A Twist on Traditional Italian Holiday Cookies

This gluten-free recipe will blow your mind. Blaine Moats/TNS

This crispy-on-the-bottom-and-chewy-on-the-inside gluten-free cookie recipe is a twist on a traditional Italian holiday treat, pignoli, or pine nut cookies. Look for almond paste—a mixture of ground almonds and sugar (available in tubes or sometimes tubs)—near other baking supplies in well-stocked supermarkets or specialty stores. Sweeter marzipan doesn’t work well in these cookies.

Pignoli Cookies

Active Time: 1 hour Total Time: 1 1/2 hours

Makes 3 dozen cookies; serves 36

• 2 (7-ounce) tubes almond paste (not marzipan), coarsely crumbled
• 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1/3 cup finely chopped pine nuts, plus 3 tablespoons whole pine nuts for decoration
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large egg whites
• 2 tablespoons water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.