Recipes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons less fat margarine (with 8 grams fat per tablespoon)
• 1/4 cup almond paste, broken up into pieces by rubbing in between your fingers
• 2 tablespoons fat free half and half
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup unbleached white flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• additional sugar

Glaze:

• 2/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 teaspoons water
• 2/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted (2.25 ounces)/li>

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a jellyroll pan or cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In large mixing bowl, cream margarine and almond paste until blended. Beat in the fat-free half and half, sugar, and almond extract.
3. In medium bowl, combine whole wheat flour, white flour, baking powder, and salt with whisk, then gradually add flour mixture to margarine mixture, beating on low speed just until blended.
4. Use a leveled cookie scoop of dough (1/8-cup) for each cookie and place them 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet. Pour about 1/4 cup granulated sugar or colored sugar crystals (red and green are festive) into a small shallow bowl. Coat bottom of a glass with canola cooking spray and dip in the sugar and then gently flatten cookies balls. Dip glass in sugar as needed.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes or until edges are just starting to brown. Remove to wire rack to cool.
6. For glaze, in small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, almond extract, and about 2 teaspoons water (or amount needed for desired glaze consistency). With teaspoon, drizzle glaze evenly over the cookies and generously top with sliced almonds.

Yield:
Makes about 22 cookies

Nutritional Information:
Per serving: 140 calories, 2.2 g protein, 19.5 g carbohydrate, 5.5 g fat, 1.1 g saturated fat, .1 mg cholesterol, 1.5 g fiber, 74 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 35 percent.

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