Sweet and buttery, these almond sugar cookies are soft and melty and have a gorgeous nutty flavour. Easy to make and great for gifting!
Ingredients
- 225 g unsalted butter softened (1 cup / 2 sticks)
- 1 cup caster sugar or white granulated sugar (200g/7oz)
- 1 large egg room temp
- 2 teaspoons almond extract
- 325 g plain flour (all-purp flour) (2 ½ cups)
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- flaked almonds to decorate
FOR THE ROYAL ICING
- 2 cups icing sugar (powdered sugar) (260g/~9 ¼oz)
- 2-2½ tablespoons water (notes 1)
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 2 teaspoons meringue powder optional
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
- stand mixer or electric handheld beater
- cookie cutters
- Rolling Pin
- Baking sheets.
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium for 3-4 minutes until it looks light and creamy. Scrape down the sides a couple of times during the process.
- Add the egg and 2 tsp almond extract and beat on low speed until just combined. Scrape down the sides if you need to help it come together.
- Add the flour and scatter over the baking powder evenly. Pulse until it starts to come together so the flour doesn’t fly up everywhere, then beat on low, until it’s just incorporated. Careful not to overmix.
- Take the dough out of the mixer and shape into two flat disks.
- Place one piece of dough onto a sheet of baking paper, dust with a little flour and place another sheet of baking paper on top. Roll out to about 6mm thick (¼ inch). You can repeat this step with the other portion of dough or freeze that one for another time, wrapped well in plastic wrap.
- Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes (or up to 3 days) or freeze for 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan forced) / 350F. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
- Working quickly to prevent the dough from softening too much, peel the top layer of baking paper away from the dough and use a 5cm round fluted cookie cutter to cut out as many cookies from each piece of dough as possible.You can reroll and chill the dough as you need to. You can use any shape or size cookie cutter you like.
- Transfer the shapes to the lined baking sheets. You can bake straight away as long as the dough still feels cold and firm or chill for another 10 minutes.
- Bake for 9-10 minutes until just beginning to turn the palest golden on the edges and underneath. The tops will still be very pale but matt and they’ll firm up a little as they cool.
- Let them cool for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before icing.
- FOR THE ALMOND ICING: Add the icing sugar, meringue powder (if using) and almond extract to a medium mixing bowl.
- Add 1 tablespoon of water and whisk a little. Add more, 1 teaspoon at a time, mixing after each addition, until the mixture has a consistency where it settles smoothly in 10-12 seconds.
- Dip the top of each cookie into the icing, scrape a little on the side of the bowl, then turn, icing side up, onto the wire rack. Lift and drop the cookie gently (only about 1cm) to smooth out and level the surface of the icing. You can also just drizzle the icing over the top. Let them set a little before serving. If the icing isn't sticking to the cookies, just mix in a few drops of water and try again.
- After icing 6-8 cookies, top them with a couple of flaked almonds.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- Tablespoons: I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (equal to 4 teaspoons). Check yours before measuring.
- Meringue powder helps the icing to set a bit firmer / drier but is not necessary if you can't get it.
- All ovens vary, so I always recommend just baking off 1-2 cookies as a test, then adjust your timing to suit the results.
- This recipe makes 48 cookies but if you don’t want to make them all at once, you can freeze some of the batch for later. An easy way to do this is to freeze one half of the dough once it’s made. Or go ahead and cut all the cookies, then freeze half of them. To freeze the already cut cookies, cover a baking tray with baking paper then lay the cookie dough shapes in a single layer on top. Freeze until solid, then transfer to an airtight container or ziplock bag. You can then bake them at will.
- You can roll the dough thinner if you'd like to get more cookies from one batch but take care with the baking time. You might also need additional icing.
- You can use any shape or size cookie cutter however the quantity, baking time and nutritional information here is based on getting 48 cookies from the dough each around 21g (¾ oz) each.
- You can add sprinkles to the top of each cookie after you’ve added the icing if you like. Or you can colour some icing to add a decorative icing topping.
Love this recipe?Add Sugar Salt Magic as a preferred Google source.
Nutrition information is approximate only and derived from an online calculator. The brands you use and any changes you make may cause variations.
