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Prep Time: 0 Minutes Cook Time: 0 Minutes |
Ready In: 0 Minutes Servings: 36 |
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My mom would make these at Christmas time, but they're good any time of the year. They're crunchy (much like a biscotti) and not too sweet, with just the right hint of cardamom flavor – perfect with a hot drink. Read more . The unbaked strips freeze well for several months , so you can keep some to bake later. Ingredients:
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, softened |
2 cups sugar |
2 eggs, slightly beaten |
8 ounces sour cream |
31/2 cups flour |
2 teaspoons baking powder |
1/2 teaspoon salt |
1 to 2 teaspoons cardamom, depending on your taste |
1 cup chopped almonds (you don't want them diced to death, but i like to keep them small enough so you can cut the strips better) |
additional sugar for topping |
Directions:
1. Cream together butter and sugar.
2. Beat in the eggs until well blended.
3. Stir in sour cream and mix well.
4. Add remaining ingredients, except sugar topping, and stir together until mixture is well incorporated – batter will be quite thick.
5. Line a 9x13 pan with heavy-duty foil and butter the top side of the foil generously.
6. Spread batter into foil-lined pan and sprinkle the top generously with white sugar.
7. Bake at 350° for about 45 minutes, or until dough is just a very light brown (you will be baking them again after cutting, so don’t over-brown!).
8. Cool just enough to enable you to lift the foil out of the pan with the baked mixture in it.
9. Cut the mixture into 3 strips, lengthwise (so you end up with 3 strips, each 3” x 13” – if you want to bake smaller quantities, cut each strip in half again, giving you 6 strips, each 3” x 61/2” ).
10. Cool strips completely and then wrap each one in heavy-duty foil and freeze until ready to cut and bake (if you want to bake them all immediately, it is not necessary to freeze them first).
11. When ready to cut and bake, remove desired amount of strips from freezer and thaw completely.
12. Cut each strip into thin slices, about 1/2“ to 3/4” thick (I like mine thin).
13. Lay the slices on a cookie sheet, cut side down, and bake at 300 degrees - you will need to watch the BOTTOM of each slice, as that will brown first!
14. When the bottom is toasted a nice light brown, flip the slices and brown the bottom side again.
15. This will take 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the heat of the oven and the type of cookie sheet used, so you just have to watch those bottoms to see when they are done!
16. Cool completely before storing the toasts in an airtight container. I prefer to store these in a glass or tin container – I think it does a better job of keeping the toasts crispy.
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