By Melissa Clark
- Total Time
- 1 hour, plus at least 2 hours' chilling
- Rating
- 4(643)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Made with high-fat, cultured butter, these melt-in-your-mouth almond cookies are like the most tender shortbread you’ve ever eaten. A simple confectioners’ sugar icing and a sliced almond topping make them especially pretty, but you can skip the garnish for something sleeker and simpler. Or use them to make sandwich cookies, filling them with the likes of lemon curd, raspberry jam or melted chocolate.
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Ingredients
Yield:About 4 dozen cookies
- 1½cups/190 grams all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling the dough
- ⅓cup/38 grams almond flour
- ¼cup/30 grams cornstarch
- ½teaspoon baking powder
- ¼teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1cup/227 grams salted cultured butter, at room temperature (see Tip)
- ⅔cup/130 grams granulated sugar
- 1large egg yolk
- ¼teaspoon almond extract
- 1cup confectioners’ sugar
- ¼cup/56 grams salted cultured butter, melted
- 1 to 2tablespoons buttermilk or whole milk, plus more as needed
- ¼teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛teaspoon almond extract
- Toasted sliced almonds, for topping
For the Icing
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (48 servings)
86 calories; 5 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 1 gram monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 9 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 5 grams sugars; 1 gram protein; 17 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
In a large bowl, stir together flours, cornstarch, baking powder and salt.
Step
2
In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and granulated sugar until lightened in color and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Beat in egg yolk and almond extract until combined, about 20 seconds. With the mixer running on low, add flour mixture, beating until just incorporated. Do not overmix.
Step
3
Divide dough into two balls. On a floured surface, roll each ball into a 1½-inch-thick log. (If the dough is too soft to work with, chill it for 20 to 30 minutes before forming it into logs.) Wrap logs tightly in parchment paper or plastic wrap, and refrigerate until very firm, at least 2 hours or overnight.
Step
4
When you are ready to bake the cookies, heat oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
Step
5
Use large, sharp knife to cut each log into ¼-inch-thick rounds. Place cookies 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets.
Step
6
Bake until cookie edges and bottoms are golden brown, about 15 to 22 minutes. Cool 5 minutes on baking sheets, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Step
7
Make the icing: In a large bowl, whisk together confectioners’ sugar, melted butter, 1 tablespoon buttermilk, vanilla and almond extracts. If the icing isn’t thin enough to drizzle, add more buttermilk. It should be a little thicker than heavy cream.
Step
8
Using a fork, drizzle icing all over the cooled cookies, then top with almond slices if you like. Let the icing set for at least 1 hour, then store at room temperature in an airtight container. The cookies will keep for at least 3 days.
Tip
- If you can’t get salted cultured butter, substitute regular butter, adding an extra ¼ teaspoon salt. The cookies will still be delicious.
Ratings
4
out of 5
643
user ratings
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Cooking Notes
James A
No almond flour? Add almonds and the flour to a food processor. Vroom. Voila! The flour keeps the almonds from turning into almond butter. Works like a charm and SO much less expensive.
Stu
Bob's Red Mill (fairly widely available or by mail directly) has a good almond flour. Also, check Costco for almond flour. Keep it in the freezer for long storage. Any nut flour will go rancid quickly if not stored cold.
bonny
I have the same question coz I want to make this and don’t have almond flour
CookieMonster
Convection at 300F for 19 minutes, just brown at edges. Regular butter. Slightly thicker than 1/4".
Sissy Ashby
Actually I meant will the recipe work if you sub some almond flour for regular flour?
S Thompson
For my fellow impulsive gluttons with poorly stocked pantries: I was so enticed by the photo that I immediately made these using what I had on hand. I substituted plain flour for the almond flour, unsalted butter for the cultured butter, and table salt for the fine sea salt. The cookies turned out good, but I will use the correct ingredients when I make them again. Cautionary note: I doubled the amount of salt to compensate for my unsalted butter which ended up being too much.
Rick L
Costco has inexpensive almond flour
Sherri N
Trader Joes also has (relatively) inexpensive almond flour
Christine VB
Nice and buttery. I baked them for 16 minutes and they were a little bit overbaked. An excellent tea cookie but I would have liked more almond flavor.
Marietta
These cookies are beyond delicious. I followed the recipe exactly as written, and the process was simple. The base/dough is good enough to stand alone for a very simple tea cookie, but the addition of a couple of streaks of icing and toasted almond slices elevates them to the level of what you would expect from a high end bakery - and, they are gorgeous, too! These are high up in the pantheon of wonderful cookies, and I will most definitely be making them again.
Becky
I started the process yesterday, made and wrapped the rolls, refrigerated last night and baked today. I made mine gluten-free by using GF flour in addition to the almond flour. Also, and I believe importantly, used cultured butter. These are now one of my favorite cookies. Light and very buttery with the light almond flavor. I did not use the glaze to conserve on sugar consumption. The cookies by themselves are unbelievably delicious. Definitely five stars!
Michael Winters
½ hour in freezer 5 min at room temp = 2 hours in freezer. Great recipe.
Erin
Amazing!! Even without cultured butter they are some of the most delicious cookies I’ve ever eaten. And I’ve eaten a lot of cookies.
Jill
This is The Best recipe. No icing needed. Since I found this I make a batch every week to share.
Deborah Chud
I made these as directed, and thought the plain cookies were outstanding. (I didn't care for the icing.) I also loved them as sandwich cookies with bittersweet chocolate filling.
Sarah Campbell
Unlike many people, I thought the icing was the best part. I tripled the almond extract in the dough and the icing and they would have been quite dull had I not. If you want your cookies to look like the picture, then make about a quarter of the icing. There was so much I was able to generously coat every top while still having extra. Then, when the icing didn’t set (duh there’s butter in it) I put them together and made sandwiches. That’s what really made them finally really good!
Deborah Chud
These cookies are superb--as crisp & buttery as described. I didn't bother with the icing. Instead I tried some plain and some with some sliced almonds sprinkled on top before baking. They were both excellent but I thought the naked ones were best.
Pina
Has anyone tried this recipe using only almond flour (without any wheat flour used)? Any thoughts on that? Thanks.
Elise
New favorite cookie recipe. Used regular salted butter and they turned out wonderfully. I agree with the other comments that the icing isn’t needed, but boy is it delicious. Why cut out the extra fun?
Nancy
Lovely, easy, yummy. I skipped the nuts at the end, but not the icing. Next time I’ll but them a smidge thicker. The ones that were closer to 3/8” were better, IMHO. I used Challenge unsalted butter, my choice of butters, with an extra 1/4 tsp salt.
Kathi
These are a new favorite cookie. I food process almonds to make the almond flour.
KB
These cookies were huge with my family and my book club. My friends were very impressed. They are going in this year's Christmas cookie box.
Linda
Very delicious and the icing really melds all the flavors wonderfully. Vermont Creamery makes what they call their “ cultured” butter and it has a very rich taste. I will definitely add this to my cookie repertoire.
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