Almond Cookies
SKU:
Great texture, not-too-sweet, and full of almond flavor.
My favorite husband’s very-close-second favorite cookie and a hit with the kids too. The best compliment on these was that the fam said, “Wow, are these from the bakery?”
Adapted from TheSpruceEats and makes about 30 cookies.
My favorite husband’s very-close-second favorite cookie and a hit with the kids too. The best compliment on these was that the fam said, “Wow, are these from the bakery?”
Adapted from TheSpruceEats and makes about 30 cookies.
Ingredients
2½ cups flour
½t baking powder
½t salt
1 stick of butter (½ cup)
¾ cup raw (turbinado) sugar
2 eggs
½t vanilla extract
½t almond extract
7 ounces almond paste (see notes, it’s easy to make your own)
Sliced almonds, start with half a cup on a plate
½t baking powder
½t salt
1 stick of butter (½ cup)
¾ cup raw (turbinado) sugar
2 eggs
½t vanilla extract
½t almond extract
7 ounces almond paste (see notes, it’s easy to make your own)
Sliced almonds, start with half a cup on a plate
What To Do
Pre-heat oven to 350°F. Get your broiler pan, and set out cookie sheet sheets and Silpat mats or parchment paper. Set out a pie tin or plate for crushing almonds.
Dump a handful of sliced almonds into the pie tin or onto a plate. Use your hand to crush almonds a little so they will stick better to the cookie dough. Set aside for a bit later.
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Cream butter and raw sugar in the Kitchenaid until it is fairly smooth. Don’t worry if it is still a little crunchy, as long as it is uniformly mixed, you are good.
Add one egg and mix until just combined. Add vanilla and almond extracts, and the second egg and mix again until combined. Add almond paste, breaking it up a little if needed, and mix until just combined.
Add dry ingredients and mix well to form a dough. It will be on the dry-ish side. Spoon out about a small meatball-sized piece of dough (maybe about 3t, it fits into the palm of my hand). Shape into a football (American football), and gently roll it your pie tin/plate of smooshed almonds.
Shape into half-moons, making sure one side is flat, and lay cookie. Bake at 350°F for about 17 minutes, rotating the broiler pan once at about 8 minutes.
Take out as the outer edges are just starting to turn golden brown. Leave on the pan for a few minutes and then cool completely on a wire rack. They are amazing warm out of the oven as soon as they are sturdy enough to handle.
Dump a handful of sliced almonds into the pie tin or onto a plate. Use your hand to crush almonds a little so they will stick better to the cookie dough. Set aside for a bit later.
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Cream butter and raw sugar in the Kitchenaid until it is fairly smooth. Don’t worry if it is still a little crunchy, as long as it is uniformly mixed, you are good.
Add one egg and mix until just combined. Add vanilla and almond extracts, and the second egg and mix again until combined. Add almond paste, breaking it up a little if needed, and mix until just combined.
Add dry ingredients and mix well to form a dough. It will be on the dry-ish side. Spoon out about a small meatball-sized piece of dough (maybe about 3t, it fits into the palm of my hand). Shape into a football (American football), and gently roll it your pie tin/plate of smooshed almonds.
Shape into half-moons, making sure one side is flat, and lay cookie. Bake at 350°F for about 17 minutes, rotating the broiler pan once at about 8 minutes.
Take out as the outer edges are just starting to turn golden brown. Leave on the pan for a few minutes and then cool completely on a wire rack. They are amazing warm out of the oven as soon as they are sturdy enough to handle.
Notes and Talking Story
- I find that many cookie recipes overindex on sugar, so I routinely cut out anywhere from ¼ to ½ cup of sugar. This was definitely the case here.
- I also swap from white sugar to either raw turbinado sugar or lightly packed brown sugar. No one has complained, and it helps my A1C (and yours too).
- I use sliced almonds with the skin on because I like the color contrast.
- For almond paste, I started with a recipe from WildWildWhisk, with the following modifications: instead of powdered sugar, ½ cup of raw (turbinado sugar) and 1T of cornstarch that I toss in the blender and grind for about 30 seconds to make it more like powdered sugar, almond meal instead of almond flour, and ½t almond extract. The finished almond paste will look decidedly unglamorous, but it works just fine, even when used for cake.
