Marzipan Chocolate cookies

What a way to bring in a New Year with some sweet marzipan goodness.

Ingredients:

Dark Cooking Chocolate (for drizzling)

1/2 kg of finely ground sugar

1/2 kg of icing sugar

1/2 kg of cashew nuts

4 egg whites

1 tsp Almond essence

2 tsp rum

Egg yolk (for brushing)

Recipe:

For the Marzipan filling:

1.     Grind 1/2 kg of finely ground sugar and 1/2 kg of cashew nuts together in small batches and place the powdered mixture in a big bowl. Add 1/2 kg of icing sugar to the mixture.

2.     Add almond essence and rum to the mixture.

3.     Beat 4 egg whites till firm and mix little at a time with the mixture till a dough forms.

Roll the marzipan dough with a rolling pin to about 1/2" thickness.  Line two baking sheets with butter paper.  Cut out the dough with the cookie cutters of your choice (I recommend small ones) and set them on the baking sheets, set a little bit apart.  Let the sheets sit out, uncovered, 6 to 7 hours, or overnight. 

After the sheets have sat out and dried, preheat your oven to 375.  Brush each piece with a little bit of the egg yolk and bake for a few minutes to give them a little color and a crust.  

Cool on the sheets, and then store in an airtight container.

Melt the cooking chocolate in the microwave for one minute and stir till smooth. Drizzle the cookies with a little chocolate for a perfect ending.