Nutty Lace Wafers

I love browsing through cookbooks to indulge my mind in the wonderful variety of the recipes. Now that I have started blogging, I am now going through them with renewed interest to bring to my beloved friends- my readers, simple and easy recipes, so that they can enjoy them as much as I do. One of such recipes is this, nutty lace wafers which can be prepared in about 10 minutes and taste heavenly! They are lacy and beautiful and eventhough recommended to be served with creamy desserts, it can be served just as is for a snack or with coffee. The ease of the recipe is something you will admire once you try it out. This is an ideal recipe for the time-pressed and they will definitely look elegant with your desserts.

Recipe (Makes 18 wafers):

Blanched almonds - scant 1/2 cup
Butter - 1/4 cup
All-purpose flour - 1/3 cup
Caster (superfine) sugar - 1/2 cup
Heavy (double) cream - 2 tbsp
Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp

Method:

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Lightly grease two baking sheets.

With a sharp knife, chop the almonds as finely as possible. Alternatively, use a food processor or blender to chop the nuts very finely.

Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat.

Remove from the heat and stir in the flour, caster sugar, double cream and vanilla extract.

Add the finely chopped almonds and mix well.

Drop teaspoonfuls 2 1/2" apart on the prepared sheets.

Bake until golden brown, about 5 minutes.

Cool on the baking sheets briefly, until the wafers are stiff enough to remove.

With a metal spatula, transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Source: 1001 Recipes for every occasion, Edited by Martha Day.

Tips:

1. The cook's tips suggest these wafers to be served with smooth creamy desserts.
2. The cookies will appear to be soft after 5 minutes of baking. Do not overcook, they will become stiff and crisp on cooling.
3. I actually put the nuts in a coffee grinder and processsed them to an "almost fine" powder.
4. I found that the wafers will exude a lot of butter on baking, so next time I will reduce the amount of butter. (But I think the butter is key for the lacy appearence).
5. I used granulated sugar instead of castor sugar, they turned out fine in taste. (I do not know if using castor sugar will have any change on the amount of butter released).