Sweet Almond Straws
Makes about 6 dozen small cookies

The star disc of our cookie press is one of our favorites! It produces straws that are perfect for dipping, or traditional “S-shaped” cookies. The jagged edges are perfect for catching sprinkles or for dipping in melted chocolate or icing. (This star disc is often used with a savory dough for traditional cheese straws, but makes delicious sweet straws, too!)

Cookie Dough Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, (2 sticks), room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon table salt
1 cup finely ground almonds or almond meal
2 cups all-purpose flour

Icing & Embellishment Ingredients:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2-3 teaspoons milk
Sprinkles
or, if you prefer to dip the straws:
6 oz. melted dark chocolate, and/or
6 oz. melted white chocolate

Directions:
1. In a large mixing bowl and hand mixer, or the bowl of a stand mixer outfitted with the paddle, beat the butter and sugar until uniformly creamy (but do not mix too much; keep the incorporated air to a minimum). Add the egg, vanilla, almond extrat, and salt; beat again until evenly combined. Add the almond meal and flour in two or three portions; beat after each addition, but do not overmix.

2. Form the dough into a cylinder that somewhat matches the cylinder of the cookie press. Pack the cylinder such that air pockets are eliminated. Complete the assembly of the cookie press by affixing the star disc and adding the top plunger mechanism.

3. Press the cookie dough onto cool, ungreased cookie sheet. Hold the cookie press at an angle while pressing to form straws of about 3-4 inches. Chill the pressed cookies for 15 minutes in the refrigerator.

4. Bake at 350°F for 8-9 minutes or until the cookie edges barely begin to turn a golden color. Allow the cookies to cool and set on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to finish the cooling.

5. In a small bowl, mix the icing by whisking the powdered sugar, corn syrup vanilla and almond extracts, and drips of milk. Adjust the icing’s consistency until a good dipping character is achieved – we like a 7-8-second ribbon consistency for this.

6. Dip the cookie straws into the icing allowing excess to drip back into the bowl. Place the dipped cookie straws onto a cooling rack, add sprinkles or sugar glitter as desired, allow the icing to set and harden before stacking or storing. Similarly, if using melted chocolate, dip, and allow the chocolate to set.