“Pains d’Amandes” are a coffee-time cookie favorite in Flanders. They can be found in most grocery stores and markets. They are also favorites amongst home bakers, as they are easy to make, even in large batches.

While you can find many different versions of the recipe, it almost always includes golden or brown sugar, cinnamon to flavor the dough and almonds (whole or sliced) for an extra crunchy texture.

In taste, “Pains d’Amandes” could remind one of speculoos cookies, but with the added goodness of almonds. These are very, very crunchy – which makes them somewhat addictive. They are great to dunk into a coffee or tea, or just to enjoy on their own. Their oblong shape also makes them perfect for sticking into a scoop of ice cream.

A Note on “Cassonade”

Like many regional baked goods from the French Flanders, at the northern tip of France, these Thin Spiced Almond Cookies (Pains d’Amandes) are traditionally made with “Cassonade” (brown or golden sugar). 

It is a little known fact that Cassonade is a beloved ingredient in the north of France. In the 19th century, France’s first sugar refineries established themselves around Lille, the capital of French Flanders, importing sugar cane from the French colonies, through the local port of Dunkerque. At the time, Cassonade became a common good in households, and gave cooks and bakers infinite inspiration for sugar-focused recipes. 

Still today, Cassonade holds a prominent place in Northern French cooking. It is enjoyed in popular local specialties, including la tarte au sucre (sugar pie), les gauffres fourrées au sucre (sugar-stuffed waffle cookies), and perhaps the most popular of all, Beef & Beer Carbonnade.

As far as using golden sugar (Cassonade Blonde) or brown sugar (Cassonade Brune) in this recipe, I tested it with both and found that using brown sugar gave more depth of flavor. The trials using golden sugar were delicious too, but a bit subtler in taste. I have also come across recipes that use crystal sugar or turbinado (raw) sugar – which I believe makes for an even crunchier cookie.

How to store Pains d’Amandes? 

• Store these cookies in an airtight container for up to 12 days at room temperature.
• Freeze them in airtight container for up to 3 months.

Baking notes:

• This recipe requires the cookie dough to rest and firm up in the fridge overnight, so plan accordingly.
• The first step of this recipe is to melt the butter with sugar in a saucepan. The butter should be completely melted but do not let the sugar completely melt/dissolve. Keeping sugar crystals intact will make for the signature crunch of these cookies. 
• I recommend you line up your baking sheet with parchment paper, and not silicon mats. Parchment paper will ensure the cookies turn dry and crispy, while they may not get as crispy if using a mat. 
• This recipe is easy, but the slicing of the dough into thin slices may be the only step that is a little delicate. Once taken out of the fridge, the dough will warm up and soften fast. Act quickly or you will end up with soft, thick and/or uneven slices, especially if you hit a hard almond. Make sure you use a very sharp knife (this is essential). Cut the slices with a quick and confident motion.
• Half-way through baking, the cookie slices need to be flipped. To do so, I like to use a large spatula and slide it under 2-3 cookies slices at a time and flip them. I find it easier than to slide it under each cookie one by one – they tend to fold/get misshapen when doing so.
• Along with baking sheets, you will also need a 8×8-inch (20.3×20.3cm) square pan or a 9×5-inch (22.9×12.7cm) loaf pan for this recipe.

I hope you’ll love this Thin Spiced Almond Cookies (Pains d’Amandes) recipe as much as I do! If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment. 

You may also like:

• Cocoa and Almond Thumbprint Cookies (Linzele)
• Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt 
• Breton Salted Butter Sables
• Chocolate chip cookies with fleur de sel 
• Butter Sables from Alsace

Thin Spiced Almond Cookies (Pains d’Amandes)

Print Recipe

Serves: Makes 60 cookie slices Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cooking Time: 20 minutes 20 minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 4.2/5

( 9 voted )

Ingredients

1/2 cup  (8 tbsp/1 stick/115g) unsalted butter
1 1/3 cups (295g) packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ tsp grated nutmeg
1/3 cup (79g/ml) water
2 1/3 cups (325g) all-purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp baking soda
1 cup (85g) whole almonds (unblanched)
1/3 cup (30g) almonds slices

Instructions

Make sure to read the baking notes (above) before you start.

Step 1 - In a medium sauce pan, combine the butter, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and water. Place over medium heat and let melt, stirring occasionally, until the butter is all melted, but the sugar still has a grainy texture (we don’t want to melt the sugar entirely here). Immediately remove from the heat.

Step 2 - In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, salt and baking soda. Pour the sugar mixture in and stir with a wooden spoon until just incorporated. Add almonds and almond slices and stir again until just incorporated.

Step 3 - Line a 8x8-inch (20.3x20.3cm) square pan or a 9x5-inch (22.9x12.7cm) with parchment paper (bottom and sides). Press the dough into the pan and cover with plastic film. Chill overnight.

The next day, pre-heat your oven to 325°F (165°C) with a rack in the middle and line-up 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Step 4 - Pull the dough out of the pan, unwrap the dough and transfer onto a cutting board. It should resemble a firm block of fudge.

