Almost Italian Knots

These are non-traditional love knots made with almond paste that are moist and easy to make.

Somewhere in Italy my Nonna is yelling "dov'è l'anice" - "Where is the Anisette?" Sorry Nonna, I don't use Anise or Anisette in my love knots, actually, I don't tie them into knots anymore. How's that for breaking tradition?

So it appears, no one person can take claim for the "love knot" but it is known to be associated with unending love and friendship between two people. Many knots have been called a "love knot" thru the course of history but every culture has a different way of making one.

In my house, we start with a straight line and roll it into itself to make a snail-like knot and call it a "love knot". Call it a modern interpretation of the old Italian cookie with an escape clause of the unending love, since the end is open.

This cookie is made is an egg-based batter that does not like to be handled a lot so you will need to work quickly and mix as little as possible. Egg batter gets tough and stiff if you mix them too much. Ever pick up a cookie and it's dense and think to yourself, "damn, I can throw this against the wall and break thru the sheetrock" that's what happens if you mix this batter too much. It will get very dense and hard. Our goal is a light and fluffy cookie, not one that no one wants to eat.

Let's get baking you'll need: Bake 350 degrees 8-10 mins.

2 oz room temp. almond paste.

6 eggs.

1 stick of room temp butter (softened)

1 tsp pure almond extract

5 cups flour

5 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp heavy cream

vegetable spray

Cream together (you'll want to do this by hand so it's not overmixed) the almond paste and the sugar. Add the butter until it's well mixed. One at a time (this is important) drop the eggs in and mix them. Add the almond extract and put aside.

Sift (no really this will make a fluffy cookie) the flour, baking powder and salt together, then slowly add to the egg mixture. Drizzle the heavy cream on top of the flour and gently mix together. Spray your hands with vegetable spray and bring all the ingredients together until you have a smooth dough.

Spray your hands with vegetable spray and pinch off a small amount of dough and roll into a small log. Start to roll the log into itself like a snail shell and continue until you have a mock love knot. Space them out on an ungreased cookie sheet (they will grow when then cook). Have two cookie sheets filled with your love knots before you open the oven to put them in. You want to maintain the temp. in the oven and only open the door once. This will help the cookies puff up quickly when they're put in the oven.

Bake the love knots 8-10 minutes and take them out just before they turn brown. You know they are done when the tops are firm to the touch and the bottoms will just be turning a light brown. The tops will be firm but NOT HARD.

Allow them to cool as you make the frosting.

FROSTING RECIPE:

3 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp pure almond extract

1-1 1/2 tsp (judge as needed) heavy cream

Add the extract into the powdered sugar and stir. Drizzle the heavy cream and stir. Slowly drizzle more into the powdered sugar. While stirring, continue to drizzle the cream until you have a frosting that you are able to frost the cookies with. You may need to adjust the heavy cream by adding more or less depending on the weather. On rainy days (humid) you'll need less cream on dry days, you'll need more. I like to add colored sprinkles on top but you can add whatever color you like.

Enjoy.

NOTE: When bringing these to someone's house or to a party, make sure you label them "CONTAINS NUTS/NUTS BY PRODUCTS"