Panellets (Pignoli Cookies) (2025)

Panellets are really delightful lemon-scented marzipan cookies from the Catalonia region of Spain. They are very similar to the Italian Pignoli cookies.

These Pignoli cookies from Spain are coated with pine nuts, almonds or coconut. They are really easy to make at home and they can also be found in any bakery or pastry shop in Catalonia at the end of October and beginning or November. That’s if you are lucky enough to be in Barcelona or any other Catalonian city or town during that time. They are a must try.

When Are Panellets Eaten In Spain?

Panellets are eaten during the festival of La castañada ( Castanyada). This traditional festival is celebrated in the Catalonia Region of Spain (Called Catalunya in Catalan or Cataluña in Castilian Spanish) on November 1st and marks the end of the warm weather and beginning of colder temperatures and celebrates all saints day or día de todos los Santos, a national holiday. Vendors sell roasted chestnuts and roasted sweet potatoes on the streets and panellets (pignoli cookies) are sold in pastry shops and bakeries.

What are Panellets?

Panellets are really delicious cookies made with a lemon scented almond cookies that are coated with pine nuts. These cookies are made with almond flour, sugar, egg, and lemon zest. They’re coated in pine nuts and baked to perfection for a really delicious cookie!

Panellets are a very seasonal cookie, when we lived in Barcelona, we saw these Pignoli cookies in the windows of bakeries all around the city at the end of October and beginning or November. They come in all different flavors (sweet potato, almond, coconut, etc)...but the pine nut ones are the most popular and our personal favorite, too!

Ingredients in Panellets Cookies

While Italian pignoli cookies are slightly flattened Spanish Panellets are rolled into balls. Flattened or rolled, they’re delicious either way. These traditional treats have very few ingredients, but lots of flavor.

• Almond meal - Traditional Pignoli cookies are made with almond paste, which is sweeter than almond meal and has almond extract, which we personally don’t like. We’ve found that using almond meal lets all the other ingredients, especially the citrus shine!
• Sugar - A must-have in any holiday cookie recipe!
• Lemon zest - You’ll need the zest of about two lemons for this recipe. The citrus flavor is absolutely incredible combined with the almond meal and pine nuts!
• Eggs - These will need to be slightly beaten, but keep them separated in two bowls! One egg will go into the dough, and one will be used for dipping the cookies.
• Pine nuts - Once dipped in egg, the rolled cookie dough gets dipped in pine nuts. Their soft, nutty, and slightly sweet flavor makes these cookies memorable!

Are Pignoli Cookies Gluten-Free?

You may have noticed that these delicious pine nut cookies are made with almond flour! This makes them naturally gluten-free, no fancy substitutions needed. They’re also dairy-free, though not vegan since they contain eggs.

How to Store Pignoli Cookies

Once baked and cooled, you can store your Pignoli cookies in an airtight container 3-4 days. They can also be frozen for up to two months if you want to enjoy them outside of the traditional October-November timeframe!

How To Make Pignoli Cookies (Panellets)

• First make the almond dough with almond flour, sugar, lemon zest and an egg.
• Then roll the dough and the hardest part is to roll the dough into the pine nuts until they are well coated with the nuts. Just be patient, it is worth the effort.

More Spanish Desserts

Crema Catalana

Dulce de Membrillo: Quince Paste

Orange Honey Almond Cake

Basque Cheesecake

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