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Author: Sally
Published: 12/02/2021Updated: 11/27/2022
These almond butter cookies sparkle with a roll in coarse sugar or colorful sanding sugar sprinkles! They’re deliciously thick and the crunchy sugar coating contrasts perfectly with the pillow soft centers.
This recipe is part of my annual holiday cookie countdown called Sally’s Cookie Palooza. Every year since 2013, I work on a handful of new cookie recipes and publish the 10 best ones for readers to enjoy. It’s the biggest, tastiest event of the year on my website!
Tell Me About These Almond Butter Sparkle Cookies
- Flavor: Enjoy almond butter, almonds, brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla all in one—a medley of humble, yet flavorful ingredients.
- Texture: If you love a good texture contrast, these cookies are for you. The coarse crunchy sugar coating acts as a crust for the soft almond butter crumbs inside. The cookies are NOT cakey—just very soft. The chopped almonds in the cookies slightly soften during bake time so don’t worry, you won’t be biting into break-your-teeth almond chunks.
- Ease: This recipe is great for beginners because it uses basic ingredients and doesn’t require complicated shaping. And bonus! That pretty sugar coating is basically built in festive decoration without the need for icing or other garnishes. With so many Christmas cookies to make and so little time, we all can use an easy recipe in our repertoire.
- Time: Chilling the cookie dough is imperative, but the great news is that the dough only needs about 30 minutes to thicken up in the refrigerator before rolling and baking. This quick chill time is enough for you to preheat the oven and get the coarse sugar/sprinkles ready for rolling. The recipe moves pretty quickly.
The Consistency of Your Almond Butter is Important
Nut butters have a range of thickness. For example, processed store-bought creamy peanut butter such as Jif creamy is much thicker than natural-style oily thin peanut butter. Or, in today’s case, the start of a fresh jar of almond butter is thinner than the bottom of the jar. The difference in consistency between brands or even within the same jar will change how your cookie dough looks, feels, and bakes.
If you want crinkles and cracks in today’s almond butter cookies, pour out excess oil from the jar and stir it up very well before measuring. And don’t forget to chill the dough for 30 minutes before baking.
Look At The Difference
I always love a good cookie comparison and you can find other comparisons in my brownie cookies and coconut lime cookies recipe testing processes. Pictured next you can see the difference between using a runny almond butter (left, more spread) vs a thicker almond butter (right, less spread and more crinkles). Both cookies use the same dough, taste identical, and are certainly pretty, but if you wonder why your cookies don’t have crinkles/cracks—thin almond butter could be the culprit!
The almond butter pictured nexton the left is pretty thick and what I used for the crinkled cookies. It’s hard to tell, but the almond butter pictured with the other ingredients is thinner and produced cookies with fewer cracks.
Overview: How To Make Almond Butter Sparkle Cookies
You need 10 main ingredients for these almond butter cookies including all-purpose flour, brown & white granulated sugars, vanilla, baking soda, cinnamon, egg, almond butter, salt, and butter. Some advice:
- Use creamy almond butter
- Add optional chopped almonds: For more flavor, add chopped roasted, salted, raw, or unsalted almonds. I like using roasted salted almonds because their flavor pairs nicely with cinnamon and sweet brown sugar.
- Sugar coating: You have some options for the coarse sugar coating. I like using white “sparkling sugar” and it’s usually sold as sprinkles in the baking aisle. I use this ingredient often for recipes like shortbread cookies, stained glass window cookies, and even jumbo chocolate chip muffins. The red and green cookies are coated in sanding sugar sprinkles. If you’re shopping online, I like (affiliate links) these multicolor, these white, these green, and these red. They’re what I usually use when making festive peanut butter blossoms. You can also use turbinado sugar or just regular granulated sugar, a convenient ingredient already in the cookie dough.
The cookie dough is soft after it comes together. Chill it for 30 minutes before rolling into balls, coating in sugar, and baking.
Can I Skip or Use Other Nut Butters?
