White Chocolate Almond Cookies
Soft, chewy, and delicious, these cookies are a one-bowl recipe full of sweetness from the chocolate chips and crunchiness from the almonds. It's a recipe that will make a fantastic addition to your list of Easter and Christmas baking, for potlucks and picnics, or as an afternoon treat.
Servings 30 medium cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- ¾ cup brown sugar light or dark
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 1 egg at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or ¾ teaspoon vanilla paste
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup sliced almonds lightly toasted
- ¼ cup chopped almonds lightly toasted
- ¾ cup white chocolate chips or chopped caramelized white chocolate, or a mix of white and butterscotch chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC).
- Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Beat butter with both sugars until creamy.
- Add egg, vanilla and almond extracts and mix well.
- Add dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, soda, and salt) and mix until a few dry spots remain.
- Add white chocolate and almonds and mix until no dry spots remain.
- Drop large teaspoons on the prepared sheets, spacing them an inch or so.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until edges are firm and cookies are golden.
- Let cool completely on wire rack.
- Keep in tins or cookie jars.
For caramelized white chocolate:
- Preheat the oven to 300ºF (140ºC).
- In a shallow glass pan, spread the chopped white chocolate. Don’t overlap them too much. It’s better to make small batches.
- Bake for about 30-40 minutes, stirring it every 5-10 minutes. It won’t melt immediately, and, depending on the brand, might never be silky, but lumpy. For this recipe that is fine.
- Once it’s as dark as you like, let it cool and chop it.
Notes
Almonds: use both types of almonds called for in the recipe. They each add their own thing.
Dough: the cookie dough can be kept for 2-3 days in the refrigerator or frozen for 2-3 weeks, always in a container with a tight-fitting lid. If freezing, I suggest forming the cookie balls and freezing them already formed. Simply bake them directly from the freezer.
Variation: you can substitute walnuts for the almonds but they will lack the crunch that the sliced almonds bring. Add a tablespoon of your favorite liquor (Amaretto, Frangelico or Kahlua pair well) for a more sophisticated cookie.
