I love how these shortbread cookies are not overly sweet and also super easy to make (from just a handful of ingredients). This would be a perfect “first” recipe for an older child to make all on their own without any help – just think how proud they’d be! They can have fun with cutting out the shapes (they don’t just have to be circles) and also giving them a variety of fork designs on top. The possibilities are endless! And don’t forget to add this recipe to your stash of homemade goodies that you plan to give out come December. Hope you enjoy this second installment in our fall baking series!
Almond Maple Shortbread Cookies
These maple almond shortbread cookies would be a perfect "first" recipe for an older child to make all on their own - just think how proud they'd be!
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons butter, softened
- 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract, I got mine from nuts.com
- 3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 300° F. Beat butter, syrup, salt and extract together on medium speed until well combined. Gently beat in the flour and add a teaspoon or two of water (if necessary) to help the dough come together.
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Roll out (or pat it out with your hands) on a lightly floured surface into one even layer 1/4" thick. Cut into 1 1/2" rounds (or another shape) and pierce with a fork in a decorative pattern.
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Bake until golden brown on the bottom (about 10 to 12 minutes). Transfer to cooling rack and serve. Store leftovers in an airtight container or freeze for a rainy day.
Recipe Notes
We recommend organic ingredients when feasible.
Nutrition Facts
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Why Sugar in Fruit Is Not “Bad” (+ Nutrition Label Change)
So yummy! My family loves this recipie.
How can I make this gluten free?
Hi Christine. We have not tried making them gluten-free but one of our readers had this to say “I used bob red mills 1-1 gf flour and added 1/4 cup blanched almond flour since it seemed a bit too soft and they were delicious!” Hope that helps. – Nicole
I had to add about half the flour again. I followed directions exactly but the flour was not sufficient. Also it says at the top 12 minutes to bake them, then at the bottom it says 30-35 minutes. Which is correct?
Not sure what technical difficulty happened there! Recipe has been fixed. Thanks for pointing that out.
If you add more flour the result will be more like a tart crust than a cookie. Instead chill the dough before rolling and use flour on your work surface and rolling pin. Worked fine that way.
I just made 2 batches of these cookies, my husband loved them, thank you for sharing this recipe. I followed your directions except I did not have pastry flour so I used white whole wheat flour and I did not have to use any water, the dough came out perfect. I will be making this recipe again.
Thanks for sharing! We’re glad to hear they turned out great everyone loved them. – Nicole
These are delicious! I do follow the exact recipe but for some reason, it makes only makes about 12 cookies. Also, the dough can be a little sticky but not sure what I am doing wrong. Regardless, they are so good!
I also had to almost double the flour. Is there a typo in the flour content? It was Soo sticky I even refrigerated it for 30 min there is no way it would have rolled out. Once I got it a better consisteny I still couldn’t roll but I pressed into circles and they baked and tasted lovely. But flour content needs to be modified.
Did you follow the rest of the recipe exactly as stated (butter temp, type of flour, etc.)? I have tested several times and the correct amount of flour is listed, but I am glad you got it to work.
There is no way this recipe is correct. Other reviewers are correct. Way to sticky and I followed the recipe exactly. I couldn’t roll these out at all. Please fix.
Can you use regular whole wheat flour, or does it need to be pastry flour? Thanks!
Pastry flour works best in this recipe both for texture and density.