Pignoli cookies are a Sicilian confection made from an almond paste (or ground almond) dough sweetened with sugar and bound with egg white, rolled in pine nuts, and baked until the outside is golden and the inside stays soft and chewy. The pine nuts form a crunchy coating rather than being mixed into the dough itself, and toasting them lightly beforehand brings out more of their buttery flavor. They are a fixture of Italian and Italian-American holiday baking, especially around Christmas, and variations add almond extract or lemon zest, or finish the cookies with a dusting of powdered sugar. Because they contain little flour or fat beyond the almond paste, they stay fresh for about a week in an airtight container.