Almond Butter Cookies

From the kitchen of Carly

Slice-and-bake almond cookies with a delicate crunch and toasted almond flavor. Butter and brown sugar create a tender base, while sliced almonds add texture and subtle nuttiness. Simple dough logs chill overnight, then bake into golden, buttery bites.

Almond Butter Cookies

Thin, crisp, and nutty, these are pure almond butter cookies in the truest sense. The sliced almonds toast right into the dough, the corn syrup adds a subtle caramel note, and a low oven keeps them from browning too fast. The result is a delicate, golden cookie with real almond flavor that holds up to coffee or tea without pretense.

Prep
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Cook
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Total
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Servings
4
Difficulty
medium

Ingredients

4 servings

  • 1 cupall-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tspbaking soda
  • 1/8 tspsalt
  • 3/4 stickunsalted butter, softened
  • 1/4 cupgranulated sugar
  • 1/4 cuppacked light brown sugar
  • 1 tbspcorn syrup
  • 1/2 tspvanilla
  • 1/4 tspalmond extract
  • 1/2 cupsliced almonds with skins
  • 1toasted and cooled completely

Instructions

  1. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl and set aside.

  2. In a large bowl, beat the butter, both sugars, corn syrup, vanilla, and almond extract with an electric mixer at medium-high speed (use the paddle attachment on a stand mixer) until the mixture turns pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Drop the speed to low, add the flour mixture, and mix just until a dough starts to come together. Fold in the almonds and mix just until they are evenly distributed. Shape the dough into a rectangular log roughly 12 inches long, 2 inches wide, and 3/4 inch thick, wrap it tightly in wax paper, and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.

  3. Position an oven rack in the middle and heat the oven to 325°F. Butter a large baking sheet.

  4. Using a thin sharp knife, slice half the log into 1/8-inch-thick rounds and lay them on the prepared baking sheet, spacing each piece 3/4 inch apart. Keep the remaining dough in the fridge while the first batch bakes.

  5. Bake until the cookies turn golden, about 12 minutes, then slide a thin metal spatula under each one and transfer them to a rack to cool completely. Slice and bake the remaining dough the same way.

Tips from the kitchen

  • Chill your dough log fully before slicing; a warm dough will crumble. A thin, sharp knife and firm, confident strokes make the difference between clean slices and shredded edges.
  • Toast your almonds first and let them cool completely. Even warm almonds release moisture that will soften your dough and throw off the texture.
  • At 1/8 inch thick, these bake fast. Pull them at the first real golden tint, not brown. A minute too long and they go from crisp to hard.

Variations

  • Brown butter version: Melt your butter, brown it gently in a saucepan until nutty, cool it, then use it in place of softened butter for deeper almond complexity.
  • Sliced almonds swap: Trade in raw almond slivers for the toasted ones and toast the whole dough log in the oven at 300°F for 5 minutes before chilling to get the same toasted flavor without the step.
  • Cardamom variation: Add 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom to the flour mixture for a floral, slightly spiced note that plays beautifully with almond.

Make ahead and storage

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week. Freeze the raw dough log up to two months; slice and bake directly from frozen, adding a minute or two to the bake time.