Slice & Bake Almond Butter Cookies
More than a few of the recipes on this blog came about from me buying a kitchen gadget. It’s a minor obsession of mine. Sometimes this obsession can get pricey, but most times not so much (at least that’s how I always justify it to myself.)
These are one of the most recents buys I’ve made. I wanted it to see how they would work for molding slice & bake cookie dough.
Slice and Bake cookies are one of my go-tos for quick and easy batch desserts. They’re also versatile enough recipe to where there are a lot of different possibilities for ways to flavor/enhance them.
If I had any one complaint about Slice & Bakes as a recipe, it’s the shaping step. After mixing the cookie dough you shape it into a log and refrigerate it, after which you can ‘slice & bake’ as many cookies as you want. But as the dough log rests in the fridge, it typically rests on a flat surface, which flattens it out on the bottom and makes it harder to maintain that perfect cyndrilical shape. There’s no effect on the taste whatsoever, it’s just an aesthetic thing.
It’s probably the food blogger in me, but I like a nice presentation when it comes to baking especially, so I was interested in getting the molds not just for the sake of maintaining a consistent shape in cookie, but also being able to make square cookies that reminded me of the ones that come in the blue tins.
For my first go round with the molds, I kept things simple. Almond cookies are some of my favorite, so I decided to go with those. I did grind my almonds up fresh in my Ninja, with the skins on, as I think it adds more flavor. Using almond meal as opposed to almond flour also gives it a more robust texture.
The cookies themselves are buttery, crisp and the ground almonds and almond extract gives them that bakery-style flavor that I think pairs perfect with coffee or tea. They’d also make amazing Christmas cookie gifts. And because they’re slice and bake you don’t even have to bake them all at once. Regardless of whether you choose to get the mold or not, it’s a really good cookie.
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Slice & Bake Almond Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup of almond flour or meal
- 3 sticks of unsalted butter, softened
- 2/3 cup white granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
Directions
In a medium size bowl, combine the flour, almond flour/meal and salt. Set aside.
In another medium sized bowl use a handheld or standing mixer with paddle attachment to cream the butter and white sugar together until creamy. Add the extracts and mix until just combined.
Fold the flour in in 2 batches, mixing just until combined. Scrape the dough out of the bowl with a spatula and mold it into 2 long, rectangular logs .
Tightly wrap the logs in plastic wrap and shape into a square shape. (I used these molds, but using a bench scraper or the inside of a 13 x 9 baking dish works as well). If using the molds, press the plastic wrapped log into the molds, then refrigerate both overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
Remove the logs from the molds and unwrap. Using a sharp knife or bench scraper, slice cookies about 1/4 inch thick (or to your desired preference). Place about 1 inch apart on prepared pans and sprinkle tops with sugar. (Depending on how thick you cut them, this makes quite a few cookies; you’ll probably have to do this in a few batches)
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown.
Note: no one oven is the same, & different baking sheets bake cookies differently. Keeping this in mind, I will ALWAYS test bake one cookie before baking entire sheets of the whole batch, just to get a good idea of how long they should be in the oven and if I need to adjust the way I’ve cut, rolled them out, etc. I highly recommend that you do the same.)
Sharing at Fiesta Friday #438, co-hosted by Liz @ spades, spatulas & spoons.
These look tasty Jess! I love a slice and bake, and they usually do freeze well.
Thank you Dorothy! I love slice and bakes too-so easy, and very tasty 😉
Sounds yummy! I love more plain cookies that are rich.
Thank you! Sometimes the simple flavors are the best ones 🙂
Does the dough come out of the molds easily so that you can wrap them in plastic?
Thank you for asking this–what I did was wrap the log in plastic wrap, then place the plastic wrapped log inside the mold; it slides right out. I’ll go back and make that clearer in the recipe 😉
Did you refrigerate it while still in the mold?
Yes! Refrigerate the whole thing, then pop the molded and plastic wrapped cookie dough out of the molds next day.
Great, thanks.
Looks delicious!
Thank you Julie 🙂
I love having a log of slice and bake cookies in the freezer for quick snacks. Thank you for bringing your recipe to FF.