For more than 15 years, these almond cookies have been baked regularly in my home. They have also won the hearts of my customers in my cake studio. These are no ordinary Chinese almond cookies, these are almond cookies with a distinctly crunchy taste, and so very tempting. Being so full of nutrition, almond cookies are often my go-to for breakfast with coffee.

This Almond cookies recipe was not originally created as a vegan recipe, but it is egg-free. And by replacing some ingredients , you can get an absolutely vegan and ketogenic recipe.

You can also experiment with different types of nuts – I’ve used hazelnuts, peanuts and even pistachios with great results. So go ahead and try this recipe, I’m sure you’ll love it as much as we do!

These cookies can be made ahead of time as they keep well for at least 3 weeks at room temperature. And this dough, when portioning cookies, can also be frozen and baked only a few, so that you don’t have to eat the whole batch. And believe me, you will want to eat them all, how delicious they are!

What you will learn in this article

Why should you bake this yummy cookie!

Quick and easy snack and you can’t go wrong with this simple recipe, all you need is some few tools and oven and you will have healthy home-baked cookies in just under 40 min. Simple you will get addicted to this cookie, and you will want to share the recipe with all of your friends.

Homemade cookies will always be better than store-bought cookies because:

• they will not contain additional chemicals, stabilisers and synthetic flavour enhancers
• they will be a much healthier choice for those with a sweet tooth
• baking them can provide an almost meditative experience, being with family and joint activities, as research shows that the baking process is a health-promoting activity
• you will use only the best ingredients, which will unequivocally contribute to a naturally excellent taste

What you need to know about ingredients

The health benefits of almonds

Almonds are a main ingredient of these cookies. Almonds will give these cookies a pronounced nutty flavour and also improve the nutritional value of this delicacy. You can read about the positive effects of almonds on health in this article:

MedicalNewsToday are explaining ” Almonds contain vitamins, minerals, protein, and fiber, and so they may offer a number of health benefits. Just a handful of almonds — approximately 1 ounce — contains one-eighth of a person’s daily protein needs. People can eat almonds raw or toasted as a snack or add them to sweet or savoury dishes”

Which Almonds are best for this recipe

For this recipe you use different types of almonds – both slices, pieces, and almond flour. The shape of the cookies will be best if you mix both slices and coarsely ground flour. For almond flour, I recommend grinding the almonds yourself in a food processor. Blanched almonds or almonds with skin can be used. Almonds with the skin will have a small, but still richer nutritional value.

Can You substitute almonds for other nuts?

Instead of almonds, you can also use other nuts or mix of different nuts. If you will replace some of the almonds with peanuts, the cost will be reduced, which is important for large families or if you want to make these cookies commercially like I do.

How to make a vegan version for this recipe?

To turn these cookies in vegan version we have to replace all animal product ingredients. These cookies can easily be turned into vegan almond cookies, because they are basically egg-free. Also for full vegan version you have to replace butter with vegan margarine, sweet cream with pure water or almond milk and you will get excellent vegan cookies. And of course, for vegan cookie version, don’t glaze them in milk chocolate, choose dark chocolate or eat a cookie without glazing it in any chocolate!

How to make a ketogenic version for this recipe and substitute sugar for sweetener ?

To get the ketogenic version for almond cookies we need to replace the sugar and reduce the net carbs.

Naturally, this cookie recipe contains large part of almonds, which are considered to be the best replacement for flour in ketogenic recipes. To reduce net carbs you would like to reduce amount of all purpose flour with additional almond flour. And of course – sugar, we have to replace that one too. I recommend replacing sugar completely with Erythritol ,Xylitol , Allulose or some blend of all of them, but of course the taste will change a little – the distinct caramel flavour of sugar will disappear, sugar does not caramelise like sugar when baked. However, it is possible to replace and , then these cookies will be able to be enjoyed by those who follow different diets, including ketogenic diet.

And of course it will also be suitable for people with diabetes mellitus. Therefore, if you or one of your relatives suffers from diabetes, I definitely recommend trying this recipe with sugar substitutes!

Glazing cookies with chocolate

Although the recipe mentions that you can glaze these cookies with milk or dark chocolate glaze, it’s completely optional. If you want extra pleasure, go ahead – glaze them in chocolate! If you want the number of calories to be lower, you can skip the chocolate glazing step.

But if you still choose to glaze the cookies in chocolate, then choose only the best chocolate available to you.

My personal choice is Callebaut or Varlhona, in the range of these brands you will find different variations of milk and dark chocolate, from different regions and different flavors . For taste experimenters, I would definitely recommend trying two special types of chocolate. The one from Varlhona range – Raspberry inspiration. By Foodcombo suggestions these two flavours – almond and Raspberries pairs excellent adding to your cookies a fruity taste. And the second option from Callebaut – Ruby chocolate, which has a strong unique taste and will go well with almond cookies, the taste will be a bit similar to the popular Kitkat ruby version.

Tools I recommend to use

1. Cooling rack – for cool your baked cookies
2. Parchment paper – if you don’t want to buy silicon mat
3. Spatula – for mixing the dough
4. Cookie Scoop
5. Flat baking pan
6. Stainles steel cookie cutter rings

How to shape and bake cookies

Learn my secrets and bake excellent almond cookies

In each chef’s repertoire, you will find the secrets of how to prepare a specific recipe. I will also share some secrets and tips to achieve excellent appearance and taste of these delicious almond cookies. Note that each technique might lead you to different size and shape cookies and will change the baking times!

Master Chef Style shaped cookies

• First, when you mix the dough, let it cool in the refrigerator to make it easier to shape the cookies, about 15-20 minutes.
• Second, form the cookies in a round shape, the size you want the cookies to be. For this purpose, I use a stainless steel cookie cutter ring in diameter of 3-4 inches, put the dough in it and flatten it flat with a spoon. This creates a flat, neat cookie shape. Baking time for flat cookies will be around 12-15 minutes at 175ºC or 347F

Shape the cookie with an ice-cream scope

The technique is straightforward, shape the cookies into small balls of about 30-60 g , depending on how big you want them. Use a bowl of cold water to mister your hands, it makes the shaping part easier. After you have weight out all of your dough, shape your dough into a cookie shape using your hands. Place the unbaked cookies on a silicone baking mat and bake for 20-25 min at 175ºC or 347F. You can flip the pan after 10 min so you get an even golden colour on both sides.

Prepare ahead so that you always have cookies to impress your children, family and friends

• The formed cookies can be baked immediately, but can be frozen, and bake only a few and the rest frozen, wrapped in foil and kept in the freezer

How to glaze cookies in chocolate

Once the almond cookies are baked, cool them on a cooling rack. To glaze the chocolate cookies, you will need tempered chocolate. Tempering chocolate is already a slightly more complicated step, but learning it will make you a better confectioner. Read the techniques in this article “How to temper chocolate quickly and easily at home”
When the chocolate is tempered, simply dip his cookie halfway, and place it on a tray covered with parchment paper. After you have glazed several cookies, place them in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to harden the chocolate.

Why use tempered chocolate?

Why use tempered chocolate instead of just dipping the cookies in melted chocolate? Tempering chocolate will harden as it cools and will be crisp, shiny and will have a distinct effect on the taste. Also, you will be able to store a cookie glazed in this way for longer. On the other hand, if you use simply melted chocolate, it will not harden, it will be soft and when it cools it will form grayish stripes, it will not be good either visually or in terms of taste.