Last weekend my husband and I had the chance to finally meet our friends new baby, something I have been waiting patiently to do since she was born 6 weeks ago. I always love a reason to bake so I thought it would be nice to bring over a treat.
After deciding against a handful of ideas I narrowed it down to either Lemon Bars or Almond Butter Sticks, both of which are pretty easy to make and very yummy. Now I had to track down both of these recipes from either my mom or sisters and decide which one I can get done in time. Because my mom and sisters have been cooking much longer than me they are always my go to people when I need a recipe.
For years my mom and sisters have been passing along recipes as I get the inspiration to make different dishes. The only problem with this is that I usually write them on scratch pieces of paper and in the end lose them. So inevitably the next time I decide to make the dish I have to call them up and get it again. As you can imagine, my sisters get a little tired when I ask for the chicken enchilada recipe for the 10th time. Thankfully now that I am doing this blog I end up writing about the different dishes and have the recipe at my finger tips for the next time I make the dish.
The decision was made to make the almond butter sticks simply because it was the first recipe I could get my hands on, thanks to my little sister.
The end result was light butter pastry with a sugar almond filling that was a perfect treat to share with our friends.
Almond Butter Sticks
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons almond extract
2/3 cup butter
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg yolk
Slivered almonds
Mix the sugar and almond extract and set aside.
Combine remaining ingredients. Kneed and roll out on a floured surface and spread with 1 teaspoon butter. Cut in half and place half on a greased sheet, butter side up. Spoon sugar mixture on pastry and place other half of pastry, butter side down, on top of sugar mixture. Press the edges together tightly and brush the top with a slightly beaten egg white. Sprinkle top with slivered almonds.
Bake for 15 – 35 minutes at 375 degrees.
