Bitterkoekjes are almond macaroons with a crisp exterior and a soft center. This macaroons recipe is made with almond paste and without coconut. A Dutch treat that my husband’s family devours on Christmas Day.
My father-in-law is the youngest of seven children. His family immigrated from Holland to the United States before the last three children were born. My husband grew up loving Dutch treats from a local bakery, especially the Bitterkoekjes, an almond macaroon cookie.
When the bakery went out of business a few years ago, my husband decided he would make the Bitterkoekjes for the family Christmas gathering. He started with a basic almond macaroon recipe on the almond paste package and tweaked it until it tasted like the Bitterkoekjes he remembered.
Today I am posting my husband’s recipe for bitterkoekjes. He uses almond paste we buy at Gygi, a local restaurant supply store, but it’s also available on Amazon. It’s a huge can, but it keeps well in the refrigerator or you can divide the paste into sections and freeze the almond paste. ,
You can use an Almond Paste recipe and make the almond paste at home. (We have not tried this cookie recipe with the homemade almond paste.)
My husband is the only one in his family to make the cookie recipe because they can be a bit temperamental and others in his family have not been successful in making them. Different brands of almond paste have different amounts of sugar and the amount of sugar makes a big difference.
I recommend you can bake a couple of cookies to test the consistency. If they go flat the batter may have too much sugar and you can add more almond paste. If they stay too puffy you can add more sugar and that will help them flatten.
They usually stick to the parchment paper. The original recipe suggests wetting the paper on the bottom, but my husband prefers to let them cool on the tray and then put the tray in the freezer for a few minutes, and then they’re much easier to remove from the paper.
If you love almond desserts, you need to give this almond macaroon recipe a try.
If you prefer coconut macaroons, try my Joyful Almond Coconut Macaroon recipe.
Bitterkoekjes Recipe - Almond Macaroons
Ingredients
- 2.3 lb. almond paste
- 7 egg whites
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 cups granulated sugar
Instructions
- Combined room temperature almond paste with egg whites in mixing bowl until mixed well. Add granulated sugar, mix well. Slowly add powdered sugar one cup at a time.
- Drop the macaroons on to parchment paper using a #40 ice cream scoop and slightly flatten the tops of the cookies with a damp finger.
- Bake at 340º for 11 minutes until lightly browned on the bottom and the tops have set and stopped bubbling. Cool on baking tray for five minutes. Slide parchment off of tray on to cooling rack, and then put cookies on the cooling rack in the freezer for five minutes before removing the cookies from the parchment.
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Yasmeen
Any goodie with almonds is my instant favorite 😀
Trish
Great cookies! And the package…truly wonderful. Saw some items there that I can get in my delis here and which I grew up with too!
Daniela
Deliziosi questi biscottini.
Ciao Daniela.
Nutmeg Nanny
Oh my goodness look at all that awesome stuff! The cookies look great too….yum!
Deeba PAB
Gorgeous cookies. Love that your hub has a hand in baking holiday delights, and has mastered the art of the fussy macaroon. Maybe he can begin a Macaroooooooooooooon Tweet??? LOL! Also love the goodie bacg Lorraines sent to you. Gosh she is ever so sweet, that girl! Happy Holidays Barbara! xoxo…have to get back on twitter fast. Am missing you!
Nicole M., MS, RD, LD
oh my, those look fantastic! thank you!
Cathy
OMG, the Austrian Christmas markets are amazing. I've been to many in Germany and now Austria is on my list. Beautiful cookies, Barbara, I know I will like them. Thanks for the tip about getting them off the parchment.
Vrinda
Nice crispy macaroons…
Lyndsey
Being Dutch myself and growing up in west Michigan where everything is Dutch, I've had a lot of Dutch treats. These look so good. My grandma used to work in a Dutch bakery and she always made the best well….everything! Every Christmas my grandma and my mother (her MIL) would make a Dutch pastry "Banket" (pronounced with a short a) it's a rolled flakey pastry with almond paste filling. Seems like everyone had their family version of this. I'm going up to Michigan for Christmas this year and hope to capture Mom, my daughter and myself making it.
I would love to make these and bring them with us! I wonder how it would work on my stoneware, nothing sticks to that!
Marthe
Only better 😀
Marthe
Your bitterkoekjes look absolutely perfect, just like the once I buy at the bakery here in The Netherlands!!
tracieMoo
yum! I love macarons. they look great 🙂
Sarah, Maison Cupcake
My husband can only make roast potatoes, roast chicken, boiled stuff and sandwiches so I'm dead impressed your husband made some of these. I must confess starting to break into a cold sweat at the sight of almond related items after my disastrous macaron week this week but I will try to get my mac mojo back for next month!!
I like the iced cookies and goodies from NQN at the bottom.
Mary
With almonds they seem great!
Michelle
Good for your husband to work at a recipe until he got it just perfect! YES!
livestocreate
Oh I was so excited to see this post! My husband spent a few years in Holland and loved so many of the Dutch cookies. Too bad I can't ask him if he remembers these, but we'll put them out for Sinter Klaas. Great job!
Memória
Wow. These bitterkoekjes look very interesting. I don't I've ever heard of them.
Jessica
These sound delicious!!
Asha
macarons and macaroons at your place!!! how wonderful.. sigh your house must smell delicious!! 🙂
Megan
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!Your cookies sound wonderful. I've never used almond paste but I did buy some not long ago.
Have a great weekend!