I've had this recipe in my archives for some time now, but I've been thinking about these Caramelised Almond Cookies non-stop since I made them. The cookie itself is soft and a buttery vanilla melt in your mouth for each bite, and the almonds bring a sweet nutty crunch to contrast the soft cookie.
I slightly under-caramelised the almonds, but once baked into the cookies, they achieved the perfect level of crunchy, nutty caramelisation. This caramelised almond recipe creates beautiful little balls of caramelised sugar, which, once blended into a powder, adds even more caramel flavour throughout the cookies.
Try with different nuts, experiment with the level of caramelisation, these Caramelised Almond cookies will always be a hit, and everyone will be going back for more.
For more cookies see my Coffee Chocolate Chip Cookies or my Daim and Pretzel Cookies
14
40 minutes
12 minutes
52 minutes

Ingredients

Caramelised Almonds
  • 200ml water
  • 400g sugar
  • Cinnamon
  • Vanilla sugar
  • 400g almonds
Cookies
  • 1 cup butter, room temperature
  • 1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup caramelised sugar/almonds ground into fine powder
  • One egg
  • One egg yolk
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 cups caramelised almond, roughly chopped

Method

Caramelised Almonds
  1. In a pan over medium heat, mix the water, sugars and cinnamon
  2. When the sugar has dissolved, add in the almonds and stir to fully coat in the sugar syrup
  3. Keep the almond moving in the pan, the sugar will look like it's starting to crystallise, but keep stirring to melt and bring to the level of caramelisation you like, keeping in mind they will cook again in the cookies.
Cookies
  1. Beat together the softened butter and the sugars with a handheld electric mixer or by hand until smooth and slightly lighter in colour.
  2. Add in the egg and egg yolk and mix until well combined.
  3. Mix the flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. When it’s almost come together, add the caramelised almonds and mix until all combined. We don’t want to over-mix!
  4. Scoop into balls; I used a generous soup spoon scoop (I prefer to make them taller than wider to get a chunkier cookie). Then place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper. (They can be placed relatively close together to chill)
  5. Chill in the fridge for an hour minimum or freezer for 20-30 minutes.
  6. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees about halfway through chilling time.
  7. Once the oven has preheated, bake 6-8 cookies at a time; depending on your tray size, you want them to have space to spread for 10-12 minutes.