If you used a 8”x 8” square pan, start by slicing the square in the middle (so you have two 4”x 8” rectangles). Using a very sharp knife, slice the rectangles into 1/8-inch slices (or as thin as you can). Place slices onto baking sheets, leaving at least 1 inch space in-between each slice.

Bake (one sheet at a time) for 10 minutes, until golden underneath. Quickly flip cookies and bake 8-10 minutes until crisp-looking and golden.

Transfer cookies onto cooling rack.

Recipe adapted from Oncuisine.fr and Flo Braker’s book ‘Sweet Miniatures’. 

The post Thin Spiced Almond Cookies (Pains d’Amandes) appeared first on Pardon Your French.

So what is a French “Pain d’Épices”? 

Despite appearances, a Classic French Spiced Bread (Pain d’Épices) shouldn’t be mistranslated as a “gingerbread”. Less sweet than its American cousin, a Pain d’épices doesn’t include egg nor butter – it is indeed a “pain” (bread). It is also made with rye flour for more earthiness, and honey – while gingerbreads often include molasses – making for a lighter sweetness that lets the spices shine a bit more. The spice blend of a Pain d’Épices is also more complex, including cinnamon and ginger, but also nutmeg, cloves, black pepper, anise seeds and star anise.

How to enjoy a “Pain d’Épices”? 

Being a cross between a bread and a cake, a Pain d’Épices makes for an equally delicious sweet or savory treat.

• As a starter or on a cheese board – Over the Holidays, Pain d’Épice is often served as a starter, cut in thin slices with foie gras or just before dessert with soft cow’s-milk cheeses like Brie or Camembert.
• For Breakfast – Because it isn’t too sweet, a Pain d’Épices is a great breakfast staple and the perfect canvas for butter, jams and marmalades. I personally love it with a little slab of butter and a drizzle of honey. 
• As a snack – It is also a wonderful pick-me-up in the afternoon as it is satisfying and full of flavor – and again, not too sweet.

Cooking notes:

• Using freshly ground spices, instead of pre-ground /store-bought, will make all the difference here. Freshly ground spices are so much more fragrant and keep their flavor better even after baked. For this recipe, we will need freshly ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and black pepper – so using a spice grinder is highly recommended.
• Traditionally, a Classic French Spiced Bread calls for dark rye flour. But from my experience, light rye flour works well too. The difference is almost unnoticeable in taste.

Just like many staples French recipes, there are countless variations of a Pain d’Épices. Some prefer it lighter and drier (closer to a bread), some prefer it moist and more intense in flavor (closer to a cake). This recipe, in my opinion, strikes a happy medium. This Pain d’Épices is soft, moist and perfectly spiced; yet it isn’t too sweet. 

Recommended Equipments:

• A food scale 
• A spice grinder
• A loaf pan

You may also like: 

• Spiced Cookies with Candied Citrus Peels and Almonds (Leckerli)
• Raspberry Jam Swiss Roll 
• Almond Chocolate Twice-Baked Cookies from Provence (Croquants)
• Raspberry Jam-Filled Sablé Sandwiches (Lunettes de Romans)
• Classic Chocolate Bûche de Noël

I hope you’ll love this Classic French Spiced Bread (Pain d’Épices) recipe as much as I do! If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment.

Classic French Spiced Bread (Pain d’Épices)

Print Recipe

Serves: 1 loaf Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cooking Time: 1 hour 1 hour

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 3.9/5

( 19 voted )

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup (125g) dark rye flour
1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tbsp (30g) brown sugar (light or dark)
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly-grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon anise seeds, whole
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
¼ tsp salt
1 ½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp finely-grated orange zest (or clementine)
1 cup (250ml) milk (2%)
2/3 cup + 1 tbsp (250gr) honey
1 or 2 star anise, whole

Instructions

Step 1 – Pre-heat your oven to 305F (150C) with a rack in the middle. Grease a 8.5-9 inch loaf pan with butter, dust with flour and set aside.

Step 2 – In a saucepan over medium heat, warm together the milk and honey, along with the star anise. When the milk is hot and the honey has dissolved, remove from the heat and set aside to infuse.

Step 3 – In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the two flours, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove, anise seeds, pepper, salt, baking soda and orange zest.

Step 4 – Slowly pour in the milk and honey into the dry ingredients (discard of star anise), mixing with a wooden spoon. Stop mixing when just combined.

Step 5 – Pour the batter into prepared pan and bake for 1 hour, until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack for 30 minutes before removing from the pan and let cool completely.

Enjoy immediately or wrap in foil and wait 24 hours before enjoying, to allow the flavors to develop further. 

Notes...

This Classic French Spiced Bread (Pain d’épices) can keep well wrapped for up to 1 week. It can keep for up to 3 months in the freezer (in an airtight container or freezer bag). Make sure the bread is completely cooled before freezing it. Thaw it in the refrigerator or at room temperature.

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