Almond Butter Cookies

Almond Butter Cookies

This recipe was found under C for cookies in the recipe box. 

Day 2 of holiday cookie recipes!

This recipe is simple and delicious. The cookies come out quite small, but are good for sharing. My Mom has never made these either. I'm not sure where this recipe came from because it doesn't look like a newspaper clipping. It may have been an insert on a food package. 

The recipe makes 3 dozen cookies so I cut it in half, but you are welcome to make as many as you'd like! Let's get started:

Almond Butter Cookies

½ Cup soft butter or margarine

¼ Cup sugar

½ Cup finely chopped blanched almonds

1 Teaspoon almond extract

1 Cup Gold Medal Flour (regular or Wondra)

Blanched whole almonds

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar thoroughly.

Stir in chopped almonds and almond extract. Mix in flour; work

with hands until dough is smooth and well blended. Shape scant

teaspoonfuls of dough into balls. Place on ungreased baking sheet.

Flatten with greased bottom of glass dipped in sugar. Press whole

almond into center of each cookie. Bake 9 to 10 minutes or until

slightly browned. Makes about 3 dozen.

The first step is to be sure your oven is set to 350 degrees and that you have finely chopped some of the almonds. You may need to buy almonds and almond extract if you don't always have them on hand. 

 You will need to start the recipe by softening the butter or margarine. I used margarine and put it in the microwave for a few seconds until it was soft, but not melted. Then place that in the bowl with the sugar. 

Cream the sugar and butter (or margarine) together with an electric mixer. It should be light and fluffy when it's completely combined. 

The next step is to add the chopped almonds and almond extract to the sugar and butter mixture. Mix these together with a spoon or spatula. You won't need an electric mixer anymore. 

The mixture should be very course and thick like this:

I have a very small portion because I wanted to avoid having too many cookies in the house! Once the nuts and extract have been incorporated go ahead and add the flour. 

Mix the flour into the batter with your spoon or spatula to begin. When you have a batter like this:

You can now move on to using your hands. Wahoo! It's not often we adults get to smash our hands in food. Have at it!

The warmth of your hands will help to melt the butter (or margarine) into the flour and rest of the mixture. The batter is ready to be used when the flour has completely incorporated and a dough has formed. 

Now it's time to make the cookies! You can use a regular teaspoon, but I used a measuring teaspoon for this step. Fill the teaspoon almost full like this:

Then scoop out the dough from the spoon with your fingers and roll it in your hands until you form a small ball. (These are really small!) If you'd like to make them bigger you certainly can. They don't spread at all during cooking so you won't end up with huge cookies! Place the dough balls on an ungreased baking sheet. 

Once all your dough has been rolled into small cookie balls you can start the next step. Get a drinking glass (must be glass not plastic or paper) and coat the bottom with butter or Crisco. 

Put about a 1/4 cup of sugar on a plate and then dip the buttered bottom of the glass in the sugar until it is well coated. 

Be sure that all of the bottom of the glass is covered or the dough will stick to it and make a mess!

When you have sufficiently buttered and sugared the bottom of your glass go ahead and press it into each ball of dough. They should smooth out easily. You may need to re-butter and sugar a few times until they have all been flattened. 

The last step before cooking is to press a full almond into the top of each one. 

The recipe says to bake them for 9 or 10  minutes, but mine took more like 14. It depends on how hot your oven is, but just be sure to watch them for burning. They're done when the edges are slightly browned. Immediately take them off of the cookie sheet and transfer to a wire cooling rack.

Once the cookies have cooled go ahead and give them a try! Their small size makes them easy bite sized pieces, but this is dangerous because it makes them more addicting! 

This recipe is fairly easy to make. There aren't a lot of ingredients or steps and you get to squish the dough in your hands! 

 I gave this recipe a 5 out of 5 on the yummy scale! 

 I highly recommend making this recipe whether you are involved in a cookie swap for the holidays or not! If you are not a fan of (or are allergic to) almonds you may want to avoid them, but otherwise dig in!

Check back tomorrow for Day 3 of the Holiday Cookie Week!