April 17, 2013

Almond Butter Cookies

Sometimes, my health conscious alter-ego convinces me into buying ingredients that are too healthy to be appreciated by my family! And, that's how a tall bottle of almond butter found its way into my pantry. More the ways I find to use it (as a spread, in a drink, etc), more my family seemed to resent it. So, I was desperate to somehow use it up and get over with it. 

Have you ever gotten yourself into such a situation before?


Suddenly, this idea of making cookies with it struck me. That way, I could use a cup or two of almond butter rather than a few spoonfuls. "Yuck, No!" was the response from my daughter when I shared the idea of making cookies with almond butter. Thanks to chocolate chips, convincing job only got a little easier!


As I was prepping up, my daughter happily helped me, right from mixing the dry ingredients to whisking butter & almond butter to finally rolling the dough in sugar. My oven took exactly 12 mins to bake.


Right at the 10 min mark, the sweet aroma of butter & almond filled up the entire house, that my hubby & my daughter couldn't wait to taste the cookies. Every other minute, they would walk into the kitchen to check if its done. Keeping them away got even tougher after I got the cookies out of the oven. 

You have to believe me, half of the batch got over in less than 10 mins, and they didn't give any time for the cookies to cool. I had to literally 'shoo' them away to save the remaining cookies for me & my photographs. Phew!!!


Btb, my daughter completely forgot about the almond butter in her cookies and was busy munching one after another!!

Basic Info
Complexity - Simple
Prep time - 20 mins
Cook time - 25 mins (includes cooling time)
Serves - approx 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients
All-purpose flour - 1 1/4 cups
Baking soda - 3/4 tsp
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Unsalted butter - 1/2 cup (1 stick softened)
Almond butter - 1 cup (at room temperature, smooth)
Sugar - 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp for sprinkling
Light brown sugar - 1/2 cup (tightly packed)
Oil - 1/4 cup (or Egg - 1 no)
Milk - 1 tbsp
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Semi-sweet chocolate chips - 1/2 cup (optional)

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

In a large bowl, combine well the flour, baking soda, baking powder & salt. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat butter and almond butter together until fluffy. Add the white & brown sugar and mix until smooth. Add oil, milk, vanilla extract and mix well.

To this, add the flour mixture and mix thoroughly. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Place the remaining 1 tbsp of sugar on a plate. Take about a tbsp of cookie dough, roll them in the sugar and place them on a greased cookie sheet. Leave about an inch between the cookies to spread. Use back of a spatula and gently press the cookie dough.


Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.


Let the cookies stay on the sheets for 5 mins, and then remove to the racks to cool completely.



Notes
- You can replace almond butter with peanut butter for peanut butter cookies.
- Right before baking, do not overly flatten the cookies.
- Do not over-bake. 10-12 mins will be just enough for them to bake.
- Cookies may appear to be underdone / may seem to fall apart, but will be alright & will set as it cools.

6 comments :