Almond cinnamon owl cookies
These cute almond cinnamon owl cookies are fun to bake with your kids. They can be made with GF all purpose flour to keep them gluten free. Crispy, buttery, with a hint of almond. So yummy! Let's get bakin' friends!
Equipment
- Rolling pin
- 3-inch cookie cutter
- a small kitchen/cooking brush
- Cookie sheet and parchment paper
Ingredients
- 300 gram organic unrefined sugar (1½ cup)(or use Stevia or Xylitol if you want to keep it sugar-free)
- 170 gram butter ( approx. 1½ stick)(or use vegan butter or margarine)
- 2 small eggs
- 2 tsp almond extract
- +/-4 tsp cinnamon (for dusting the wings) (or sub gingerbread spice to add a 'holiday touch')
- 360 gram (gluten free) all purpose flour (I used GF flour, but regular AP flour works as well)
- 1 tsp xanthum gum (only if your gluten free all purpose flour doesn't contain it already. Don't use if using regular AP flour)
- +/-48 chocolate chips
- +/-24 whole almonds
Instructions
The dough
- Cream the butter and sugar by whisking it together. I make sure to not over mix it otherwise the cookies will spread while baking.
- Once it is creamed add the eggs one by one followed by the almond extract. Now all wet ingredients are combined.
- In another bowl combine the flour and salt (and xanthum gum if necessary).
- With a wooden spoon fold in the dry ingredients into the bowl with wet ingredients.
Chill the dough
- Spread out a piece of plastic wrap. Place the dough in the center of it and press it down into somewhat of a rectangle. Cover it with another piece of plastic wrap and place it on a cookie sheet. No need to roll it out yet, but this way the dough chills quicker. Refrigerate for 30 minutes until firm enough to roll out and cut cookies.
Roll out the dough
- Once the dough is chilled I take it out of the refrigerator and place it on the countertop. Using a rolling pin, I roll out the dough in between 2 layer of plastic wrap to more or less 1/4-inch thickness.
Cut cookies
- Prepare a cookie sheet by putting a piece of parchment paper on it. Take off the top piece of plastic wrap from the dough so I can cut out cookies.
- Using a 3-inch cookie cutter or a glass cut out more or less 24 cookies. Make sure to leave some dough, enough to make approximately 48 eyeballs.
- I transfer all cut-out cookies to the parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.
- Preheat the oven to 350F/175C
Making the owls (decorate the cookies)
- Roll enough eyeballs for all the cookies. To assemble the cookies, place 2 eyeballs right next to each other in the middle of the top part of the cookies. Press a chocolate chip in each eyeball with the flat part up (so press the pointy part down into the eyeball).
- Now that all owl cookies have eyes, press an almond in the cookies just below the eyes.
- With the same cookie cutter mark the wings. After that, use a knife to create the wing pattern.
- With a brush that dipped in cinnamon, 'paint' the wings.
- Using the same knife as used for the wings, cut little toes on the bottom of each cookie.
Bake the cookies
- Now the owl cookies are ready to be bake. Slide the cookie sheet in the preheated oven and bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes.
- When the owl cookies are ready I take them out of the oven and let them cool off on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack where they can cool off completely (or at least until they have firmed up).
Notes
Nutritional information:
the information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist's advice.