Soft and crispy, buttery, Almond Flour Shortbread Cookies are a fun, grain-free Holiday treat. These cookies are slice and bake, making them even easier to make. If you need a grain-free treat this Christmas season, give these simple and tasty cookies a try!
I love baking with almond flour.
I don’t have a lot of almond flour recipes on Mile High Mitts, but it’s a fun flour to work with. It works well in muffins, but my favorite thing is to use almond flour in is cookies.
It makes cookies extra soft in the middle with crispy edges. The flavor is somehow addicting. My husband in particular can never get enough of any cookies that I make with almond flour!
I haven’t shared an almond flour recipe in a while, so I thought it was past time. The last grain-free Christmas cookie recipe I shared were my grain-free Thumbprint Cookies. Yum. Soft, covered in crunchy nuts, and filled with sweet jam in the middle.
But these, my friends, these may just be better. I took the classic shortbread cookie, and turned it grain-free. A few adjustments had to be made, for the best texture of cookie. These Almond Flour Shortbread Cookies have a little less butter and an egg white. Which means, these cookies won’t fall apart on you.
They’re buttery, lightly sweet, simple and delicious. Pops of mini chocolate chips throughout really complete the package. And I’ve got a few ideas about how to make these cookies festive, so keep reading!
Let’s talk about how to make these cookies.
The process for making the cookie dough itself is very basic. You’ll cream together your butter and sugar. Add both of your extracts and egg white briefly in. Mix your almond flour in. And then gently fold in your chocolate chips.
The dough you’ll be left with will be coarse and a little crumbly, because of the almond flour.
So how do you take that and turn it into cookies that hold their shape and bake up perfectly? Easy! Some chill time and then slice and bake.
You’ll take your cookie dough and put it in the middle of a large piece of saran wrap. Then form a cookie dough log with your hands. The log should be about 2 1/2-3 inches wide.
After you form your log, you’ll warp the saran wrap around it and place it in the fridge for at least two hours. This is really important so the cookies bake correctly. You can make this dough ahead of time, and bake them the next day if you’d like fresh cookies!
After your two hours is up, remove your log from the fridge. Remove your saran wrap, and slice each cookie about 1/3-1/2 inch thick.
Place on a parchment paper lined (or non-stick sprayed) pan and bake for about 14-16 minutes, or till the edges are golden and harder to touch.
How do you make these Holiday cookies festive?
That’s the fun part, right? You have a couple options here. You can either drizzle extra chocolate on top of your cookies or dip them in chocolate.
To drizzle extra chocolate across the top, melt about 1/4 cup of your favorite chocolate chips. Drizzle using a spoon, piping bag, or ziploc bag with a bit of the end trimmed off.
To dip in extra chocolate, melt about 1/2-3/4 cups of your favorite chocolate chips in a tall and thin bowl (I like to use my pyrex). Dip half of your cookie in and place on parchment paper.
After either dipping or drizzling, you can top your cookies. You can use crushed candy canes, sprinkles, nuts, toffee bits, etc. Get creative!
And don’t forget you can use whatever chocolate you prefer too.
You could dip your cookies in white chocolate and top them with crushed candy canes. Dark chocolate and crushed peanuts. White chocolate and festive Christmas sprinkles.
Whatever you choose, have fun with it!
If you need a gluten-free & grain-free treat this Christmas, these Almond Flour Shortbread Cookies are the perfect place to start. They’re simple to make, filled with classic flavors, and can be festive too!
If you make them, let me know what you think! It makes my day to hear from all of you. Either leave a comment, below, or find me on Instagram and tag me.
And while you’re here, don’t forget to check out my gluten-free Molasses Cookies, Peppermint Mocha Oatmeal Cookies, Snickerdoodle Cookies, and Maple Pecan Oatmeal Cookies.
- 6 tbsp butter, softened
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond extract (optional)
- 1 egg white
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips (or your favorite chocolate chips, chopped up)
- Optional: More melted chocolate for dipping cookies in or to drizzle on top of cookies.
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To a large mixing bowl, add your butter and sugar and beat together with a mixer till creamy. Add your vanilla extract, almond extract, and egg white and briefly blend till just incorporated. Add your almond four and mix together till well combined. Add your chocolate chips and fold them in.
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Place a piece of saran wrap on your counter (at least a foot long). Place your cookie dough in the middle of the saran wrap and use your hands to gently push it into a log (about 2 1/2-3 inches wide). Wrap your cookie dough log in the saran wrap and place in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours.