- For a nut-free version of this recipe, make these Christmas Cookie Sparkles or swap the almond butter for sunflower seed butter or Biscoff spread.
- And you can replace the almond butter with peanut butter, cashew butter, or other nut butter of choice. I have not tested this recipe with chocolate hazelnut spread such as Nutella.
Sally’s Cookie Palooza
This recipe is part of my annual cookie countdown called Sally’s Cookie Palooza. It’s the biggest, most delicious event of the year! Browse dozens of cookie recipes over on the Sally’s Cookie Palooza page including:
- Peanut Butter Blossoms
- Christmas Sugar Cookies
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Gingerbread Cookies
- Butter Cookies
And here are 75+ Christmas cookies with all my best success guides & tips.
Almond Butter Sparkle Cookies
5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star5 from 7 reviews
- Author: Sally
- Prep Time: 45 minutes (includes chilling)
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 5 minutes
- Yield: 24 cookies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
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Description
Thesealmond butter cookiessparkle with a roll in coarse sugar or colorful sanding sugar sprinkles! They’re deliciously thick and the crunchy sugar coating contrasts perfectly with the pillow soft centers.
Ingredients
- 1 and 2/3 cups (210g) all-purpose flour()
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (128g) creamy unsalted almond butter, at room temperature*
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup (about 105g) chopped almonds* (optional, see note)
- 3/4 cup(150g) coarse sugar or colored sanding sugar sprinkles*
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together until combined. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until creamed, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine. Add the almond butter and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, pour in the chopped almonds if using, and beat on low speed until combined. The dough will be soft and thick. Cover dough tightly with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes and up to 3 days. I recommend just a quick 30 minutes. (Note: If chilling for longer than a couple hours, let dough sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes to slightly soften. Otherwise cookie dough balls may not spread.)
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.Set aside.
- Pour coarse/sanding sugar in a bowl or, if using multiple colors, a few separate bowls.
- Roll balls of cookie dough, about 1 heaping Tablespoon of dough per cookie, then roll each ball in the coarse/sanding sugar to coat. Place each dough ball 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake the cookies for 12-13 minutes or until edges appear set. (Note: If cookies are not spreading by the 8-9 minute mark, remove baking sheet from oven and gently drop/bang baking sheet on the counter a few times or gently press down with back of a spoon. This helps initiate a bit more spread.)
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. See step 3. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature, if desired, before serving. Unbaked cookie dough balls (without sugar coating) will freeze well for up to 3 months. Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour, preheat oven, then roll in sanding sugar. Bake as directed. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Coarse/Sanding Sugar (such as these multicolor, these white, these green, and these red) | Cooling Rack
- Almond Butter: If using a new jar of almond butter, pour out excess oil and stir it well to fully combine the thinner top layer and thicker bottom layer. Use creamy almond butter. If you decide to use crunchy almond butter or if your creamy almond butter is particularly thick, the cookies may not spread as much—but gently pressing the coated cookie dough balls down (like we do with the sugar cookie version) before baking would help.
- Almonds: You can use roasted, salted, raw, or unsalted almonds. I like using roasted salted almonds because the sweet/salty contrast is delicious here and a roasted flavor pairs nicely with cinnamon and sweet brown sugar. The almonds will slightly soften in the baked cookies—they do not stay hard/crunchy.
- Sugar Coating: You have some options for the coarse sugar coating. I like using white “sparkling sugar” and it’s usually sold as sprinkles in the baking aisle. You can also use sanding sugar sprinkles, which is what I used in the pictured red and green cookies. If you’re shopping online, I like (affiliate links) these multicolor, these white, these green, and these red. You can also use turbinado sugar or just regular granulated sugar, a convenient ingredient already in the cookie dough.
- Gluten Free/Almond Flour: We have not tested this recipe with almond flour instead of all-purpose flour. For a gluten free version, I recommend these almond butter chocolate chip cookies. You can leave out the chocolate chips and roll the cookie dough balls as best you can in sugar/sanding sugar sprinkles. If you love almond flour, try these almond butter coconut macaroons.
