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Buttery and crumbly, these almond flour shortbread cookies are the best melt-in-your-mouth goodness you'll love. This easy mouthwatering and classic recipe is gluten-free and low on sugar. Totally addicting, you will not be able to eat only one!
Shortbread cookies are very popular in our household and the other delicious recipe you'll love and need to consider is the vanilla shortbread cookies.
Typically baked around Christmas time, you can make them all year round. Play with their shapes! If you are baking them with kids, this is a great activity.
How To Make Almond Flour Shortbread Cookies?
The steps to make this recipe are simple and it requires few ingredients. You will need:
- Almond flour
- Soft butter
- Sugar
- Almond extract
First, cream the butter with the almond extract. Once smooth, add in the almond flour and sugar. Using your hands, gather the ingredients into a dough.
Once it's holding together, wrap it in cling film and refrigerate for an hour. It is a crumbly dough, so don't worry if it is not perfect and smooth.
Next, place the dough between 2 parchment papers and roll with a rolling pin.
Using cookie cutters, cut your cookie and place it on a baking sheet covered with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
Place the cookies with almond flour in the fridge for 15 minutes. In the meantime, pre-heat the oven. The cooking time will be short. For smaller cookies, you should adjust the time. For a 3-inch cookie, 6 minutes is perfect. Adjust to 4 minutes if the almond flour cookies are smaller.
Once baked, it is important to allow the cookies to cool down before handling them. Since there are gluten-free shortbread cookies, it is more crumbly.
Optional: You can dip your cookies in melted chocolate. I partially did so for the little stars and I did a 'messy' drizzle on the round ones. You can add sprinkles or crumbled pieces of nuts on the chocolate before it melts.
Feel free to choose milk, dark, or even white chocolate. I would advise with a semi-sweet one but unsweeten would work too.
Almond Flour, Almond Meal, Ground Almonds: Is It All The Same?
Yes! There are all finely grounded almonds. All these ways of calling it are correct. It can be done with blanched almonds which means their skins have been removed before or turned into flour with the skin on (unblanched).
You can make your own almond flour by pulsing whole almonds into your blender.
Is Almond Flour The Healthiest Flour?
While coconut flour is the healthiest flour, almond flour is right behind it on the list. I, personally, do not consume almond flour to follow any diet but simply because I'm obsessed with its taste. Almost anything made with it (to play it safe!), I'll eat it. You should know that about me by now :)
It is particularly used for keto, paleo or, gluten free recipes. If you are following a low carb diet, this is the flour with the lowest net carbs.
NOTE: This shortbread cookie recipe is not a keto-friendly option as it is not sugar-free or dairy-free.
This is however the perfect crispy almond flour cookies you'll ever need!
Baking FAQ
This cookie is meant to be crumbly and buttery. Since there is fat (the butter) and no gluten, it is inevitably crumbly, however, this is the texture we are looking for here, a buttery, melt-in-your-mouth shortbread almond cookie.
Absolutely, it is a great make-ahead recipe. However, before baking them, make sure to thaw them out in the fridge beforehand.
You can keep them in an air-tight container at room temperature for a week or so. It will keep them soft with crunchy edges.
This recipe has been developed with almond flour, I would recommend sticking to it the way it is.
More Almond Flour Recipes
Baking for the holidays? Here are more ideas
The Best Almond Flour Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 and ¼ cup almond flour
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup butter softened
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- ¼ cup chocolate chips milk or dark to taste.
Instructions
- Cream the butter with the almond extract. (either by hand or with a handheld mixer)
- Once smooth, add in the almond flour and sugard. Using your hands, gather the ingredients into a dough.
- Once it’s holding together, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for an hour. It is a crumbly dough, so don’t worry if it is not perfect and smooth.
- Next, place the dough between 2 parchment papers and roll with a rolling pin. Then, place the dough between 2 parchment papers and roll with a rolling pin. Using cookie cutters, cut your cookie and place it on a baking sheet covered with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
- Place the cookies with almond flour in the fridge for 15 minutes. In the meantime, pre-heat the oven at 425F.
