Almond Shortbread Cookies
These buttery Almond Shortbread Cookies have the sweet flavor of almond extract and the nuttiness of real almond in the dough. This recipe makes a small batch of just a dozen, but it can be easily doubled or tripled for your holiday baking needs.
Servings: 12 cookies
Ingredients
- 4 oz unsalted butter room temperature, 113 g
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar 65 g
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon pure almond extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour 132 g
- ½ cup whole roasted almonds 72 g, see notes for other options
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- Whole almonds for garnishing optional
Instructions
- Add sugar, softened butter, almond extract, and vanilla extract to the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat using the paddle attachment until combined and fluffy.
- Process almond in a food processor to a fine ground, but before it turns into almond butter. Whisk together flour, ground almonds, and salt in a mixing bowl and add to the beaten butter mixture. Mix until a dough forms.
- Scrape the dough out of the bowl onto a piece of plastic wrap, roll it up and form a log about 6” long. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Take the dough out of the refrigerator and cut into ½” thick slices with a sharp knife. Place dough on a baking sheet about 1” - 2” apart. Sprinkle granulated sugar over the top, press a whole almond into the middle of the cookie if desired, and bake for 13 - 15 minutes until the edges are starting to turn light brown. Let cookies cool completely on the baking sheet.
Notes
- You can use whole almonds, sliced almonds, almond pieces or almond flour in this recipe. If using almond flour, you don’t need to process it in the food processor before mixing with the other dry ingredients.
- It is best to weigh the almonds if using different options to ensure you’re using the same amount of almonds. However, for the almond flour, the measurement will be about ½ cup + 1 tablespoon.
- This recipe makes a dozen but it is very easy to double or triple to make a larger batch.
- This dough spreads more than the typical shortbread cookies due to the addition of almond, freezing the dough before baking will help a bit with the spreading.
Nutrition
Serving: 32g | Calories: 163kcal
