It's cookie making time of the year and the two packages of Odense Pure Almond Paste were calling out to me from the pantry, and even though they were 4 months past expiration, they smelled and tasted good, and passed my test.

The recipe is from the manual that came with a Sawa Cookie Press* that I bought many years ago. I saw some penciled in text in this recipe, so I knew it was a keeper:

Note: Although the recipe states to press out a long strip of dough I chose to use a flower shaped die. Some of the cookies stuck to the press and I had to pry them off - could it be because I substituted butter for the margarine?...or the blended flour? :-)

10 1/2 oz sweetened almond (assumed that was almond paste)
5 1/4 oz margarine (substituted butter)
5 1/4 oz Flour

Mix almond paste and margarine. Add the flour. Squeeze out smooth lengths, using nozzle No. 18. cut pieces about 8:" long and make twirls of them. Brush with egg and sprinkle with chopped almonds and granulated sugar. Bake at 300 for about 15-20 minutes.

Beaten egg for brushing on cookies before the following topping is added before baking
chopped almonds and granulated sugar to sprinkle over tops of cookies (I ground slivered almonds)

I pressed them onto parchment paper. Hint: Sprinkle the cookie sheet with a little bit of water and smooth it out. Lay the parchment over the moistened cookie sheet and press to smooth out water. Now it won't move around.

Press out the cookies, brush with beaten egg and sprinkle sugar and chopped almonds on tops. Bake for 15-20 minutes.