Almond and Chocolate Sandwich Cookies are crisp, nutty wafers filled with rich semisweet or bittersweet chocolate. These homemade sandwich cookies outshine store-bought brands, offering a perfect balance of texture and flavor that makes them ideal for gifting, holidays, or an everyday indulgence.
Almond and Chocolate Sandwich Cookies bring together nutty flavor, delicate texture, and a smooth chocolate center for a treat that feels both familiar and elevated. They’re just as welcome on a holiday cookie platter as they are with a simple cup of coffee in the afternoon.
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Recipe at a Glance
- Ready In: 2 hours and 30 minutes
- Equipment: food processor with steel blade, 2 half-sheet pans lined with parchment, electric mixer, silicone spatula, small cookie scoop
- Ingredients: Blanched almonds, sugar, butter, egg, vanilla, baking powder, salt, all-purpose flour, and semisweet chocolate chips
- Makes: 24 sandwich cookies or 48 crisp wafers
- Difficulty: Easy
- Make-Ahead Friendly: Yes
- Gift Friendly: Yes
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Better than store-bought: Inspired by high-end sandwich cookies, but fresher, more flavorful, and customizable.
- Nutty almond flavor: Ground toasted almonds add depth and richness to every bite.
- Crisp and delicate texture: Thin wafers bake up beautifully light, then sandwich around creamy chocolate.
- Versatile filling options: Classic chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, or even Nutella.
- Great for gifting: These cookies package well in clear bags or festive tins, making them a thoughtful homemade treat.
Ingredients: Here's What You'll Need
This amazing recipe uses typical cookie ingredients. However, the way that the ingredients are put together puts the cookie over the top.
- Almonds: As the name of the cookie implies, this recipe calls for almonds. I tend to use whole, skin-on almonds because that's what I generally have on hand.
- Wet Ingredients: For the wet ingredients, I use unsalted butter, an egg, and vanilla extract.
- Dry Ingredients: The dry ingredients consist of granulated sugar, all-purpose flour, salt, and baking powder.
- The Chocolate: The chocolate center of these sandwich cookies can be either semisweet chocolate chips or bittersweet chocolate chips. Both are equally good.
Making the Cookie Dough - Step-by-Step
- Grind the Almonds: To start, grind the toasted almonds and 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar in a food processor with a steel blade, about 20 seconds.
- Cream butter and sugar: Add room temperature butter and granulated sugar to a medium bowl. Beat on high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula.
- More Ingredients: Next, add the egg, vanilla extract, baking powder, and salt to the butter mixture. Beat until well combined, about a minute. Then scrape the sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula.
- The Ground Almonds: Add the ground almonds and beat until combined.
- The Flour: Finally, add the all-purpose flour. Beat on low just until the flour is incorporated.
- Cover and Chill: Cover the cookie dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Making the Almond and Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
- Preheat and Prep: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and set aside.
- Portion the Dough: Using a small cookie scoop or spoon, portion the dough into small balls. I weighed the dough - 10 grams each! Slightly flatten each ball and place on the prepared baking sheet. Make sure to leave several inches between the dough because it spreads a lot as it's cooking.
- Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 12 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Cool: Allow the cookies to cool for several minutes on the baking sheet. Then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Add Chocolate: Once the cookies are cool, spread about a teaspoon of melted chocolate on the underside of one of the cookies. Place another cookie on top so that the cookies are back-to-back.
Almond and Chocolate Sandwich Cookies are proof that simple ingredients can create something extraordinary. With their nutty crunch, chocolate center, and elegant presentation, these cookies are as impressive to gift as they are to enjoy. Yum!
Frequently Asked Questions
The individual cookies are thin and crispy and are excellent on their own. In fact, the Master Taste Tester prefers these cookies without chocolate.
I use the whole skin-on almonds in this recipe because that's what I have on hand. You could certainly substitute slivered almonds that are already blanched. With this substitution, reduce the time for toasting to around eight minutes.
Sometimes, I will substitute pecans for the almonds in this recipe. I think that the almonds are somewhat better. However, the pecans produce an exceptional cookie as well. The pecans should be toasted at 350°F for around eight minutes.
You can substitute salted butter in this recipe. However, be sure to eliminate the added salt (⅛ teaspoon) from the recipe.
Recipe Hints and Tips
This is one of my favorite cookie recipes. It produces not only delicious cookies but also impressive-looking cookies.
- In order to achieve consistent results for this recipe, you should weigh your ingredients. This is especially true for flour. The amount of flour can vary greatly depending on how it is measured.
- Some years back, I decided to deviate from the traditional way of sifting ingredients like salt and baking powder with flour. Now, I always beat ingredients like salt and baking powder into the cookie dough mixture prior to adding flour. The reason is that this more evenly incorporates those ingredients. I've never found that this technique negatively impacts the final product.
- This cookie is very impressive to look at. I often will individually package the sandwich cookie in clear plastic to give as gifts.
- Melting chocolate for recipes such as this can be somewhat tricky because of the way that the chocolate chips are formulated. If you melt the chocolate at too high a temperature, it will not get hard enough when it cools. Therefore, gently melt the chocolate to keep its temperature down, i.e., properly temper the chocolate.
More Amazing Cookie Recipes
I thoroughly enjoy making cookies. Here are some of my very favorite recipes in addition to the Almond and Chocolate Sandwich Cookies.
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Almond and Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
Equipment
- Food Processor with Steel Blade
- 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper
- Electric Mixer
- Silicone Spatula
- Small cookie scoop
Ingredients
- 1 cup (4 ounces) blanched and toasted almonds (See Tips 1 and 2)
- ¾ cup (5.25 ounces), plus 3 Tablespoons (.9375 ounces) granulated sugar, divided
- ½ cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature (See Tip 3)
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup (3.75 ounces) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (See Tip 4)
Instructions
- In a food processor with a steel blade, grind the almonds with 3 Tablespoons of the sugar until the almonds are finely ground. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, beat butter and the remaining ¾ cup of sugar on high speed until the mixture is light in color and texture, around 3 minutes. Beat in the egg, vanilla extract, baking powder, and salt until well blended. Add the almond mixture, blending just until combined. On low speed, gradually beat in the flour mixture just until incorporated. Cover the dough tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until the dough is thoroughly chilled, at least 2 hours or up to 5 days.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a small ice cream scoop, portion the dough into 48 pieces. Roll the dough into small balls; place about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake in the preheated 350°F oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes. Carefully transfer to wire cooling racks and cool completely.
- Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave in 20 second increments on 50% power.
- Using a small icing spatula or knife, spread about a teaspoon on the underside of a cookie, then sandwich it with another cookie, placing them back-to-back. When the chocolate has cooled and set, store cookies at room temperature in an airtight container. (See Tip 5)
- Yield: 2 dozen sandwich cookies or 48 crisp wafers.
Video
Tips/Notes
- If whole almonds with skin are used, blanch to remove the skins. To blanch, add the almonds to boiling water. Let it stand for three minutes. Slip the skins off. To toast the nuts, spread them on a baking sheet. Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Processing the nuts with sugar prevents them from releasing too much oil due to the blade's friction.
- Pecans can be used in place of almonds. Toast for about 8 minutes at 350°F.
- Salted butter can be substituted in this recipe. However, omit the ⅛ teaspoon of salt to the recipe.
- May substitute bittersweet chocolate chips for semisweet chocolate chips.
- Omit the chocolate filling to make an excellent wafer-type cookie.
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