Crisp Almond Cookies-a thin crisp cookie full of almond flavor
I do some of my best baking late at night. Everyone is in bed, there’s nothing on TV to watch. I’ve thrown a load of laundry in the washer. So now I need to stay close so those clothes can be put in the dryer before I go to bed. There is nothing worse than wet clothes left in the washer too long. That moldy smell just never goes away completely. And I don’t like to wake up to chores.
I’m the same way with dishes. I make sure all the dishes are washed and put away before I go to bed.
Sunday night was one of those nights. It wasn’t that late, maybe 9:30? I wanted to make more Chocolate Almond Butter. You know, the stuff that tastes like Nutella but with an almond flavor. Yeah, I’m not a big fan of hazelnuts.
It happened again.
Out of Cocoa Powder. That’s not completely true. I did have 3 cans of the Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder. I could have used that but I didn’t want to.
Time to adapt. I didn’t want to waste a bunch of ingredients. I’d already started chopping the almonds in my handy dandy chopper. Which by the way, I finally killed. It had a good life, 20+ years. So now I’m going to look for a good food processor to replace it with.
When everything else fails, make cookies. You can never go wrong when you start with butter and sugar. I kept it simple. There’s nothing wrong with simple when it comes to a cookie.
Simple lets the full flavors of butter, almonds and vanilla come through.
I thought these would be an “adult cookie.” Something to enjoy with a cup of tea. These are good with tea, and coffee, and milk. These also turned out to be a favorite with my kids. They fought over who would get to take them to school to share with friends.
We ended up dividing them evenly. And I now have to bake more cookies for sharing.
Update with tips
This is Gail, Joan’s sister, with some tips for making these crisp almond cookies come out the way Joan intended. Some of you have had trouble getting the cookies to spread like the ones Joan made. Here are some possible reasons why.
1. Oven temperature: Ovens can vary in temperature by quite a lot from the setting. Additionally, there can be hot and cool spots within an oven. My old oven was consistently 50°F cooler than the setting. An oven thermometer can help you see if your oven is heating to the proper temperature. You can also move your racks away from the heating element to help with spreading. You can also calibrate your oven. Google “calibrate oven temperature” and the brand of your oven to find out how.
2.Butter temperature: Is the butter truly softened before you make the dough? Warmer butter promotes spreading.
3. Dough temperature: Is your dough room temperature before you put it in the oven? The colder the dough, the less spread.
4. Type of pan: Cookies tend to spread better on lighter baking pans and insulated baking pans than dark, non-stick pans. On Betty Crocker’s site, there is an FAQ and under “Why don’t my cookies spread”, they recommend using an aluminum sheet.
5. Leavening age: Old leavening (baking soda or baking powder) can also cause your cookies to spread less.
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Crisp Almond Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups butter, softened (337 g)
- 1 cup brown sugar (200 g)
- 1 cup sugar (200 g)
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (10 ml)
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour (280 g)
- 1 teaspoon baking power (4 g)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt (0.7 g)
- 1 cup finely chopped almonds (112 g)
Instructions
- Cream together butter and sugars, until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Add in eggs and vanilla and beat again.
- Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture to dough, one third at a time until all added. Stir in almonds.
- Using a small cookie scoop, place dough on a parchment lined baking sheet three inches apart (these cookies spread.) Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 8-9 minutes. Until edges turn golden. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to racks to cool completely.
Notes
recipe source ChocolateChocolateandmore.com
Want more cookies?
Cream Cheese Chocolate Croissant Cookies
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Bev says
This cookie recipe is one of best if not the best I’ve found !! Easy to make and delicious
We’ve made these for a few years now.
Thank you
My motto “I’ve never met a cookie I didn’t like:)”
Darlene says
Cookies came out great! Can I freeze them so I don’t eat them all at one time?
Karen Aromatorio says
Freezing extras is always a great idea.
David Smith says
I sorta made your recipe…I didn’t have that many almonds, but I had about a half a cup. So, I basically halved everything, 1/2 + cup butter, 1 cup flour, 3/4 cups on the sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, but I stuck with 1 teaspoon baking powder. I dumped everything into 1 bowl and beat it all I could. (by hand). I put too much dough out for each cookie, and they spread out to fill the entire cookie sheet! They came out of the pan easy and I’ll just cut them in half. But! Man, are they good! Some of the best cookies I’ve ever had! This is a great recipe!
Leslie says
I make a very similar cookie with white chocolate chips called Reverse Chocolate Chip Cookies. It’s always a winner. Sometimes I add toffee bits which takes it to another level of deliciousness.