Almond-spice christmas wreaths recipe

We love to mold butter cookie and gingerbread doughs into fun holiday shapes and decorate them at Christmastime. But we wanted a festive-looking cookie that was a little different a different dough, a different texture, a different flavor. After some consideration, we had the idea of turning a light, flourless, nut-based cookie into a wreath-shaped Christmas treat. We made a chewy almond macaroon–like dough that, once chilled, was firm and malleable enough to form into ropes and shape into wreaths. For a unique flavor of the holidays, we added orange zest, ground coffee, and spices to the dough; we also folded in some marmalade at the end of mixing. After shaping the dough, we topped our wreaths with sliced almonds, dipping them in egg whites first so the almonds adhered. For holly-like accents, we pressed pieces of red and green maraschino cherries on top. Dusting the cookies with confectioners’ sugar before serving gave them a fresh coat of winter snow. You can substitute dried cherries for the maraschino cherries.