Almond Shortbread Snowball Cookies
And there are only six essential ingredients!
We love all kinds of cookies, but there’s something especially satisfying about shortbread cookies – or really shortbread anything. Not only does it taste buttery and decadent and delicious, but anything “shortbread” is typically only five or six ingredients…which we already have in our pantry! Win-win! So, now that we’ve established our love for shortbread, we can move onto how much we love these specific cookies.
Again, the ingredient list is simple, but don’t think that means there’s a lack of flavor. These almond shortbread snowball cookies always deliver, and that they’re easy to make and we’ve got everything we need on-hand to make them at any given time – man, we just can’t get enough!
We’re calling these babies snowball cookies even though the absence of powdered sugar might not technically qualify them for the title…but they’re white and round and totally addictive, so we think the name works. Little bites of almond, along with almond extract, take these cookies to the next level and make them extra special. We end up making these every year around the holidays, but they end up being such a hit that they make several appearances throughout the year due to popular request. What can we say, everyone else loves them just as much as we do!
Almond Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup almonds, roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract, optional
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350º F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Cream together softened butter and sugar in a large bowl or mixer for 2-3 minutes, or until smooth and creamy.
- Beat in flour and salt, then pour in vanilla and almond extracts, beating until fully incorporated.
- Fold in roughly chopped almonds, mixing until nuts are worked evenly into the dough.
- Optional: wrap dough tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or until chilled.
- Use a cookie scoop to form 1-1 1/2 inch cookies and drop them onto lined baking sheet. You can flatten cookies if you’d like, but we like to keep them round.
- Place cookies in oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until bottoms are just lightly browned.
- Remove from oven and let cool at least 15 minutes before eating.
Recipe adapted from Genius Kitchen