Italian Pignoli Cookies Recipe (Pine Nut Cookies)

Step 1

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Step 2

In the bowl of a food processor, add almond paste and pulse until it is broken into small crumbs.

Step 3

Add granulated sugar, powdered sugar, and salt to the almond paste and pulse several more times until mixture is evenly combined.

Step 4

Add egg whites to the bowl and pulse again until mixture forms a sticky dough.

Step 5

Use a 1 1/2 tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop even balls of dough. Drop the balls into a small bowl filled with the pine nuts. You want to coat just one side of the dough ball with pine nuts. Carefully flip the dough ball over onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, pine nut side up.

Step 6

Fill in any holes with additional pine nuts so that the top and sides of the ball are evenly coated with pine nuts.

Step 7

Place the balls 1 inch apart on the cookie sheet.

Step 8

Bake for 14-15 minutes or until the cookies are puffed with a slight dome on the top and are noticeably light golden brown around the bottom edges. The cookie should appear slightly shiny with some browned pine nuts on the top.

Step 9

Allow cookies to cool for 3-4 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.