Pine Nut Cookies

These are simple pine nut cookies you can make with any sort of pine nut -- I use American pinon pine nuts, or sometimes California bull pine nuts. I like using acorn flour, but you can skip it or use regular almond paste. See above for the acorn/almond paste recipe.

Prep time: PT20M

Cook time: PT12M

Total time: PT32M

Rating

4.91 stars (11 reviews)

Keywords

cookies, pine nuts

Ingredients

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary ((optional))
2/3 cup sugar, (or light brown sugar)
10 ounces almond paste, (or acorn paste (see above))
1 cup pine nuts, toasted ((4 ounces))
1 egg white ((maybe 2, see below))
A pinch of salt

Cuisine

American
Italian

Steps

Preheat your oven to 325°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.
Buzz the sugar, 1/3 of the pine nuts and rosemary together in a food processor until you get small bits of pine nuts and rosemary sugar. Don't process into a paste. Pour the mixture into a bowl and add the almond or acorn paste, salt and egg white. Mix into a paste. You want this to be wet but workable. Sometimes you need a second egg white.
Option 2: Start with the 2 egg whites and, if you need it, add a tablespoon or 3 of all-purpose flour so you can form balls with your hands. I prefer this, but the cookies will no longer be gluten-free.
Divide the dough into 12 to 16 pieces - or about a heaping tablespoon per cookie - and roll with moistened hands. Gently set a cookie ball onto the whole pine nuts, rolling to coat. Set the cookie on the baking sheet. If rolling the dough in the pine nuts proves difficult, you can set pine nuts on top of each cookie after it's on the baking sheet.
Bake the cookies for 15 to 18 minutes, until you see just a bit of browning. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes, then dust with confectioner's sugar if you want to. Move them to a rack to cool thoroughly. They should keep in an airtight container for 3 to 4 days.

Nutitrion

Serving Size: 1 serving
Calories: 171 kcal
Carbohydrates: 18 g
Protein: 3 g
Fat: 11 g
Saturated Fat: 1 g
Sodium: 5 mg
Sugar: 15 g
Unsaturated Fat: 9 g

Reviews

Karen Dale Trask on 2024-09-10 (5 stars):
Thank you for all of the info on Pine Nut harvesting and this fabulous recipe! Alas, I let the cones open too much on my trees here in Central western NM, and they were too hard to even get out of the shell. Someday I WILL make your recipe for pignoli!
Mariah on 2022-11-30 (5 stars):
These cookies are amazing. Good thing too, since it took me HOURS to shell enough pinion nuts to make 1 cup. (Next time I will try a Paiute method for shelling them which involves toasting in the shell and then cracking the shells by rolling a mano over them then winnowing them to remove the empty shells). I used the two egg whites and since I am grain-free I used some coconut flour in place of wheat flour. I froze them and we are eating them slowly over time.
Erin on 2022-11-18 (4 stars):
Highly recommend these. So easy to make almond paste and the cookies too. Great for dinner party and for breakfast ! Love your recipes and their history and tips for cooking. I am an experienced cook yet I have learned a lot from your posts. Thank you.
Dave Hedlund on 2022-11-13 (5 stars):
Just made these yesterday. Very good! I like cookies that are dense and chewy. Great trail snacks.