These Soft Almond Cookies are soft and reminiscent of bite size little almond cakes – delicious and delicate! Easy to make even on a weeknight. Perfect to end a romantic dinner or start a day with a cup of coffee.
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This post first appeared on Imagelicious on February 2, 2017.
Two dessert posts in a row can only mean one thing – it’s some kind of holiday or event on horizon. It’s February and I’m looking forward to this year’s Valentine’s Day.
I’m not really into this holiday actually but I spent a few hours yesterday going through hundreds of iPhone photos and making a photo book of my baby’s first difficult six months and the estimated delivery day of the book is February 14th. So, this year I’m really looking forward to that date.
(Note, it’s been two years since I received that photo book and I still love looking at it. My daughter especially enjoys looking at the picture of her so small.)
I actually think that I’ll be celebrating Valentine’s Day more often than not over the next few years. I wrote a few times about traditions and I hope to have as many celebrations with my baby as possible.
I want her to have memories of silly red hearts and pink candies and maybe balloons and flowers in February even if it’s an artificial holiday that makes not much sense. Celebrating love as a family is something I am now really looking forward to experience.
If you are making a romantic dinner and want to finish the meal with something delicious and chocolate then I urge you to try my lighter Chocolate Kefir Cake but if chocolate isn’t your thing and you want something light and delicious and sweet and fun to eat then Soft Almond Cookies will hit the spot!
I remember first three things I cooked for my husband. I made date chutney to bring to his place to accompany cheese and wine. He politely ate a tiny bit but not more. Later I found out that he doesn’t like savoury and seeet flavour combination.
Third time I cooked dinner for him; I don’t remember what I made as the main course but i started the meal with Lentil soup which he adored and finished the whole pot.
In between chutney and soup I baked these Soft Almond Cookies. I remember A. taking a bite and saying that they reminded him of something from childhood.
Later, once I became a fixture at his family gatherings, I found out what he meant. Dutch have lots of almond desserts and these cookies reminded him of those familiar Dutch flavours.
I made these Soft Almond Cookies many times, trying different dairy and playing with amount of almonds and flour. Funny enough, cookies turn out equally delicious with any dairy I use.
I made these cookies with sour cream, mixture of kefir and plain yogurt, and greek/balkan style thick yogurt. As usual I tried to reduce sugar a bit from my original version and I thought they turned out perfect as I don’t love overly sweet desserts.
The cookies are soft and remind me of bite size little almond cakes – delicious and delicate! Perfect to end a romantic dinner or start a day with a cup of coffee because on Valentine’s Day you can have cookies for breakfast! It’s the rule!
How to make Soft Almond Cookies
These Soft Almond Cookies are extremely easy to make. No need for a mixer or any special equipment. You don’t even need a whisk.
All you need is just a bowl and a spoon or a spatula. It’s a true one-bowl recipe!
- Mix the yogurt and sugar together until smooth
- Add the egg, melted butter, and almond extract and mix again
- Add a little bit of flour, ground almonds, and baking powder and mix
- Use a small ice cream scoop to shape the cookies
- Bake
It’s an absolutely perfect recipe to make with kids also. The resulting cookie dough is very soft so even small kids can mix it easily with a spoon without any help from parents.
Ingredients and variations in Soft Almond Cookies
- Sugar
- I use 6 tablespoons of sugar in these cookies and they turn out not too sweet and absolutely perfect for my taste
- You can add 2 extra tablespoons of sugar (to make up 1/2 cup) if you prefer sweeter cookies
- You might even be able to reduce the amount of sugar to 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) but I haven’t tried that myself
- I have not tried using brown sugar in this recipe
- Yogurt
- I’ve made these Soft Almond Cookies with sour cream, kefir, Greek yogurt, Balkan-style yogurt, and plain yogurt
- All different dairy will work but you might need to add a bit more flour and ground almonds if you use kefir only or thin plain yogurt as the batter won’t be thick enough
- Check the video for the consistency of the batter
- Melted butter
- I am almost positive that you can use vegetable oil but I haven’t tried it myself
- I am also almost positive that you can fully omit the butter (it’s only 1 tablespoon) but I haven’t tried it myself yet
- Almond extract
- I use Nielsen-Massy Pure Almond Extract. It’s not as strong as some other almond extracts but it has a more natural and subdued flavour
- If you use a stronger extract then you might want to add a bit less
- Ground almonds
- Ground almonds are also commonly known as almond flour
- It will not be super smooth like regular flour and it’s not supposed to
- You can usually buy it in the baking section or in bulk stores or on Amazon. I buy mine at Costco
- Flour
- Unfortunately I don’t know if this recipe for Soft Almond Cookies can be made gluten-free
- If you use any gluten-free flour instead of all-purpose flour in this recipe, then please let me know in comments and I’ll add a note!!
More Almond dessert recipes
- One of my most popular recipes Gluten-Free Almond Ricotta Chocolate Cake
- Peach-Plum Almond Tart
- Roasted Pears Stuffed with Ricotta and Almonds from my new cookbook
Soft Almond Cookies
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt (plain thick or greek)
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon butter (melted)
- 1 cup almond flour (ground almonds)
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl whisk together sugar and yogurt really well.
- Add egg and melted butter and mix.
- Add almond flour, regular flour and baking powder and whisk until well mixed.
- Add almond extract and mix.
- Scoop small spoonfuls of batter onto a prepared baking sheet 2 inches apart. I use a small ice cream scoop.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes depending on the oven. My oven takes longer so I bake closer to 18-20 minutes.Note: the cookies will not spread a lot, just a little bit. They should still be springy to the touch when done.
- Cool and enjoy.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Isa says
Hi, the recipe asks for 1 cup almond flour, does that mean 125-130 grams in weight ? Please advice. Thanks.
Julia says
I just weighed it and you were right. I cup was 130g
Safina says
Can I replace the butter with oil or vegan butter?
Imagelicious says
I haven’t tried myself but I think you can. I actually think that maybe you can omit it all together but I also haven’t tried
VeenaAzmanov says
I love almond cookies and these sounds delish.. I love that you add yogurt. Gotta try this soon Julia. Thanks
Gloria Duggan says
Noting beats a great cookie with a latte in the afternoon. I prefer soft cookies to hard. These sound like the perfect cookie…to dunk into a glass of milk too.
Sarah @ The Fit Cookie says
Yum, those look perfect! I love that they are nice and soft, they look like delicious pillows 🙂
Melissa says
These sound delicious! I am definitely adopting the cookies for breakfast Valentine’s rule!