[Cookie 006] Pine Nut Cookies

Okay, if I were to have had a baking license, it would surely (and justly) have been revoked after this latest batch of "cookies." I don't know what I was thinking with these Pine Nut Cookies--maybe it was the hot California sun melting my brain or something, but I thought it would be acceptable to try and substitute powdered sugar with home-made powdered sugar. Now, normally this should work, because all you have to do is put 1 cup of granulated sugar with 1 tbsp of corn starch into a blender, but me being the genius that I am, put them in the food processor, which completely FAILED. I ended up with granulated sugar and cornstarch, not powdered sugar. So obviously, this made a huge difference in the texture of the cookies, and essentially ruined them.

So I substituted real powdered sugar because I didn't have enough at home, but I also didn't have any almond paste, so I made some of my own of that as well. Fortunately, this was pretty easy and worked out great. But now I have a bunch left over and I don't know what to do with it...

Additionally, even though I divided the recipe by 3, I ran out of pine nuts as well! Yeah, only the key ingredient, the one that lends itself to the title of the cookie! Ugh! I really shouldn't have tried this recipe until I actually had the stuff I needed, but for some reason I stuck with it. And it showed in the results.

I ended up with a grand total of ONE nice looking pre-baked cookie. There it is, up there. Right there. That's it. Yeah. The rest? Well, suffice it to say that I didn't see the point in photographing them. Some didn't even have any pine nuts on the outside. Yeah, that bad.

So how did they turn out post-baking? Well, they were overdone, burnt, and lousy. And it's all my fault! Oh woe! Won't someone else please try this recipe and do it justice? Because the batter is delicious and I honestly think that they would be great cookies if done correctly. Because, honestly, who wants to eat this:

Yeah, I don't know. Not me.

Pine Nut Cookies
Makes about 3 dozen

Ingredients

• 2 cups pine nuts
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 cup almond paste
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Process 3/4 cup pine nuts, the sugar, almond paste, and vanilla in a food processor until fine crumbs form. Add egg; pulse to combine. Add flour, baking powder, and salt; process just until dough comes together.
2. Roll dough into 3/4-inch balls. Roll balls in remaining 11/4 cups pine nuts, gently pressing to coat. Space 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets.
3. Bake until cookies begin to turn golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks.

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{End Results}
Baking Difficultly: 1/5
Ingredient Accessibility: 3/5
Tastiness: ?/5 (I bet they would be good if I baked them better)
Attractiveness: 4/5 (They are very cute and easy to make look nice if you don't burn them like I did)
Is it worth it?: Some one else please try these out and tell me if they are as tasty as I think they should be!