These Vanilla Almond Smash Cookies are my favorite kind of Christmas cookies – they’re easy to make and don’t require decorating. These cookies have a flaky, crumbly texture with a mildly sweet, nutty flavor and a totally intoxicating vanilla scent. They’re the absolute best cookies to have with your coffee or tea!
What’s in Vanilla Almond Smash Cookies
How to make smash cookies
You’ll need a food processor and a mixer for these cookies. Either a stand mixer or a hand mixer will do. Pulse the almonds in a food processor until they’re nice and fine. Be sure not to overprocess the nuts or you’ll end up with almond butter.
Then, form the dough into balls the size of golf balls. You’ll bake them that way at first. Then, a few minutes before they’re finished baking, you’ll pull the cookies out of the oven and smash them down with a fork.
A few more minutes in the oven, post-smash, will finish them off.
Once they cool, give them a quick dip in powdered sugar and you’re ready to gift, dunk or just plain enjoy. My vote? Dunk. Always dunk.
When you make these Vanilla Almond Smash Cookies, I’d love to hear about it! Drop a rating or leave a comment below. Enjoy!
For more Christmas cookie recipes, try these:
For more anytime cookie recipes, try these:
- Homemade Oreo Cookies
- Lemon Rosemary Shortbread Cookies with Lemon Glaze
- Fluffernutter Thumbprint Cookies
Vanilla Almond Smash Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 3 sticks of unsalted butter room temperature
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 cups slivered almonds
- 2 cups confectioner’s sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Pulse the almonds in a food processor until fine. Do not overprocess. Transfer almonds to a large bowl. Add butter, sugar and vanilla and beat together.
- Stir in the flour until combined. Form the dough into balls the size of golf balls. Place onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake 12 minutes, then remove from oven.
- Using the back of a fork, smash the cookies down, making a crisscross pattern. Return to the oven and bake another 2-4 minutes, until slightly golden on the bottom.
- Cool the cookies on a wire rack. Once cooled, dip them in powdered sugar to coat both sides.
Are the almonds meant to be processed into almond flour or to be coarser than what is commercially available? If so can you provide either the weight of the slivered almonds or what the equivalent almond flour measure might be?
Hi Elizabeth! You want to process the slivered almonds until they’re finer, but not as fine as flour. They should have a sandy texture. The 2 cups of slivered almonds that the recipe calls for should equal about 12 ounces. Hope this helps 🙂
Can I substitute walnuts for almonds?
Hi Donna! I have not tested this recipe using walnuts, but I imagine it would be fine to swap them in for almonds. Let me know how it goes!