Amygdolata… What?  The only way to describe these babies is by telling you another story.  It all began one hot afternoon in June, while exploring Argos in our trusty little rental car. (f you are just now joining us, then you may want to check out some of my other posts about our Zesty Greek Travel Adventure, like Athens, Tolo, Meteora, etc) As we drove up and down the narrow windy streets, we suddenly spotted (music please) a bakery…STOP THE CAR!  Following our usual routine, Greg and Charlotte ran it to get some Baklava, but this time they returned with an additional little treat.  As I curiously bit into the mysterious cookie  I said, “Wait a minute…What is this Heavenly Almondy Goodness??!!! I can’t believe we have been in Greece a month and I have not tried these until now.” Pretty sure that’s what I said but by this time we had moved on down some other streets of Argos and we actually went back!  So, since then I have been trying to bake various versions and yesterday I think I came pretty darn close.  The one thing I will change next time is to be sure I process the almonds a little longer (I am not very patient) to make them more fine like flour.  Here are some fun facts about Argos for you and you will find the cookie recipe below.  Enjoy!

  The City of Argos, which is about 10 minutes from “Nafplio, My Favorite City“. is part of the Argolida Region of The Peloponnese. Argos has several important ancient sites and lots of shops and cafe’s worth checking out! It is the second oldest city of ancient Greece.  Mythology speaks of a dispute over the rich area between Hera and Poseidon.

The Argos Monastery

Wonderful Architecture as well as numerous shops and cafe’s…

 The Larissa Castle (restoration taking place)…

Several Archeological Sites including The Sanctuary of Apollo and Athena.

Amygdolata Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb Blanched Almonds (ground up to a fine grainy flour)
• 2/3 cup Granulated Sugar
• 2 Egg Whites
• 2 tsp. Almond Extract

Directions:  Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all the ingredients well and using a spoon, place onto baking sheet.  If you wish, put a decorative almond in the center. If you have a cookie press they look beautiful and I have also seen them with a sliced almond.  Note: I baked them a little too long as they came out a slightly darker than the ones we had from the Greek bakery and as I said before, it is good to grind the nuts to a finer state (more like flour) Bake 8-10 minutes.  Soooo Good!!!