These festive Gluten Free Chocolate Almond Butter Cookies are perfect for the holidays. They’re light and buttery, dipped in dark chocolate with a sprinkle of sliced almonds.
ME BEFORE THE RECIPE…
I’m going to let you in on a little secret: I had plans to sleep all day. Like literally not get out of bed for hours. I was going to send the girls on the bus and climb back into bed, not to wake again until those nuggets returned home from school.
Am I sick?
No.
Am I depressed?
No,
Am I tired???
YES!!!
Seriously, I had no better reason to sleep than the simple fact that I am downright worn out and exhausted; tired to the point that I couldn’t even stay awake while chaperoning my 4th grader’s field trip yesterday. I fell asleep on the drive there, I dozed off during the educational video (it was about building pueblos people!), and I returned to a drooling slumber on the trip home.
At first I felt guilty that I was such a bore. I had every intention of being the exciting mom, but I just didn’t have it in me. Turns out the kids still had fun with me around, just not in your conventional way. Apparently patting and poking the sleeping bus mom is a pretty fun game to 4th graders; a game which I was completely unaware I was a participant in until I awoke to a random girl’s hands on my head.
Weird.
Anyway, my plans of sleeping the day away were interrupted by leaky faucet repairs, baskets of laundry, breakfast dishes, and unmade beds. The fact that I even had an unmade bed to return to after sending my kids on the bus is proof that I was planning on sleeping. Making my bed is the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning. Today I said, “No bed! I’m not making you. I’ll be back soon! Stay warm and cozy.”
Well, I lied. My poor bed has been neglected all morning, and now here I sit typing away at the computer, posting a recipe. Curse of the productive!
But here’s the deal: I couldn’t, without a guilty conscience, wait one more day before posting these simple and delicious holiday cookies. Who would I be if I didn’t provide you with the recipe for these cute festive butter cookies before Christmas??? A grinch! That’s what I would be. A well rested grinch, but a grinch nonetheless.
HERE COMES THE RECIPE…
So before I get lured off to a midday slumber, let me introduce you to these dainty Gluten Free Chocolate Almond Butter Cookies. Aren’t they beauties?!
These gluten free chocolate almond butter cookies remind me of those shortbread butter cookies you get in that circular blue tin around Christmas time. You know, the ones that come in different shapes and some of them have coarse sugar sprinkled on top? I loved those cookies as a kid!
Basically these butter cookies taste similar to those and even have the same shape as one of the cookies in the assortment.
BUT, you want to know what makes my cookies better? Well first and foremost they’re dipped in chocolate, which is a no fail recipe win. Second of all, they are gluten free so you can share with all your gluten free people out there. And lastly, they are HOMEMADE which means no weird preservatives that keep those packaged tin cookies fresh for months on end.
These gluten free chocolate almond butter cookies have multiple flavor options dependent on your personal preference. I flavored my cookie dough with a little almond extract for this version. You can leave that out and have straight butter and vanilla flavored shortbread cookies instead.
There are also multiple flavor variations for the chocolate coating. You could use white or dark chocolate and flavor it with peppermint extract and use crushed peppermints for sprinkling. Or you could just sprinkle the chocolate with festive colored nonpareils sprinkles.
Another variation is dipping the cookies in white chocolate and then sprinkling them with crushed up gluten free chocolate creme cookies for a cookies n’ cream variety. I’m sure the flavor combos are endless.
Not only are these gluten free chocolate almond butter cookies tasty, but they are nearly effortless. I use a premade gluten free flour blend and the dough can go straight from the bowl to the pastry bag, ready to be piped. The only waiting is chilling the shaped dough for 15-20 minutes in the fridge before baking. Simple, just simple.
So if you haven’t yet made the world a better place with Christmas cookie deliveries, may I suggest you make these? Your neighbors and friends will love you for it. And I’m all about buying love with goodies.
YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY…
- Gluten Free Christmas Cookies
- Gluten Free Thumbprint Cookies
- Gluten Free Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies
- Gluten Free Ginger Molasses Cookies
- Gluten Free Chocolate Peppermint Hershey’s Kisses Cookies
Gluten Free Chocolate Almond Butter Cookies
Ingredients
For the cookie dough:
- 2 sticks butter room temperature
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg yolk large
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract optional
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups high quality gluten free all purpose flour I used Cup 4 Cup
For the topping:
- 1 1/2 cups Ghirardelli melting wafers preferred flavor
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds toasted
Instructions
Making the cookies:
- Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat mats. Set aside.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl or stand mixer, beat together butter, sugar, and egg yolk until smooth. Add vanilla and optional almond extract and mix until incorporated. Add flour and salt and mix until combined.
- Transfer dough to piping bag fitted with an open star piping tip (I used Ateco #826). Pipe small rings of dough, about 1 1/2″ in diameter, spacing them 1″ apart on cookie sheets. If dough has a peak when you pull up with piping bag, just push down with your finger to connect the dough.
- Chill piped cookie dough in fridge for 15-30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees while cookie dough is chilling.
- Bake cookies, one pan at a time, for 11-13 minutes at 350 degrees until barely turning golden on the edges. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely on baking sheets.
Making the dip:
- While cookies are cooling, toast sliced almonds in oven at 350 degrees for 5 minutes or until fragrant, stirring halfway through. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
- Once cookies are completely cooled, melt Ghirardelli melting wafers according to package directions. Stir until smooth.
- Dip cookies halfway into melted chocolate, scraping bottom of cookie across side of the bowl after dipping to remove most of the chocolate underneath. Place cookies back on parchment paper or silpat mat lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle top with sliced almonds.
- Let cookies set at room temperature until chocolate hardens, or return to fridge for 10-15 minutes until chocolate hardens. Serve cookies at room temperature.
Storing cookies:
- Store cookies with wax paper or parchment paper between each layer. Keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, in fridge for up to 1 week, or in freezer for up to 3 months. Let frozen or chilled cookies come to room temperature before serving.
