if you give a cat a cookie

A few days I wanted a cookie. The obvious solution was to make cookies, and I did.

It wasn’t a major sugar craving, I just wanted a lightly sweetened something. It wasn’t a time for chunky chocolate or hearty oatmeal or zesty gingersnaps, it was an occasion for something light and buttery. These almond crisps definitely hit the spot.

Since it was my first attempt I followed the recipe quite closely, though I had to add extra flour to get a firm enough dough. Next time I will try using part whole wheat pastry flour which I think will work just fine. I might also try replacing 1/2 teaspoon of the almond extract with vanilla. While baking, make sure to check them early, especially if you don’t have an oven thermometer. My oven runs a little hot and my first batch almost burned. You want them just golden around the edges, and they can quickly over-brown.

The recipe calls for 2 almonds per cookie, but we only had enough for 1 each. The recipe also calls for toasted, salted almonds, but I used raw ones tossed with a few drops of water and some sea salt. They toasted up just a little in the oven and were lovely, so use whatever you have. The dough doesn’t have a lot of sugar in it, so the bit of salt on the almonds really helps add a bit of oomph.

We shared the cookies with friends after dinner. After they left there was one cookie sitting on the plate, and my husband caught the cat licking it. He informed the naughty cat that cats don’t like cookies and moved it safely out of her way.

He told me about it, but I definitely ate that cookie later.

What’s your go-to dessert?

Almond Crisps

Makes 32 cookies
Adapted from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 cup (2 ounces) light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons (7/8 ounces) granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) water
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• 1 1/4 cups (5 1/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (2 1/2 ounces) whole almonds

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325F.
2. Cream together butter, sugars, salt, water, and almond extract until smooth and light. Stir in flour until just incorporated, forming a stiff dough.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and drop cookie dough onto it by the teaspoon. Use a glass or measuring cup dipping in sugar to flatten each cookie to a 1/4-inch thickness. Top each cookie with an almond or two.
4. Bake cookies at 325F for 17 minutes, rotating the pan after 10 minutes, until cookies are golden brown around the edges. Remove pan from oven and let stand 5 minutes, the transfer cookies to a cooling rack.

Tagged as: almond, cookies, dessert, nablopomo, sweets