Swiss Chocolate Almond Cookies | Basler Brunsli

A favorite in Switzerland every Christmas, these flourless cookies are made with
ground almonds and egg whites and flavored with melted chocolate and spices.

Servings: 4 dozen

Author:

Prep Time
15 minutes

Cook Time
25 minutes

Resting Time
30 minutes

Course:

Dessert

Cuisine:

Swiss

Keywords:

Christmas cookies Basler Brunsli chocolate almond spice cookie flourless cookie Swiss Christmas cookies Swiss cookie Weihnachtsgebäck Weihnachtsplätzchen

🧂 Ingredients

300 g almonds, whole (10½ oz )

2¾ cups almond flour (if you don't grind your own)
200 g sugar

1 cup
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
100 g dark chocolate

3½ ounces
2 egg whites
2 tbsp Kirschwasser (cherry brandy)

optional
granulated sugar for sprinkling

Instructions

1 If grinding your own almonds, grind them in a food processor until they reach a
medium-fine texture. (see the video for reference)
2 Melt your chocolate either in a double boiler or in the microwave, taking care
not to let it get too hot, as this will cause the chocolate to seize. If using a
microwave, heat it in 10 second bursts until most of the chocolate is melted,
leaving some unmelted chunks in it. Then stir those unmelted pieces into the
melted chocolate to melt them. This will prevent the chocolate from getting too
hot.
3 Put the ground almonds into a large bowl and stir in all of the ingredients,
including the melted chocolate. Mix it all together until you have a cohesive
dough.
4 Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5 Generously sprinkle your work surface with granulated sugar and then roll out a
portion of your dough on the sugar, sprinkling the top with sugar as well. This
will prevent the dough from sticking to your work surface and your rolling pin,
as well as give it a crunchy sugar coating after baking.
6 Roll out the dough to about ½ inch or 1¼ cm thick, and then cut out the dough
with cookie cutters. Some traditional shapes for Basler Brunsli are flowers and
stars, but you can, of course, use whatever you like. Repeat this process until
all of your dough is used.
7 Place the cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet. They can be placed pretty
close together because they don't spread during baking.
8 Bake them in a 250℉ / 120℃ preheated oven for 25 minutes. This is a very low
temperature and the idea is to dry them out rather than bake them.
9 Let them cool on a rack before enjoying.