A log of almond paste rolled in sliced almonds and dipped in chocolate — these Mandelhörnchen are impossibly simple, flourless, and look like they came from a European bakery.
The only thing my mother ever asked me to bring home from the bakery where I worked in high school where almond horn cookies, or Mandelhörnchen, probably no surprise as we are a family of established marzipan fiends, most especially when dark chocolate is also involved. Chewy at the center with crunchy edges, the best ones are dipped in chocolate and while I have yet to see them also with rainbow sprinkles, I say there’s no time like the present to make this a Thing.
If you have no soft spot for almond paste or almond extract, you should turn away now. It’s almost all they’re made of. They’re also naturally flourless, gluten-, leavener- and dairy-free (if you use a dairy-free chocolate); the last time we had a cookie that checked all of these boxes it was all I could talk about for the next six months.
Had I realized how simple they were to make and that they would come out looking exactly as pretty as they do at bakeries, I would have made them at a couple years, cough, decades sooner. Unless you live in Germany and every corner bakery makes them (this is how I picture Germany, by the way, each corner with a hundreds year-old shop brimming with streuselkuchens and strudels and poppy seed everything, please don’t break my heart with the truth if I’m wrong, okay?), you should make these at home, and soon.
So, of course I could never leave things well enough alone because I know not everyone can get good almond paste at the corner bodega, I attempted to make them with homemade almond paste. Alas, while my first attempt tasted exactly right, the cookies I made with it flattened out. I have a lot more experimenting to do; until then, storebought almond paste is as reliable as it gets.
Servings: 10 to 11 cookies Time: 1 hour Source: Classic German Baking
Can you use marzipan for this? Marzipan is usually a bit sweeter and stiffer than almond paste because it’s intended for rolling out and molding candies. Usually you don’t want to use them interchangeably but I’ve seen so many horn recipes that start with marzipan since I started looking around, I don’t expect that it would be a problem and in fact might be easier to handle (the dough is quite soft with paste). Still, if you can find paste, use it first here.
Traditional Mandelhörnchen are quite large; these are smaller (about 3 to 4 inches across).
Servings | Total time | Source |
|---|---|---|
10–11 cookies | 1 hour | Classic German Baking |
Ingredient | Amount |
|---|---|
Almond paste | 7 ounces (198 grams) |
Granulated sugar | 1/4 cup (50 grams) |
Large egg white | 1 |
Sea salt | Two pinches |
Sliced almonds (blanched preferred) | 1 1/4 cups (130 grams) |
Semi- or bittersweet chocolate, chopped or chips | 6 ounces (about 1 cup) |
Colored sprinkles (optional) | As desired |
Heat oven to 350°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Make cookie dough: Cut, tear or grate paste and place in bowl with the paddle attachment of a stand mixer. (Mine was quite soft, so I just dropped it in in hand-torn chunks.) Add sugar and beat, covering lip of bowl with a dishtowel to get bits from flying out, until almond paste cannot be broken up any further, approximately 3 to 5 minutes at a medium-high speed. Add egg white and salt and beat until uniform and creamy. Place sliced almonds in a wide-shallow bowl or plate. Have another bowl with water to get your hands wet.
Form cookies: Wet hands and scoop 1 tablespoon of dough (can use a measuring spoon, a little overfilled is fine) into your palms. It’s going to be very soft and you’re going to think something has gone very wrong; it it has not. Just keep your hands wet and roll it into a 4-ish inch log (I just stretched it across my hand, as you can see in the photo above) and drop it into the bowl of almonds. Wipe your hands dry on a towel (or the almonds stick to your hands, pulling them off the cookie) and roll log through it. Again, it’s quite soft and will seem weird at first but do your best and transfer the soft almond-covered log to the prepared tray and arc it into a horn shape. Press any loose almonds back on. Repeat with remaining dough.
Bake cookies: For 15 minutes, or until almonds on cookies are gently toasted and horns are puffed. Let cool completely.
To finish: Melt chocolate in a small bowl and dip ends of cookies into it, then return to parchment-lined tray to set. Add sprinkles (optional, but of course you want to).
Do ahead: Once chocolate is set, these keep in a tin for a week.
Practical Tips (small table — pulled only from the article text)
Tip | Source text (short) |
|---|---|
Use storebought almond paste if you want reliable shape | “storebought almond paste is as reliable as it gets.” |
Keep hands wet when shaping very soft dough | “Have another bowl with water… Wet hands… keep your hands wet and roll it…” |
Roll logs in sliced almonds and press loose nuts back on | “drop it into the bowl of almonds… roll log through it… press any loose almonds back on.” |
Bake until almonds are gently toasted (~15 minutes) | “For 15 minutes, or until almonds on cookies are gently toasted and horns are puffed.” |
Dip ends in melted chocolate after cooling | “Melt chocolate… dip ends of cookies into it… return to parchment-lined tray to set.” |
Storage | “Once chocolate is set, these keep in a tin for a week.” |
