Almond Shortbread Stars Recipes

Steps:

• In a large bowl, beat butter with 1/2 cup sugar and almond extract until light and fluffy. With a wooden spoon, stir in flour until smooth and well combined. Divide dough into 2 parts. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
• On lightly sugared surface, roll out dough, one part at a time, about 1/2-inch thick. Cut out cookies with a 1 1/2-inch round cookie cutter. Place on ungreased cookie sheet 1 inch apart. Make an indentation in the center of each cookie with the end of a wooden spoon.
• Bake in preheated oven until cookies are light golden brown around the edges, 25 to 30 minutes. While still warm, roll in sugar. Cool completely on a wire rack. Store in an air-tight container.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• With mixer beat butter and sugar until creamy.
• Beat in almond extract and salt.
• Mix in flour and blend into a soft dough by hand.
• Press dough into an ungreased 8x8" pan, top with almonds, pressing into dough bake 25-30 minutes until golden brown around edges.
• Use a dull knife to cut into squares while still warm when cool use a spatula to transfer slices to a rack to completely cool.

Steps:

• Butter an 8 1/2-inch cake or springform pan; set aside. Sift together flour and salt into a small bowl; set aside. Place butter in bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Cream until fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add sugar, and continue to beat until very light in color and fluffy, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, about 2 minutes more. Add vanilla, if using. Add flour mixture, and combine on low speed, scraping with spatula if necessary, until flour is just incorporated and dough sticks together when squeezed with fingers.
• Pat dough into prepared pan. If rolling out dough to cut into shapes, form into a flat disk; wrap in plastic. Chill until firm, at least 1 hour.
• Puree 1/2 cup blanched almonds; add to creamed butter and sugar with 1 teaspoon almond extract. Roll on lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into star shapes; chill. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Bake until firm and just starting to color, 15 to 20 minutes. Toss cooled shortbread in confectioners' sugar.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the beaten egg and extract. Add the flour, ground almonds and lemon zest and mix until the dough comes together.
• Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead into a ball. Divide the dough in half and then roll each half into a log, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap each log in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour (the dough can be frozen at this point for a later use).
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Remove the dough from the plastic wrap and slice into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Place the cookies onto the prepared baking sheets and bake until golden brown at the edges, about 15 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheets for 3 or 4 minutes before transferring to wire cooling racks to cool completely, or just eat warm from the oven.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Beat butter and sugar in mixer bowl until fluffy.
• Beat in egg yolks and vanilla and almond extracts.
• Mix in flour and toasted almonds until the mixture forms a soft dough.
• Divide dough in half.
• Press one half into 15x10-inch jellyroll pan.
• Spread evenly with preserves.
• Cover completely with remaining dough (flatten pieces with hands and carefully patch on top of preserve layer).
• Bake 45 minutes, or until golden brown.
• Cut into 3x1-inch bars.
• Can be made ahead.
• Wrap and freeze up to 1 month.
• Thaw wrapped at room temperature.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
• Have ready a 6 inch tart pan with a removable bottom.
• In the bowl of your electric mixer cream the butter and sugar until smooth.
• Beat in the vanilla extract.
• In another bowl whisk together the flour, cornstarch, almond meal and salt. Add this mixture to the butter and sugar mixture and beat just until incorporated.
• Press the shortbread dough evenly into the tart pan.
• Prick the surface of the shortbread with a fork to prevent the shortbread from puffing up.
• Using a sharp knife, score the top of the shortbread into 8 even pieces.
• Gently press the flaked almonds in a decorative pattern on the top of the shortbread.
• Place in preheated oven and bake until it is nicely browned, roughly one hour 15 minutes. Transfer shortbread to rack and cool for five minutes before removing from tart pan.
• Place the shortbread round on a cutting board and cut along the score lines into 8 wedges.
• Cool completely on a wire rack.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the cookies in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, and process until fine crumbs form. Add about 3/4 cup almonds with the sugar and salt; process until fine crumbs form. Add the butter, and process until the mixture comes together.
• Coarsely chop the remaining almonds, and stir into the crust mixture. Press into the bottom and sides of 2 8-inch pie plates to form a crust, and bake until they are just turning golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Steps:

• Cream butter, sugar and vanilla.
• With your almonds, either just crush them or you can put them into a blender/food processor to either make very small pieces or ground. its your preference as to how you would like them. mix the almonds with the flour and salt.
• When the butter is creamed, add the flour mix. it will seem crumbley, keep mixing until it comes together.
• When mixed well, separate into 4 equal balls.
• I use a pizza pan because I can do the whole batch on one pan. Lightly grease pan. Take balls and press until about 1/4-inch thick. cut into six pieces (yes, before you bake).
• Bake for 12-14 minutes. You don't want them browned, just set well.
• When they are done, take them out and cut again and put on cooling rack still together. Let cool. Store in tight container. I use ziplock bags.