Buttery Almond Bites

These little cuties are great multi-purpose cookies.  Nutty, toasty, buttery and sweet.  They’re perfect on their own with coffee or tea.  They’re a delightful addition to any dessert table and leftover cookies make for a delicious crust for tarts or pies like this one here. Sweet treats that are low maintenance and you don’t even have to worry about having any eggs on hand.  

Quick tip on nuts!  Buy in bulk as nuts can be expensive in those little bags on the shelves of the bakery aisle.  And, you should check expiration dates as nuts can go rancid quickly...Go bulk on these babies. Any leftover nuts can be frozen for when you need them again.  Everybody wins!  Happy baking.   

½ cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup sugar

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp almond extract

1 cup almonds,roughly ground

Confectioners sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 300℉

Grease cookie sheet or place silpat baking mat on the sheet

1. Cream softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy with hand mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment. Add vanilla and almond extracts; mix to incorporate.
2. Add flour and almonds and mix again to combine.  
3. Drop teaspoonfuls of batter on prepared cookie sheet and bake for 25 min.
4. Let cool about 5 minutes of sheet and place about ½ cup confectioners sugar in bowl.  Dredge the still-warm cookies in the sugar and set aside. These little guys taste best when completely cooled.
5. Leftover baked cookies can be stored in an airtight container for 1 week for best taste or frozen up to 2 months. Raw dough can be refrigerated for about 2 weeks or frozen up to 2 months.  The best thing about freezing the baked cookies is that they can be ground up and used as a delicious cookie crust for tarts or pies!

Enjoy!

MJM