Almond Cookie Cups

I love cookies baked in little cups! I’ve made quite a few different ones. They look so fancy but they are pretty easy to put together. I also think that a little cookie dough goes a long way when making cookie cups. This recipe uses just a 1/3 cup of butter, 1 egg and 1 cup of flour for 36 cookies. That’s a pretty efficient use of ingredients!

I made these cookies as the “nut” variety of cookies for the National Library Week tea that we had at work. I love almonds and think that almond extract is just about the best smelling stuff on earth! I used sliced almonds in these, since you just crush them a little with your hand and you’ve got chopped almonds. I hate having to mess up a cutting board and a knife. I mixed these in the saucepan, but you could make them in your mixer if you’d prefer. I wouldn’t over work the dough too much, though.

These bake up to be the perfect little cups. I didn’t even bother icing them, since they looked great as is. But everything is better with frosting so I’m sure these would be even better with the icing. These are chewy on the inside and have a light crisp top, so you get both textures in one cookie. They were very popular at the tea and the cookies that were left stayed fresh for quite a few days. (This is not something that I have the opportunity to test very often!) 

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup butter

1 egg

½ teaspoon almond extract

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 cup flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

½ cup chopped almonds

¾ cup powdered sugar

¼ teaspoon almond extract

2-3 teaspoons milk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 36 mini muffin cups with paper liners.

In a saucepan, stir brown sugar and butter over medium heat until mixture is melted and smooth. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Stir in egg, almond extract and vanilla.

In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and stir just until combined. Stir in 1/3 cup of the chopped almonds. Spoon batter into prepared mini muffin cups. Sprinkle tops with the remaining chopped almonds.

Bake for 13-15 minutes, until the tops of the cups are lightly browned. Cool in the muffin pan for 5 minutes and then remove the cups to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the glaze: in a small bowl combine the powdered sugar, almond extract and enough milk to make a glaze of drizzling consistency. Drizzle over the cooled cookie cups.

Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens