Holiday Recipe Ingredients
1 cup of softened butter
1 cup of granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup almonds
red frosting gel
Easy Holiday Recipe Instructions
In a medium bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, egg, almond and vanilla extracts.
In a separate bowl, sift or stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Add to the butter mixture in batches, mixing well with each addition.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least an hour. Overnight is fine.
Boil about a half cup of water in a heat proof bowl.
Add the almonds and allow to sit about 10 minutes.
Drain the almonds. Using a tea towel or cloth napkin, rub the skins off the almonds. They should slip off easily.
Carefully slice each nut in half.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Pinch off a small portion and roll it into a thin rod.
The cookies will puff up when cooking, so make thinner than you want.
Flatten one end of the digit while leaving the other end tapered.
Pinch the dough to form the knuckle form and using a butter knife to create the knuckle grooves.
Push an almond half into the tapered end to form the fingernail.
Place on a lightly buttered baking sheet about an inch apart.
Bake about 15 - 20 minutes until lightly browned.
Allow to cool 10 minutes on the sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack.
Once cool, squeeze a bit of the red gel around the almond for the little extra touch!