The Kitchen of Love - Nana was married for 69 years because of these cookies

To coincide with Valentine's Day, Chris of Mele Cotte is once again hosting The Kitchen of Love, where we are asked to make something delicious, for any part of a meal, that includes at least one food/ingredient considered an aphrodisiac.


The aphrodisiac food that I have chosen is almonds, in the form of freshly ground almond meal and contained in these biscuits:




You can find out more about the aphrodisiac qualities of almonds here.


These biscuits have a rather long name - Nana was Married for 69 Years Because of These Cookies. The recipe comes from Meals Men Love by Lana Vidler, a Sydneysider who came to the conclusion that guys just want simple, home-cooked meals rather than overly fancy creations. The book is partly tongue in cheek, with saucily named recipes, and partly deadly serious. Each recipe has allegedly been chosen by and tested on guys.


Living up to one of the book's claims, these biscuits are quick and easy to make, and would be an ideal after dinner with coffee treat for that romantic evening. Tempted? To make these biscuits, you will need:


3/4 cup plain flour
1/4 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup almond meal
3 tablespoons + 1/4 cup icing sugar
1/3 cup melted butter
2 beaten egg yolks
1 tablespoon vanilla sugar (optional)


Sift the flours and 3 tablespoons of icing sugar together into a bowl. then stir in the almond meal. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, and pour the melted butter and egg yolks into the well. Stir the ingredients together to form a dough, then knead it lightly. Cover the dough in cling wrap and refrigerate it for ~ 15 minutes.


In the meantime, preheat your oven to 140 degrees Celsius and spray a cookie tray with baking spray.


Remove the dough from the fridge, and shape it into 12 small crescent shapes, approximately 2cm thick. Bake the biscuits in the oven for 15-20 minutes until lightly golden.


Remove the biscuits from the oven and, while they are still warm, roll them in the combined remaining icing sugar and sugar. Cool (before things hot up).


Check out the roundup of The Kitchen of Love in a few days.