Almond Thins Food

ALMOND THINS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth. Sift together the flour and salt and slowly stir into butter mixture until just blended.
• Divide batter in half and place each half on in the center of two ungreased, flat-sided cookie sheets. Dip a spatula in warm water and spread batter to cover the entire baking sheet, making sure batter is spread evenly. Sprinkle almonds and press gently into dough.
• Bake each sheet about 12 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned. Cut hot cookies into 2-inch squares. Return to oven and bake until lightly golden... about 5 minutes. Watch carefully to prevent over baking.
• Remove from oven to a wire rack. Slide spatula under cookies to loosen. Cool completely on cookie sheets. Store in airtight containers with waxed paper between layers.

LOW CARB ALMOND THIN CRACKERS

Steps:

• Mix all ingredients well in a small bowl; everything should be moist and the dough should hold together somewhat.
• Put the dough on a well-greased sheet of parchment paper or heavy-duty aluminum foil, about 15x18" (it's helpful to crumble the dough mixture and spread the crumbs in a roughly rectangular shape on the foil).
• Cover the dough with a piece of wax paper that's been sprayed with non-stick spray.
• Roll out the dough to about 1/8" thick or slightly thinner; try to get the dough to an even thickness; you can also carefully peel up the wax paper and reshape the dough to get it as close to rectangular as possible, about 9x9" square.
• Replace the wax paper and continue rolling until nice and even.
• Peel off the wax paper and use a pizza or ravioli cutter to score the dough into approximately 48 1-inch squares.
• Lift the foil and set it on the oven rack and bake them at 325º for 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown.
• Check after 10 minutes and if crackers at outer edge are getting pretty brown, remove those and continue baking the rest until golden; use a thin metal spatula to very gently pry the crackers from the foil.
• Break them apart on the score lines and let cool.

ALMOND THINS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F
• Spread the almonds on a rimmed baking sheet and toast, tossing occasionally, until golden, 4 to 5 minutes; let cool. (Or, toast on the stove top in an iron skillet ~ stir constantly til golden. Be careful not to burn them!).
• In a food processor, pulse ½ cup of the almonds with ½ cup of the brown sugar until the almonds are finely ground. Transfer to a medium bowl and stir in the flour, baking soda, and salt.
• With an electric mixer, beat the butter and the remaining ½ cup brown sugar at medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract and beat to combine. Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually mix in the flour-nut mixture just until combined (do not overmix). Gently fold in the remaining ½ cup almonds.
• Form the dough into two 12-by-1½-inch logs. Refrigerate, tightly wrapped, until firm, about 2 hours or up to 2 days.
• Heat oven to 350° F with the racks in the upper and lower thirds. Working with 1 log at a time (keep the other chilled), cut it into ¼-inch slices and place the slices on 2 baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. Bake, rotating the baking sheets halfway through, until golden, 9 to 11 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
• Keep the cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

CRISPY ALMOND BUTTER THINS (COOKIES)

Steps:

• Using a heavy duty stand mixer cream butter with sugar and almond extract on medium speed until well combined (about 5 minutes or until no sugar granules should remain).
• Beat in egg yolks until combined.
• In a small bowl combine the flour with salt until combined; add to the creamed mixture and mix on low speed until combined.
• Remove to a surface and work the dough using with clean hands until smooth.
• Divide the dough evenly in half.
• Shape into two logs, wrap in waxed paper or plastic wrap and chill for minimum 3 hours or until very hard.
• Set oven to 350°F.
• Set oven rack to second-lowest position.
• Unwrap the dough log then slice into about 1/4-inch slices (the thinner that you slice these the crispier they will be when they bake).
• Place onto lightly greased baking sheet.
• Bake until lightly browned around the edges (about 12-15 minutes, the cookies will not be crispy if you under bake them).
• Cool slightly on baking sheet (the cookies will harden even more upon sitting) then coat in sugar.