Almond Croissant Cookies!
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A combination of the viral almond croissants and my famous NYC cookies into one bake – almond frangipane stuffed NYC cookies!
These cookies are 100% my new obsession and I have made them over 10 times already. These almond croissant cookies are the ELITE.
NYC Cookies
So my New York style cookies are something that have been around for a long time now, and I am still just as obsessed with them now as I was in the beginning. I should probably apologise to those who don’t like cookies that I have no published SO many NYC Cookie recipes, but I am not sorry – they’re my love and my addiction.
For those who want to know “what is a New York style cookie” – the idea is originally from New York, and they are essentially GIANT cookies with a particular texture. They’re thick, crunchy on the outside and gooey in the middle. They are designed to be huge, and I adore them. I quite literally just want to book flights back to New York to eat them again but that does seem quite extra.
My NYC Chocolate Chip Cookies were the original base cookie, and it took SO many attempts to crack the recipe. I wanted to simplify recipes that I could see out already, and make them more accessible with fewer ingredients, or less steps – or just easier in general.
Since the beginning I have published quite a few more, some exclusive recipes (including two in my new book, Jane’s Patisserie Classic), and others such as my triple chocolate NYC cookies, my white chocolate fudge NYC cookies and my biscoff stuffed NYC cookies to just name a few of my personal favourites.
Almond croissants
I am also, just the same as seemingly millions of other people, obsessed with almond croissant. I feel like I was a little behind the cult obsession with these because I have adore an almond croissant for years and years – this isn’t a boast, it’s just a fact.
There are more and more almond croissants cropping up and I have seen freshly baked croissants with almonds on top of them, day old croissants baked again with a frangipane filling, and many other variations. I will try any, from any bakery if I can because I am determined to find the best one.
Almond bakes in general are my dream – I understand if you are allergic to nuts or don’t like them, this will completely skip past you and I get that. For me, however, almond exists in Bakewell themed recipes and ideas and this is one of my favourite things EVER. Almond is also just absolutely cracking without being in Bakewell.
Almond filling
So, the filling for these cookies is optional. You can skip this part if you are not fussed, and just make the cookies themselves – and that is totally okay. However, I would personally say these are SO MUCH BETTER with this filling. The filling is basically a frangipane filling, that you prep before you start the cookie dough.
- Ground almonds – this may come under ground almonds or almond flour depending on where you are. It’s the pale light colour finely ground almonds you after
- Sugar – I use light brown soft sugar in the filling and the cookie dough for flavour, it gives a hint of caramel
- Egg – I use medium eggs in my baking. If you only have large, that is fine – you just want the smallest large egg you can find. Or, one small egg should also be okay
- Butter – a small amount of melted butter for binding the mix along with the egg. Add a little more of this if you are using small eggs
- Flavours – I use vanilla and almond extract in the filling for all of the flavour intensity
It’s a simple mixture that you can stir together in a bowl. It should make a thick enough paste. I make the paste, and then chill the mix in the freezer/fridge whilst I make the cookie dough.
Cookie dough
The cookie dough itself is similar to the other NYC Cookies that I have on my blog already. However, the measurements are changed slightly to increase the quantity of cookie dough so that you can make enough cookies.
- Butter – Whether its baking spread or butter – I use fridge cold baking spread, or room temp block butter.
- Sugar – I used a mix of granulated sugar and light brown soft sugar to help the flavour
- Egg – I tend to use medium eggs in my bakes, but you can use one large egg instead of.
- Flavours – Vanilla and almond extract again – optional, but adds a delicious flavour.
- Flour – Always use plain flour in your cookies!! You don’t want self raising flour as it will create a cake like cookie.
- Ground almond – this is an extra in these cookies to make them more almond like.
- Raising agents – For these, I use bicarbonate of soda and baking powder. Bicarb is a classic addition as the raising agent for cookies, and baking powder helps create the texture you are after in a New York style cookie
- Salt – I always add sea salt to my cookies because it’s delicious, but you can definitely leave it out, or use salted butter
As an optional extra, I get a bowl of flaked almonds and then dunk what will be the top of the cookie into them once made. This is optional, but I love it.
Making the cookies
So, the almond filling is quite easy to make. It should make a thick paste – and once this is chilled, you can scoop it. This recipe makes ten large cookies, so you want to split the paste into ten as well. I use a small scoop for consistency, but tablespoons work as well.
I make the cookie dough the same as I always do. Beat the butter and sugars together, and then add the egg and flavourings. Mix these together, and then add the dry ingredients; flour, almonds, raising agents and salt. This should make a thick cookie dough which you can then split into ten as well. They will weigh about 80g each.
The cookie dough itself weighs less than a typical NYC Cookie does because you have to also consider the weight of the filling as well. Normal NYC Cookies typically weight about 120g before baking.
