Swiss Chocolate Almond Cookies | Basler Brunsli
A favorite in Switzerland every Christmas, these flourless cookies are made with ground almonds and egg whites and flavored with melted chocolate and spices.
Ingredients
- 300 g almonds, whole (10½ oz ) 2¾ cups almond flour (if you don't grind your own)
- 200 g sugar 1 cup
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 100 g dark chocolate 3½ ounces
- 2 egg whites
- 2 tbsp Kirschwasser (cherry brandy) optional
- granulated sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- If grinding your own almonds, grind them in a food processor until they reach a medium-fine texture. (see the video for reference)
- Melt your chocolate either in a double boiler or in the microwave, taking care not to let it get too hot, as this will cause the chocolate to seize. If using a microwave, heat it in 10 second bursts until most of the chocolate is melted, leaving some unmelted chunks in it. Then stir those unmelted pieces into the melted chocolate to melt them. This will prevent the chocolate from getting too hot.
- Put the ground almonds into a large bowl and stir in all of the ingredients, including the melted chocolate. Mix it all together until you have a cohesive dough.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Generously sprinkle your work surface with granulated sugar and then roll out a portion of your dough on the sugar, sprinkling the top with sugar as well. This will prevent the dough from sticking to your work surface and your rolling pin, as well as give it a crunchy sugar coating after baking.
- Roll out the dough to about ½ inch or 1¼ cm thick, and then cut out the dough with cookie cutters. Some traditional shapes for Basler Brunsli are flowers and stars, but you can, of course, use whatever you like. Repeat this process until all of your dough is used.
- Place the cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet. They can be placed pretty close together because they don't spread during baking.
- Bake them in a 250℉ / 120℃ preheated oven for 25 minutes. This is a very low temperature and the idea is to dry them out rather than bake them.
- Let them cool on a rack before enjoying.