2 inch apart on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes, until they are a deep golden brown. Let cool completely. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Biscotti. So many great recipes…

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