Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 140 °C conventional and line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt using a hand mixer until very stiff, trickling in the icing sugar through a sieve a little at a time until you have a glossy, firm mixture.
- Set aside two well-heaped tablespoons of the mixture for the glaze and cover.
- Mix the vanilla sugar, cinnamon and half of the almonds and fold carefully into the remaining mixture with a spatula. Knead in as much of the remaining almonds as needed until the dough is barely sticky.
- Roll the dough out about 1 cm thick inside a cut-open freezer bag dusted with a little ground almonds. Cut out stars and place on the tray; if the cutter sticks, dip it briefly in sugar.
- Brush the stars with the reserved egg-white mixture and bake for 25 minutes in the lower third of the oven. Pull off the tray on the baking paper and leave to cool on a wire rack.
Drink with it
Sweet wine · excellent match
Vin Santo or Riesling Auslese, lightly chilled
The sweetness of the wine is above that of the sugar glaze, nutty and honey tones meet the almond, and the acidity of the Auslese keeps the biscuits light.
Which wine goes with dessert? Comparing sweetness deliberatelyCream liqueur · excellent match
Amaretto, neat at room temperature or on ice
Bitter almond in the liqueur and ground almonds in the dough are the same aroma; cinnamon and vanilla lie over it.
Fortified wine · good match
Tawny port, lightly chilled
Nutty, caramel-like ageing notes suit almond and cinnamon, and the sweetness stands up to the glaze.
Port wine: understanding Ruby, Tawny, and VintageCognac and brandy · good match
Cognac, neat in a snifter at room temperature
Vanilla, spice and dried-fruit notes of the aged cognac combine with cinnamon and almond.
Cognac and Armagnac: Two Origins for Brandy