Ten Minute Almond Crisps….

 with Suzanne Dunaway

This basic recipe comes from a Frenchman, Henri, who lives in Lyon and who offered his two-minute-to-mix almond cookies to Southern Fried French‘s editor, Lynn Mc Bride.  Lynn is also an author and created a fantastic magazine for Francophiles or anyone who wants to hear about her adventures with people, recipes, cities and more in her beloved France.

This recipe is a winner.  THE winner, in my book. So easy that your kids can make them in minutes. I took liberties with the recipe, which did not include a pinch of salt, cinnamon and a dash of vanilla and to me, are necessary when using sugar in almost anything.  I also used miniscule butter for the cookie sheets, as the cookies slide off easily to cool on their cut-open brown paper bags, recycled…perfect for cookie-cooling.

• 400 g/14 ounces raw slivered almonds
• 1 cup sugar, brown or white
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 generous pinch of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 teaspoons of butter for the baking sheets

Heat oven to 185C/350F.
In a large bowl, mix all ingredients with a fork until all are moist.
Butter two large cookie sheet with 1 tablespoon soft butter for each.
Spread the cookie mixture to the edges of the baking sheet, making sure everything sticks together, then separate into individual small cookies. Or alternatively, drop spoons of the mixture on the cookie sheet and flatten them slightly. Wetting the fingers or the back of a spoon helps speed this along.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden and crisp.

DO NOT OVERBAKE or the cookies will taste burned.  Turn off the oven, open the door and let the cookies stay a few minutes to dry out a bit.

Warning:  You cannot eat just one…or two…or three.