Made with an addictive cream cheese dough, rolled in sugar, and topped with an optional almond garnish these Meltaway Almond Cookies are absolutely amazing.
Course Baked Good, Cookies
Cuisine American
Keyword almond cookies, almond cream cheese cookies, cookies
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese with a hand mixer until smooth. Slowly add the powdered sugar a little at a time until combined. Add in the egg, baking powder, vanilla, almond extract, and salt. Mix to combine. Add the flour in slowly until fully incorporated, scraping the sides as needed. Place in the fridge for at least one hour to rest.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, add the sugar. Set aside.
Roll dough into 2 tablespoons sized balls. Roll the dough balls in the granulated sugar until coated. Roll a second time in the sugar for an extra crunchy exterior. Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
Decorate the tops of the cookies with the whole and sliced almonds, this step is optional. With the flat bottom of a glass, slightly press down the tops of the cookies, do not fully flatten, we are just looking for an evenly flat top.
Bake for about 12 minutes, until just set. Do not overbake, it is hard to tell when these cookies are ready, they will puff up but won't get golden brown on the top, the bottoms will appear slightly golden. Let cool on baking sheet until completely cool. Cookies will continue to cook and set up in the center on the baking sheet, this is a very important step.
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Notes
You can double this recipe to make more or halve it to make less.
If you are not a fan of almond you can use all vanilla and omit almond on top.
You can substitute vanilla bean paste with vanilla extract 1:1.
These need to be chilled for at least 1 hour before baking, this helps them set up and not spread when baked.
DO NOT OVER BAKE these will have a slightly golden bottom when they are ready to be taken out of the oven.
Make sure to let cool completely they will still bale once they are removed from the oven.