Almond and rice flour lemon cookies

I experience an antique feeling of satisfaction when I manage to use leftovers. When I am able to reduce waste I feel like a modern housewife, it fills me up with pride and inspires me to try new recipes. A few days ago I made almond milk from scratches, using real blanched almonds, and I found myself with a surplus of almonds blended with water with a texture very similar to ricotta.

The chopped almonds, collected in a white cloth which I used to filter the milk, had a soft texture, they were pure white and looked like they could easily enrich cakes, biscuits, sauces or become a tasty breading for meats and fish. They contained a thousand possibilities and I did not want to just waste them.

What I did was mix them with rice flour, eggs and sugar, using them as if they were butter to make an unusual shortcrust.

Or at least, this was the result I expected. At the end I took out of the oven cookies that were soft, almost melting, characterized by a subtle lemon flavour which I exalted covering them with a thin glaze made of icing sugar and lemon juice. The contrast of sugar and lemon in a cookie has the power to surprise you every time, seduces you and prevents you from stopping at the first cookie, or at the second one.

You can serve these cookies with a lemon tea, equally citrusy. Their soft and moist texture is not for dipping. They just want to be presented along with a steaming cup of tea or coffee on a tray in a quiet moment, but also after dinner with a herbal tea before bedtime.