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1
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
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2
Toast the almonds in a shallow pan for about 12 minutes.
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3
Set aside to cool.
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4
Adjust two racks to divide the oven into thirds and adjust the oven to 300 degrees.
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5
Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or with aluminum foil, shiny side up, and set aside.
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6
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and espresso or coffee powder.
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7
Set aside.
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8
On a cutting surface, with a heavy knife, shred the chocolate fine.
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9
Place the shredded chocolate in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal chopping blade.
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10
Add about a half-cup of the sifted dry ingredients and process for 20 to 30 seconds, until the chocolate is very fine.
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11
In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the eggs, vanilla and almond extract, if using, just to mix.
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12
On low speed, add the processed chocolate mixture, the remaining sifted dry ingredients and the sugar.
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13
Beat to mix.
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14
It will be a stiff mixture.
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15
Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir in the almonds.
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16
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface.
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17
Form it into a mound.
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18
Cut it in half.
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19
Flour each half, and with your hands, form them into sausage shapes about 12 inches long.
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20
Place each sausage shape diagonally on a lined cookie sheet.
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21
Straighten the shapes and brush off any excess flour.
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22
Bake two sheets at a time for 50 minutes, reversing the sheets top to bottom and front to back once during baking to insure even baking.
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23
Remove the sheets from the oven.
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24
Let cool for about 10 minutes.
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25
Then transfer the baked strips to a cutting board.
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26
With a serrated bread knife, carefully cut the strips on a sharp angle into cookies about a half-inch wide.
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27
(At this stage the cookies are fragile.)
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28
Carefully place the cookies, on the cut side, on the cookie sheets and bake again at 300 degrees for about 40 minutes, turning them upside down after 15 or 20 minutes, until the cookies are completely dry and crisp.
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29
Turn off the heat, open the oven door and let them cool in the oven.
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30
tore them in airtight containers.
