Gluten Free Almond Croissant Cookies

• porcje: 20 servings
• czas aktywny: 20 minutes
• całkowity czas: 32 minutes

Składniki

Almond frangipane filling:

70 g (5 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm

100 g (½ cup) caster/superfine or granulated sugar

1 US large/UK medium egg, room temperature

½ tsp vanilla bean paste (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)

¼ tsp almond extract

150 g (1½ cups) almond flour (or almond meal or finely ground almonds)

¼ tsp salt

Almond cookie dough:

170 g (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened

150 g (¾ cup) light brown soft sugar

3 US large/UK medium egg yolks, room temperature

½ tsp vanilla bean paste (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)

180 g (1½ cups) plain gluten free flour blend

200 g (2 cups) almond flour (or almond meal or finely ground almonds)

¾ tsp baking powder

½ tsp xanthan gum (Omit if your gluten free flour blend already contains xanthan gum.)

¼ tsp salt

100 g (½ cup) granulated sugar (try 65 g as 100 g is too much)

70 g (¾ cup) flaked almonds

Wskazówki

Adjust the oven rack to the middle position, pre-heat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC) and line two large baking sheets with parchment/baking paper.

Almond frangipane filling:

In a bowl, mix together the melted butter, sugar, egg, vanilla and almond extract until well combined and smooth.

Add the almond flour and salt, and mix well until smooth. Set aside until needed.

Almond cookie dough:

In a large bowl, cream together the softened butter and light brown sugar until pale and fluffy. You can do this by hand using a large balloon whisk, with a hand mixer fitted with the double beaters, or with a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.

Add the egg yolks and vanilla, and mix well to combine.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the gluten free flour blend, almond flour, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt, and add them to the wet ingredients.

Mix well until you get a smooth cookie dough with no flour clumps. It should have a scoopable consistency and shouldn't be sticky to the touch. It'll be firm enough so you can scoop it and shape it into balls with your hands, but it shouldn't be dry or crumbly.

Assembling & baking the cookies:

Put the granulated sugar into a small bowl.

Use a 2-tablespoon cookie or ice cream scoop to scoop out a portion of the cookie dough. Roll it between your palms to shape it into a ball, then roll it in the granulated sugar so it's evenly coated.

Place the sugar-coated cookie dough ball onto the lined baking sheet, and use a 1-tablespoon measuring spoon to make an indent in the centre.Tip: Because the cookie dough contains so much almond flour (and proportionately less gluten free flour blend compared to other cookie recipes), it's more prone to cracking when you press down on it with the 1-tablespoon measuring spoon. It's okay if you get a few small cracks along the edges – these cookies are meant to be rustic and the almond frangipane filling is thick enough so it won't leak out. I recommend creating the indent in every cookie as soon as you've shaped it (that way, the surface of the cookie dough ball hasn't had time to firm up so it's still pliable enough that you can create the indent with minimal cracking).

Repeat with the rest of the cookie dough, you should get 20-22 cookies in total (depending on the exact size of your cookie dough balls). As you're arranging them on the baking sheets, make sure to space them at least 2 inches (5cm) apart. (8 cookies per tray offset)

Transfer the almond frangipane filling to a piping bag with its end cut off (or you can use a large round piping tip), and fill each indent to the brim – it's okay if the frangipane forms a small mound rising above the edge of the cookie (see blog post for photos).

Sprinkle the tops of the cookies generously with the flaked almonds.

Bake the cookies at 350ºF (180ºC) for 12-14 minutes or until they've spread and puffed up slightly, and they're evenly golden brown around the edges.If you're baking the cookies in two batches, keep the other baking sheet at room temperature on your counter – no need to keep it in the fridge.

The cookies will be very soft and fragile immediately out of the oven. Allow them to cool on the baking sheet – trying to move them around (for example, to a wire cooling rack) could make them crumble or break.

Serve either warm or cooled completely to room temperature. You can dust them with some powdered/icing sugar before serving, if you wish.

Storage:

The gluten free almond croissant cookies keep well in a closed container in a cool, dry place for about 3-4 days.

Notatki

1/24/26 Add 1 tablespoon gf flour for altitude (187 g-94 g tapioca, 47 g millet, 46 g buckwheat flours) and a bit more moisture in the way of some egg white (maybe 1 tablespoon) but leave baking powder as written. I preheated to 365 and cooked part of the time at that temperature to get more browning but 350 might have been fine with less browning. They turned out good and the taste is good but maybe not anything special as I’d hoped. Maybe as they sit they get better?

The frangipane is very thick and hard to pipe. Maybe try using a cookie scoop?

Best gluten free flours for this recipe

Different brands of gluten free flour can vary ENORMOUSLY in terms of how much moisture they absorb, which is why you can get different results depending on which brand you use, even if you follow the recipe to the letter. I've tested a range of different gluten free flours available in the US, and compared them to Doves Farm FREEE gluten free plain white flour that I often use in my recipes.

My recommendation: King Arthur Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour. This one behaves very similarly to the Doves Farm flour, and will give you the best result.

I don't recommend: King Arthur Gluten-Free Measure for Measure (1-to-1) Flour. Because it contains not only xanthan gum but also cellulose, this one absorbs A LOT of moisture, so it'll give you a very dry, crumbly cookie dough.

I've also tested Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour and while it behaves similarly to the Doves Farm flour, it absorbs slightly more moisture. If you want to use it in this recipe, I recommend adding only 75% of the flour weight listed in the ingredients list, and then slowly add more until you reach a scoopable cookie dough consistency.

Finally, please note that the above doesn't mean that any of these flours are bad! It's just that I develop all my (non-bread) gluten free recipes with either Doves Farm FREEE flour or one of my homemade blends, so any flours that behave very differently won't work well in my recipes.