Toffee Almond Sandies
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Buttery, sweet toffee almond sandies — humble in appearance but wonderfully good.
Photo by Alexandra Grablewski (Chronicle Books, 2018)
These toffee almond sandies were sent to me by Kelly Pittman, along with hundreds of others, for a holiday cookie contest I ran on my blog many years ago. The cookies not only won my contest, they also became a much-loved Segal family favorite. While the cookies may look plain, when you bite into them, you discover a buttery, sweet shortbread studded with melted toffee bits and crunchy almonds. They’re wonderfully good, easy to make, and long lasting. In other words, the perfect holiday cookie.
Heads up: This recipe makes a ton! It is ideal for a bake sale or gift giving, but if you’d like to make less, the recipe can easily be halved.
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Toffee Almond Sandies
Buttery, sweet toffee almond sandies — humble in appearance but wonderfully good.
Ingredients
- 3½ cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar, plus more for rolling the cookies
- 1 cup Confectioners' sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 cups sliced almonds, coarsely chopped
- 6 ounces (or 1 heaping cup) English toffee bits
Instructions
- Set racks in middle of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Combine all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt in a medium bowl; mix well.
- In the bowl of a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter, granulated sugar and Confectioners’ sugar until well combined, about 1-2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl with spatula, then add oil, eggs and almond extract; mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix slowly to combine. Stir in almonds and toffee bits.
- Shape dough into 1-inch balls, roll in sugar, then place about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets and flatten with a fork. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through cooking, for 14-17 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cookies cool on baking sheets for a few minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. These keep nicely for 4 to 5 ays stored in airtight container at room temperature.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The Cookie Dough can be Frozen for up to 3 Months: Roll the dough into balls, let set on a baking sheet in the freezer, then place in a sealable bag and press out as much air as possible. Bake as needed directly from the freezer. (Allow 1 to 2 minutes longer in the oven.) To Freeze After Baking: Let the cookies cool completely and store in an airtight container separating layers with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Before serving, remove the cookies from the container and let them come to room temperature.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (45 servings)
- Serving size: 2 cookies
- Calories: 201
- Fat: 13 g
- Saturated fat: 4 g
- Carbohydrates: 20 g
- Sugar: 10 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Sodium: 89 mg
- Cholesterol: 23 g
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Can’t wait to make these! Would love to try the others, will you please post those recipes as well? Thanks!
I made these today. Wonderful. I made half the recipe. Definitely use the parchment paper as they do brown on the bottom. How nice to have a new cookie to add to my Christmas cookie collection. Love your site and your recipes. How about a few more Christmas cookie recipes for this year??
I made these yesterday slightly deviating from the recipe. Instead of almonds and toffee, I went the pecan sandie route as they are the favorite of my boyfriend’s father. I swapped the almond extract for 2 teaspoons of vanilla, added about 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and used 2 cups of chopped/toasted pecans. I knew once I tried the batter these cookies were going to be amazing but that first bite was absolute bliss. They blew me, and everyone else, away. Eat your heart out Keebler elves!
These are quite possibly the best cookies I’ve ever eaten! I’m so glad the recipe makes 9 dozen. I may eat most of them myself!
Great ideas, Tom! So funny because as I was baking them, I wondered how they’d be with both pecans and chocolate, but because it was a cookie contest, I had to stick to the recipe. Thank you for letting me know! I’ll definitely experiment a little next time.
Wonderful cookie Jen, I was also curious if you plan on posting the other cookie recipes that were submitted? Always curious to see what other bakers created. As for these Toffee Almond Sandies, I broke mine up in batches and added some ground pecans to one group, toffee speckles (fine ground) to another & chocolate speckles to the third group sprinkling the tops lightly before making any indentations & baking. Another option is rolling them lightly in fine ground pecans or almonds before pressing into a cookie and baking.
Tom,
After making these initially exactly as Jenn wrote the recipe, I’m going to try your variations on my next batches. Pecans are always my favorite kind of nut, so I’m going to try adding them (as well as chocolate to a different batch) and I love your idea of rolling the balls in chopped pecans before pressing with a fork and baking. Great ideas. Thanks.
I love that you made all of these cookies and then did a “taste test” with your friends. Genius. And what lucky friends you have to taste all these goodies! Happy holiday! (p.s. thanks for your recent comment…so great to meet you).
Anne, Toffee Bits of Brickle is the one to use.
Hi All, I don’t think I’ll get the other recipes posted before the holidays but if you’re interested in any of them, email me at jennifer@onceuponachef.com and I’ll send them to you directly. Thanks!
We loved these cookies! They make A LOT! We’ll be adding this to our Christmas cookie list from now on for sure. Thanks!