German Almond Horns (Mandelhörnchen)
These easy German Almond Horns (Mandelhörnchen) are chewy, moist almond cookies made from almond paste, finely ground almonds, and sliced almonds for the perfect nutty crunch. Finished with glossy dark chocolate, they taste just like the cookies found in German bakeries.
Servings 24
Calories 144kcal
Ingredients
Almond Cookies
- 200 grams / 7 ounces plain marzipan
- 215 grams / 2 ¼ cups ground almonds
- 26 grams / 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 100 grams / ¾ cup confectioner’s/icing sugar sifted
- 37 grams / 1 large egg white room temperature
Topping
- 37 grams / 1 large egg white room temperature
- 60 grams / ⅔ cup sliced almonds
- 100 grams / 3.5 ounces chocolate roughly chopped
Instructions
Almond Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Warm the marzipan either in the oven as it heats or in the microwave until warm to the touch.
- Toss into a bowl with the ground almonds, sugar, lemon juice and egg white.
- Whip on low until the mixture is smooth.
Topping
- Shape into crescents and brush with the egg white for the topping and coat in the sliced almonds.
- Place on a baking tray with 1 inch space between each and bake until golden, approximately 10 minutes.
- Remove and allow sit for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling tray to cool completely.
- Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or microwave until smooth.
- Dip 1 centimeter or ½ inch of both ends of a crescent into the chocolate.
- Set aside to set completely.
- Serve up and enjoy!
Notes
- Marzipan: The type used here is the version most readily available at supermarkets for decorating a fruit cake. The marzipan blends best if you heat it up until it’s just slightly warm to the touch.
- Sliced almonds: They help compliment the flavor in the cookies and are a traditional topping for a beautiful rustic appearance. If you cannot source the almonds or don't eat them, you could substitute with flaked coconut, though this would likely change the taste of the cookies.
- Shaping the cookies: The mixture tends to be quite sticky so the easiest way to shape the cookies is with wet hands - more than two cookies of shaping will result in the mixture sticking to your hands.
- Cookie scoop: A cookie scoop of 4 centimeters or 1.5 inches was used for consistency.
- Size of unbaked cookies: The cookies don’t expand much during baking so the width was kept around the 2 centimeters / ¾ inch and 11.5 centimeters or 4.25 inches long.
- Best kept: They stay soft and fresh for about one week when stored in an airtight tin at room temperature.
- You can freeze these: They freeze beautifully for 2–3 months. Store in an airtight container and thaw at room temperature.
Nutrition
Calories: 144kcal