These buttery, crispy cookies are an incredible treat. The cookies have almonds in them and a praline-like topping, I drizzled half with dark chocolate because… why not! I’ve meant to make cookies for a week now but have just been too busy to get to it. I modified my frangipane recipe to make the topping, and it turned out perfectly. I’ve also decided that these would make wonderful Christmas cookies as they are lovely to look at, rich and buttery, and can take some dark chocolate like a champ. Sadly, I can’t use them for my Food Blogger Cookie Exchange cookies, as I am posting them too early! Hmm, now I have to think of a new recipe for the exchange!

Almond Praline Cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup almonds, finely chopped (I threw whole almonds into my food processor and pulsed to the desired texture)

Praline:

• 1/3 cup whole almonds
• 1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp dark brown sugar
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 egg white

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and vanilla.
3. Stir in the flour and salt., mixing well to combine. It will come together in a sort of crumb-like fashion (see picture below). Chill the dough while you bring together the praline topping.
4. Praline topping: In a food processor, pulse together the praline ingredients until you have a chunky paste. Don’t over pulse, otherwise you will almost have frangipane!
5. Form dough into 1-inch balls and place them 1-inch apart on the baking sheet.
6. Using a flat-bottomed glass, lightly press down the cookies to flatten slightly. Top with 1/4-1/2 tsp of the praline mixture.
7. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown. They will not crisp up until cooled. So let them cool in the pan for 5 minutes before trying to move them to a wire rack to cool.
8. If you want to drizzle with chocolate, simply melt 2oz of dark chocolate with 1 tsp of butter and drizzle over top once the cookies have cooled.

Crumb-like texture of the dough.

Dollop of praline mixture.

So delicious.