Gluten Free Italian Pignoli (Pine Nut) Christmas Cookies

Recipe yields approximately 24 cookies

Ingredients:

• 16 ounces almond paste
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 egg whites
• 2 teaspoons of orange or lemon zest (I use orange but lemon works too)
• 1 1/2 cups roasted pine nuts (you can use raw but I prefer the taste of the roasted or as an alternate if you can use sliced almonds in place of pine nuts).

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In a food processor, break up almond paste into smaller pieces and pulse until paste looks like small crumbs.
• Next add sugar and pulse a few more times until sugar pulls together and dough looks granular.
• Then add the egg whites and zest, mix until egg whites are incorporated and dough looks smooth, about 30 – 60 seconds. Do not over mix.
• Pour your nuts into a dish or shallow bowl and set aside.
• Roll approximately 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough into a ball and drop into nuts to coat, you can coat on all sides or just one and leave one side without (bottom of cookie). **My family loves nuts so I coat the entire cookie**
• Place cookies onto parchment paper lined baking sheet.
• Bake cookies for 13-15 minutes, or until light golden brown. Cool cookies on baking sheet for 5 to 10 minutes until they firm up before transferring to a cooling rack.
• Cookies will keep for 1 week in an airtight container.
• ENJOY!!!!