Inspiration comes from many places. In the case of these Vanilla Almond Praline Shortbread Cookies, I was watching the tv show You on Netflix, when one of the characters mentioned vanilla almond praline cake. That sounded like a pretty winning flavor combo to me, so I knew I’d have to create a recipe with this duo.
Shortbread cookies are one of my favorite sweets. They’re super versatile, and really simple. Shortbread cookies are usually just made with butter, flour, and sugar. For these cookies, I added vanilla extract, vanilla bean paste, and praline almonds. You can use the seeds scraped from a vanilla bean if you don’t have vanilla bean paste. I personally prefer vanilla bean paste, since it’s much easier to work with. I always keep a jar of it on hand!
This is a smaller batch of cookies than you’d find in a typical shortbread recipe. The reason for this is simple; in quarantine, it’s just me and my boyfriend. With no friends or coworkers to share my bakes with, I’ve been gravitating towards smaller batch baking. This recipe yields about 15 or so cookies, which is perfect for us. If you’d like to make more, this recipe doubles easily.
Related Recipes
If you enjoy these Vanilla Almond Praline Shortbread Cookies, you’ll probably like these Brown Butter White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies, or these Pecan Sandies.
For another almond flavored sweet treat, try this Almond Apricot Cake. This cake is totally vegan, and perfect for snacking!
If you’d like a nutty new brunch recipe, make these Chocolate Hazelnut Rolls with Vanilla Bean Icing. Imagine Nutella all grown up and wrapped in sweet dough, and that’s kinda what these rolls are like.
Vanilla Almond Praline Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- ¼ cup sliced almonds
- 3 tablespoons granulated white sugar
- ½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- ¾ cup + 1 tablespoon powdered sugar divided
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or seeds from 1 vanilla bean, divided
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
- First, make the praline almonds. Add the almonds and 3 tablespoons granulated white sugar to a saucepan, and heat over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is completely melted and coats the almonds.
- Once the sugar is melted, continue to cook until the sugar is golden brown in color. Make sure not to let the almonds brown too much. Once the sugar is golden brown and the almonds are toasty, pour the praline almonds onto wax paper to cool.
- With a mixer, beat together the butter and ¼ cup powder sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add ½ teaspoon vanilla extract and ½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste, or seeds from ½ vanilla bean. Beat until combined.
- Add the flour, and mix until no more dry spots remain.
- Reserve about 2 tablespoons of the praline almonds. Add the rest of the almonds to the cookie dough, and mix until well distributed throughout.
- Shape the dough into a disk, and wrap in plastic. Chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Once ready to bake, preheat oven to 350° F.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out until it's about ¼ inch thick. Cut the cookies into your preferred shape, then transfer them to a baking sheet, leaving a bit of distance between the cookies.
- Bake for 15 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly golden brown at the edges.
- Let the cookies sit on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Let cool completely.
- To make the icing, combine ½ cup + 1 tablespoon powder sugar with 1 tablespoon water and ½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste, or seeds from ½ vanilla bean. Stir until well combined, then dip the cookies into the icing so that half of each cookie is covered. Sprinkle some of the reserved almonds onto icing. Repeat for the rest of the cookies.
