At the risk of being tagged a "troll", here's my two cents on this old thread. I've had an empty box of Jules Destrooper's Almond Thins on my computer desk for several months to remind me to look again to see if anyone has developed a recipe and put it online. (I tried it a couple of times myself at first but the results were, well, disappointing.) I found this thread on today's Google search. I don't know anything about Trader Joe's similar cookies, as we don't have that supermarket chain in the New Orleans area, but the list of ingredients in the Destrooper butter almond cookie is clearly different from the "Destrooper" recipe linked above at Yahoo! Answers: INGREDIENTS: WHEAT FLOUR, BROWN SUGAR, BUTTER, ALMONDS, SALT. (Listed in that order.) Of note: no egg, no vanilla. The only sources of moisture in the genuine Destrooper's are the brown sugar and the butter and I'm guessing I could try a dozen more times before I figured out the proportions and baking technique that would work. (I'm an OK cook but not that much of a baker.) Perhaps "WHEAT FLOUR" is how folks in Belgium refer to "whole wheat flour" but I'm not thinking this is the critical difference, at least vis-a-vis Destrooper's (versus Trader Joe's). I'm thinking that adding egg and vanilla and omitting the molasses flavor of the brown sugar would tend to make a very different cookie, regardless of the proportions of other ingredients and the baking technique. I'll let you know if I ever figure it out...

Yeah, I've heard the cooking of Scandanavia is pretty good. I did some investigating two years ago when I got invited to a scandanavian pot luck! I brought blue cheese spread on rye krisp, and potato-beet salad, yum! Those nectarines sound divine. My mom used to make us grilled peaches for dessert when I was a kid, sounds similar. I could even add a sprinkle of cardamom, which I love. Or make this recipe for cardamom cookies that I have and have never tried. Grilled nectarines in a little glass dish with a cardamom cookie on the side, sounds very elegant. I was toying with making the peach-raspberry pie that I love, but that seemed too rich. I love to make it though, I throw together a bag of frozen raspberries, a bag of frozen peaches, a glop of brown sugar, a dash of cinnamon, dot with butter and then use a pre-made crust. "Homeade pie" that always gets me raves at potlucks, all in about 10 min. to prepare. Those mushrooms sound awesome Lars, thanks! It will give me a chance to use up some of the basil I froze last summer.

That's what we call "almond bread" here. I make it every Christmas. Almond Bread 3 egg whites 1/2 cup caster/superfine sugar 1 cup plain flour 4 oz unblanched almonds 4 oz glace cherries-optional 2oz glace pineapple-optional 2 oz glace apricots-optional Beat egg whites with sugar to make a stiff meringue. Fold in flour, almonds and fruit. Bake in a greased loaf pan at 170C/325F for 30-40 minutes. Leave in pan to get cold. Remove from pan, wrap in alfoil and leave 1-2 days. Slice thinly and bake on dry tray in very slow oven until dried out. Notes: Almonds/fruit are in ounces by weight. The glace fruit is an optional extra. You could sub dried cranberries or whatever you like. The 1-2 day wait period can't be rushed. You can leave it even longer if you need to. I use an electric meat slicer to get the slices really thin but I have done them every year for about 20 years now so it was a good (on sale) investment. If you were going to make these a lot I'd suggest if you can get an inexpensive slicer it's worth it. The oven needs to be _very_ low. I find the best way is to have the slices trayed up and ready to go for when I've finished baking something else. I turn the oven off, place the trays in and forget about them until the oven's cold. (This is usually the next morning as I've finished one batch of Christmas baking at 1am the night before ;-) .) Usually this is enough to dry them all the way through, but if not, turn them all over and repeat. They should not get too brown, just sort of off white or a pale beige. Enjoy!

I'm not sure it's so easy to make soft oatmeal cookies that are also thin. When I make oatmeal cookies and flatten them before baking so they're thin, they get very crispy, which is what I prefer. All I can think of is underbaking, which would likely mean some trial and error. I use a 1.5" inch cookie scoop. Oatmeal Cookies 2-2 1/2 doz. 1/2 cup shortening (5 Tbs butter/ 3 Tbs oil) 1 cup sugar 1/4 tsp. salt 1 egg 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1 cup flour 1 1/4 cups rolled oats cinnamon nutmeg 1/3-1/2 cup walnuts 1/3 - 1/2 cup raisins Oven 350F Cream shortening with sugar, add egg and beat until light & fluffy. Beat in spices and salt. Stir in flour and soda until completely mixed, then add oats, raisins and walnuts and mix well. Drop Tbs 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheet, flatten with a fork. Bake 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned. Cookies will crisp up as they cool.