Almond Powder Puffs

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was selected by Tianne of Buttercream Barbie. She chose the Pecan Powder Puffs, which are also known as Mexican Wedding Cakes or Russian Teacakes. These are a popular cookie around the holidays and I’ve made similar recipes before. Luckily, this recipe is wide open to variations so I was excited to figure out a way to mix this up a bit. If you want the original recipe, check out Tianne’s blog.

I looked at the variations that Dorie suggests and she suggests adding cocoa powder, but I had already made Hot Chocolate Snowballs which was too similar. In one of the variations, Dorie suggests adding spices, so I wanted to try using the flavors of chai, but I’d already made those, too. I’ve made too many things to keep track! I decided to go with almonds and I also added a little ground ginger. Ginger and almond seemed like a good combination.

Unlike the other variations of this cookie that I’ve made, you make these in the food processor. I usually like using that method, since it typically makes fewer dishes for me to wash. In this cake, the dough seemed really crumbly and I wondered if the dough got mixed properly. I refrigerated the dough overnight and had to let it warm up quite a bit before I could shape the cookies. Even after baking they are very crumbly, but that just makes them melt in your mouth. I didn’t think that I made my cookies very big, but I only got 20 cookies out of a full batch! These smelled heavenly of almonds. The ginger was very subtle, kind of like an aftertaste. They are very, very good and I was happy to try another variation of this classic cookie.

Recipe from Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, page 156