- Bake for 6 minutes or until slightly golden. Adjust to 4 minutes if the almond flour cookies are smaller.
- Allow to cool completely before handling them.
- Optional: Melt the chocolate in 20 seconds increments in the microwave. Dip the cookies as desired or drizzle using a spoon.
Carolyn Patton says
What temperature do you bake your Almond Flour Shortbread cookies at?
Mélanie says
Oh thank you SO much Carolyn! I did omit to put the temperature! I now updated the recipe card. Thank you again!
It is 425F.
Holden says
When do you incorporate the sugar?
Mélanie says
Oh sorry and thank you for catching it! You add with the almond flour. I have updated the recipe card. Thanks again!
Gloria says
Shortbread cookies are always a hit. A timeless classic that never goes out of style. This is a great gluten-free version.
Mélanie says
Thank you so much Gloria! You can't go wrong with a shortbread for sure!
Cathleen says
Okay, I am saving this for Christmas because this looks amazing! And also it is way too hot for me to turn on the oven right now haha. I am so excited for these shortbread cookies!
Mélanie says
You will love them, there are so addictive! ahah
Chef Dennis says
Yum! My wife will surely love these Almond Flour Shortbread Cookies. I will prepare the ingredients now!
Mélanie says
What a nice treat for her!
Lauren Michael Harris says
I. love that these are gluten free! These cookies look so tender and delicious!
Mélanie says
Thank you Lauren!
Liz says
Shortbread cookies are one of my favorites and I love being able to make them with almond flour! It's nice for something a little healthier!
Mélanie says
Thank you Liz
Sharon says
I love shortbread cookies, especially around the holidays, so I love this recipe that uses almond flour for gluten-free treats.
Marie says
I love using nuts in shortbread cookies too! Almond flour is such an easy ingredient to work with and yet it adds so much flavor. I'll remember your chocolate drizzle touch when I make my next batch! 😍
Mélanie says
You have to add that little touch of chocolate for sure Marie!
Tristin says
Definitely going to be trying this Almond Cookie recipe! I am a huge fan of almond flavor and I love how you added chocolate to them.
Ramona says
I am so glad that I came across this recipe because I haven't made shortbread cookies in a while! I love anything that has almonds in them, so these would be perfect. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Marisa Franca says
We love buttery cookies and just can't get enough of them. We had a family get together on Friday night. For dessert I made these cookies and I swear they were inhaled. They were so good. We thought the bit of chocolate on top was the ultimate finish.
Mélanie says
This makes me so happy Marisa! So glad everyone enjoyed them!
trial baker says
Have you subbed coconut sugar or other alternative to granulated sugar with good results?
Mélanie says
I have not. I only did it with granulated sugar.
Heather says
I have not made these yet but trust me I will be ASAP! A friend brought them to work and since I am gluten intolerant I was thrilled! These are amazing! Even if you think you don’t like gluten free you won’t be able to stop eating these! Thank you so much for this recipe!
Mélanie says
Oh my god Heather, your comment made my day! Thank you so much for this! Happy baking! I'm not GF but obsessed with almond flour (you might like the Almond Flour Cake as it is also GF and AMAZING!)
Mrs. Hill says
I substituted Stevia for sugar and it is a great Keto-friendly version.
Mélanie says
Good to know it worked out with Stevia!
STACY HOBGOOD says
i have a question.
i was wondering if maybe these cookies could be thumb print cookies filled with jam? would they hold?
thanks
stacy
Mélanie says
Hi Stacy, I am not too sure, I have never tried! These cookies are already fragile since there is no flour. Let me know if you try it! Thanks for stopping by!
s.knap says
followed the recipe. Both before and after refrigeration, they simply fall apart. i get its a fragile mixture, but this is simply powdery. no way will a cookie cutter shape hold. ill try it with balls...as best as theyll hold...skeptical. very disappointed. is there an ingredient missing?
Mélanie says
I'm sorry you did have a great experience with the recipe. I made them again a couple of months following my own recipe and it worked. They are indeed fragile cookies. No ingredients were missing. Are you somewhere in high altitude? if so, use a little less flour next time. Again, sorry it did not work out!