Almond Pillow Cookies

Two weeks until Christmas. Tyler and I have established our Christmas plan for this year: Christmas Eve with the Clarkes, Christmas morning at Gloria's, which is the same as last year, which makes it a tradition. I am deeply in favor of this tradition.

I have been making the Christmas cookie assortment: this year brown butter snickerdoodles again, a new entry of cardamom shortbread, and the pecan sandies that Debbie makes and that I asked to learn last fall and have been making since. The cardamom shortbread is mine, a recipe I developed from a combination of two recipes I found online and the instinct that cardamom belongs in a holiday cookie in a way that is specific and correct. They are pale and sandy and fragrant and when you bite into one you taste cardamom and butter and sweetness and something that feels like December.

I made a box of cookies for Crystal and mailed it to the shelter. I included a note that said: some things I made. She texted when they arrived: these are beautiful. Did you make the cardamom ones? I said yes. She said: how did you know I would like cardamom? I said: I did not know for certain. She said: I have been trying new things and cardamom is one of them. I said: then we have that in common. She said: yes. We have that in common. I read that text three times.

Building a cookie assortment means thinking about contrast — something spiced, something nutty, something that melts clean and quiet on the tongue. These Almond Pillow Cookies are that last thing: pale and sandy and soft in the way that makes you reach for a second one before you’ve finished the first. They fit alongside cardamom and pecan and brown butter the way good company fits at a table, and I think that’s exactly what a December cookie box should feel like.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 12 min | Total Time: 32 min | Servings: 24 cookies

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar, plus more for rolling
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup finely ground blanched almonds or almond flour
1/4 teaspoon fine salt

Instructions

Preheat. Heat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Cream butter and sugar. Beat softened butter and 1/2 cup powdered sugar together with a hand mixer or stand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2–3 minutes.
Add extracts. Mix in almond extract and vanilla extract until fully incorporated.
Add dry ingredients. On low speed, mix in flour, ground almonds, and salt until the dough just comes together. It will be soft but not sticky.
Shape. Scoop dough by the tablespoon and roll into smooth balls between your palms. Place about 1 1/2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
Bake. Bake 10–12 minutes, until cookies are set and barely beginning to turn golden at the bottom edges. They should remain pale on top.
First sugar roll. While still warm (but cool enough to handle, about 3 minutes out of the oven), gently roll each cookie in powdered sugar to coat. Place on a wire rack to cool completely.
Second sugar roll. Once fully cooled, roll each cookie in powdered sugar a second time for a thick, even coating.

Nutrition (per serving)

Almond Pillow Cookies — The Ones That Taste Like December