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After two hours, preheat your oven to 350 and line a pan with parchment paper. Remove your cookie dough log from the fridge and using a sharp knife slice each cookie (about 1/3-1/2 inch thick). Bake in the oven for 14-16 minutes, or till the edges are golden.
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Let cool entirely. Drizzle with extra chocolate, or dip in extra chocolate if you prefer. Devour!
Stored in an airtight container at room temperature these cookies last about 4-5 days.
What can I use in place of the butter? Has anyone tried Benecol or some alternate butter? We are low cholesterol.
Real butter would be better over any “low fat” spread/margarine. Research cholesterol with Dr Eric Berg to learn more about cholesterol and saturated fat x
Some of us have food allergies to dairy and cannot tolerate butter
absolutely delicious, will certainly be baking them sgain
Super yummy!
Chelsea, These are delicious with a great texture and look to them. I made two batches for the Labor Day weekend! Thanks!
This sounds so yummy but How could I sub maple syrup for the sugar? I can’t do sugar substitute. Thank you!!
Hi Michelle. I haven’t made these with another sugar, but you could try and use 3 tbsp of maple syrup or honey instead. They won’t be as sweet, but with the amount of chill time I would assume they would hold together fine still.
Do you think these will freeze and last a couple of weeks or maybe a month?
Need to make them in advance for the holidays.
Thanks!
Hi Holly. I haven’t done that with this recipe in particular, but I don’t see why it couldn’t work. I would definitely try it! Just defrost them in the fridge.
I made these using Boca Sweet and they were amazing!
Yum! Adding this to the Christmas cookie plate.
Have you tried with a flax egg or chia egg instead of the egg white? we have lots of family with egg allergy!
Hi Dawn. I haven’t, but I think it should work! I would just do less, since it’s only egg yolk (so instead maybe 1 tsp flax seed and 2 1/2 tsp of water). Hopefully that works!
This would be a great addition to the Christmas plate.
I made them and will do them again but will not dip them into the chocolate, they are sweet without it. l also added a 100gr of pecans.
can you use coconut flour instead of amound flour?
No. Coconut flour is not a 1:1 substitute.
Could the dough or baked cookie be frozen?
Hi Stephanie. Yes, the baked cookies can be frozen. The dough should also work just fine frozen (although I haven’t tried it personally), but I’d recommend defrosting them in the fridge prior to baking.
Will this recipe work with Swerve or another sugar substitute?
Hi Karen. I’m sorry to say I don’t ever use Swerve or any other sugar substitutes, so I’m not sure how that would work.
I’m also wondering about using swerve in place of the sugar. did you try it?
I would love to try this recipe – still looking for the perfect almond flour shortbread recipe. But the big ads cover up not only your blog, but the ingredients section of the recipe…and I see no way to close or delete or move them. Your cookies look delicious tho.
Hi Lucy. Thanks for letting me know! I’ve had that issue once or twice, but when I refreshed the page the ad moved into the right spot. Hopefully if you try giving it a look again it works for you.
I made them, and they tasted great. I would’ve rated it a five star, but something weird happened. There was a dark ring around them after baking for 15 minutes. I had to cut them off of the cookies. I should’ve taken a picture. I refrigerated for 4 hours, and they sat for 5 minutes while the stove heated up.
Will these work with a sugar substitue for keto diet/diabetic people? My brother-in-law and myself are diabetic so can I leave out thé chocolat chips? Would nuts work in place?
Hi Ann. Yes, you can definitely put nuts in place of chocolate chips (I would finely chop them up) or you can omit them. The cookies won’t be very sweet (which is the case with shortbread anyway) but should still work great!
1/4 cup sugar is very low for a cookie recipe. If you want a sweetener that has a lower glycemic index, go with honey instead of fine white sugar. (That’s my 2 cents! )
Will the chilled dough keep in refrigerator for 2 weeks before slicing?
Hi Carla. I would not recommend trying to chill the dough for that long (especially with an egg in the dough). I’d say about 3-4 days in the fridge at most.
Hi! Do you believe it will work with almond butter or peanut butter as well?
Hi Silvana. I’m sorry to say I have no idea! I would recommend looking for another recipe for that.
Thank you for your blog! I wish I had found it when I lived in Colorado! Blogs like yours helped me figure out the changes needed. I now like at sea level near Seattle. Do you know if this recipe might work here? I am anxious to try baking with almond flour. Again, thank you for sharing your work!
Hi Dot! Your welcome! Yes, these cookies should work just fine in regular altitude. I hope you enjoy them! 🙂