Fregolotta (Italian Almond Crumb Cookie)
Fregolotta are crunchy Italian almond crumb cookies that are sweet and delicious! Break them into jagged pieces to enjoy with coffee or a dessert wine. Or crumble them into smaller bite-sized nuggets and serve over ice cream.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: dessert, cookie
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
Scale
1 1/4 cups whole raw almonds
3 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons whole milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon table salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pats
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place oven rack in top third of the oven.
- Line a sheet tray with parchment paper and distribute almonds in a single layer.
- Toast in the oven for 10 minutes, tossing halfway through. Leave the oven at 350 degrees F.
- Once toasted and cooled, chop them to rice-to-pea size in a food processor or by hand with a knife and cutting board. You could also pour them out onto a cutting board, cover them with a kitchen towel and hit with the bottom of a heavy pan.
- While the almonds are toasting, in a small bowl, whisk egg yolks with the milk and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, and salt.
- Mix in the chopped cooled almonds.
- Use a pastry cutter or two forks and cut the butter in until rice size.
- Drizzle in the egg mixture and mix with a wooden spoon until incorporated into a sandy mixture. Do not overwork into a dough. The mixture should be like wet lumpy beach sand.
- Place a fresh piece of parchment paper onto the sheet tray and pour the mixture out onto the prepared pan using a rubber spatula.
- Use two forks to loosen up clumps and spread to about a quarter inch thick. Use the side of a knife to neaten up the edges so that the mixture is the same height throughout. (The mixture will not reach the pan sides and the shape doesn’t matter since it gets broken into pieces after baking but what does matter is an even thickness throughout.)
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden on top and slightly hard to the touch.
- Remove from the oven and place the pan on the cooling rack and cool for ten minutes.
- Grab an edge of parchment and slide the whole cookie bar out of the pan and onto the cooling rack to cool completely to room temperature.
- To serve with ice cream, break into bite sized pieces and crumble over the bowl of ice cream.
- To serve with coffee, espresso, or cappuccino, break into cookie sized pieces and serve. Great for dunking in hot coffee.