I flatten the cookie dough in my hand, add a scoop of the chilled filling, and wrap the cookie dough around – I then also ‘dunk’ the cookies into a bowl of flaked almonds to add them to what will be the top of the cookie. You then need to chill the cookies again ideally for sixty minutes in the fridge, or 30 minutes in the freezer. This helps prevent the cookies from turning into pancakes.
The cookies bake at quite a high temperature compared to some recipes as you don’t want the cookies to spread too much – the heat is designed to ‘shock’ the cookies into place but bake them enough a the same time. Some ovens may need a slightly lower temperature if they are browning too quickly.
How to make this recipe Free-From
Gluten free – Swap the flour to gluten free plain flour (make sure all other ingredients are gluten free). For texture, you can add 1/4tsp xanthan gum (per 150g of flour) to your flour if it doesn’t already contain it
Dairy free – Swap the butter to a dairy free butter
Vegan – Same as above, but swap the egg for 50-75ml of vegan milk (the amount you need may vary so add slowly and mix for both the frangipane and cookie dough)
Tips & Tricks
- These cookies are one of the best things I have ever baked – any questions, leave them below.
- These cookies will last for 3-4+ days at room temperature
- You can freeze the baked cookies for 3+ months
- The raw cookie dough will last 48 hours in the fridge before baking
- The raw cookie dough can also freeze for 3+ months. You just need to add 1-2 minutes baking time to bake from frozen
Almond Croissant Cookies!
Ingredients
Filling
- 175 g ground almonds
- 125 g light brown soft sugar
- 1 medium egg (or large)
- 25 g unsalted butter (melted)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract
Cooking Dough
- 150 g unsalted butter
- 125 g light brown soft sugar
- 90 g white granulated sugar
- 1 medium egg (or large)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 285 g plain flour
- 75 g ground almonds
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 0.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp sea salt
Topping
- 50 g flaked almonds
- icing sugar
Instructions
Filling
- Add the melted butter, almonds, sugar, egg, vanilla and almond extract to a bowl and mix to a paste
- Chill in the fridge/freezer whilst you make the cookie dough
Cookie Dough
- Add the butter and sugars to a new bowl and mix
- Add the egg and vanilla extract and almond extract and mix again
- Add the flour, almonds, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt and mix to a cookie dough
- Portion the filling into ten portions - I use a scoop but you can use tablespoons
- Portion the cookie dough into ten portions - they weigh about 80g each.
- Flatten a piece of cookie dough in the palm of your hands
- Add a portion of frangipane filling and wrap the cookie dough around
- Dunk the ‘top’ of the cookies into flaked almonds and place onto lined trays
- Chill the cookies in the fridge for an hour and preheat the oven to 200ºc/180ºc fan
- Bake for 11-12 minutes and then leave to cool for 30 mins. Dust with icing sugar
Notes
- These cookies are one of the best things I have ever baked - any questions, leave them below.
- These cookies will last for 3-4+ days at room temperature
- You can freeze the baked cookies for 3+ months
- The raw cookie dough will last 48 hours in the fridge before baking
- The raw cookie dough can also freeze for 3+ months. You just need to add 1-2 minutes baking time to bake from frozen
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J x
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So delicious! Turned out perfectly 🙂 x
These cookies are absolutely divine. Years ago I created an almond sweet roll recipe and those rolls were always something people fawned over. These cookies have the same flavor, and the texture of them is fantastic…a little crunchy in the outside but soft and a little chewy in the inside. They will be my go-to recipe for when I need to take cookies to something but want them to be special.
The only change I made was I used half the filling per cookie. If I rolled the dough into a 10” disc I might have been able to fit it all, but I just pressed the dough in my hands to a 5-6” circle, and a tablespoon of filling rolled into a ball and flattened slightly was just the right amount. When formed my cookies, they were not ball shaped — they were shaped like a thick cookie and spread a little bit did not really flatten a lot. Perfect thickness and size. Mine baked in about 10 minutes. I baked just one (the rest are in the fridge) just to test out the baking time, and since I was only baking one I didn’t in a large toaster oven. The first cookie was darker than I preferred after just 10 minutes, so when I baked a second, I dropped the temperature a little. Even that browned the cookie rather quickly (did not result in increased spreading). I suggest that anyone making these for the first time should bake one or two cookies before putting a whole sheet of them in the oven. Makes adjustments as necessary when you bake the rest.
The cookies have ended up being domb shaped and not flattened out. Do I leave them in the oven for longer?
No, this means they may have been rolled too tightly, or your oven runs hotter – just need to lower the over temp and bake for slightly longer next time instead x
Do these work best with almonds that are already ground or can you grind your own? (I have some whole almonds in the cupboard that need using up)