Toffee Almond Sandies
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy.
Buttery, sweet toffee almond sandies — humble in appearance but wonderfully good.
Photo by Alexandra Grablewski (Chronicle Books, 2018)
These toffee almond sandies were sent to me by Kelly Pittman, along with hundreds of others, for a holiday cookie contest I ran on my blog many years ago. The cookies not only won my contest, they also became a much-loved Segal family favorite. While the cookies may look plain, when you bite into them, you discover a buttery, sweet shortbread studded with melted toffee bits and crunchy almonds. They’re wonderfully good, easy to make, and long lasting. In other words, the perfect holiday cookie.
Heads up: This recipe makes a ton! It is ideal for a bake sale or gift giving, but if you’d like to make less, the recipe can easily be halved.
You May Also Like
Toffee Almond Sandies
Buttery, sweet toffee almond sandies — humble in appearance but wonderfully good.
Ingredients
- 3½ cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar, plus more for rolling the cookies
- 1 cup Confectioners' sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 cups sliced almonds, coarsely chopped
- 6 ounces (or 1 heaping cup) English toffee bits
Instructions
- Set racks in middle of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Combine all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt in a medium bowl; mix well.
- In the bowl of a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter, granulated sugar and Confectioners’ sugar until well combined, about 1-2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl with spatula, then add oil, eggs and almond extract; mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix slowly to combine. Stir in almonds and toffee bits.
- Shape dough into 1-inch balls, roll in sugar, then place about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets and flatten with a fork. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through cooking, for 14-17 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cookies cool on baking sheets for a few minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. These keep nicely for 4 to 5 ays stored in airtight container at room temperature.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The Cookie Dough can be Frozen for up to 3 Months: Roll the dough into balls, let set on a baking sheet in the freezer, then place in a sealable bag and press out as much air as possible. Bake as needed directly from the freezer. (Allow 1 to 2 minutes longer in the oven.) To Freeze After Baking: Let the cookies cool completely and store in an airtight container separating layers with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Before serving, remove the cookies from the container and let them come to room temperature.
Nutrition Information
Powered by 
- Per serving (45 servings)
- Serving size: 2 cookies
- Calories: 201
- Fat: 13 g
- Saturated fat: 4 g
- Carbohydrates: 20 g
- Sugar: 10 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Sodium: 89 mg
- Cholesterol: 23 g
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
See more recipes:
Comments
Add a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
I made these and they are delicious. The one modification I made since we are strict vegetarians and do not eat eggs is I omitted the eggs and replaced them with grounded flax seed powder and they were a knockout.
I highly recommend these
These are my favorite cookies. The texture is wonderful. I substitute pecans for the almonds and use vanilla instead of amond extract. Really great!
Almonds and toffee bits. Can’t get any better than that.
I made these at Christmas and they were a big hit! The only problem is I had to give most of them away or I would have eaten them all! It makes a very large batch.
These are outstanding. Flaky, delicious and keep very well (at least 3 weeks). I gained a couple pounds over Christmas munching on these goodies. Couldn’t keep my hand out of the cookie jar! My whole family, as well as friends at work, loved them!!
I followed this recipe exactly and these little cookies are perfectly delicious!!! I ran out of time baking them and had to pause the process so I rolled the dough into logs and wrapped it in waxed paper. I refrigerated two logs and froze the third. The next day I sliced the dough into 1/4″ thick circles, sprinkled with sugar, and baked at 350 degrees for 11 minutes. It worked beautifully- even easier than rolling dough in sugar and flattening. Just thought I’d pass on what I discovered out of necessity. Thank you for a beautiful recipe which will become a permanent favorite.
Disappointed considering how many positive things are said. I filled this recipe to the T. Are they supposed to be incredibly crunchy? I did not burn them…they look great. Taste is fine, but can’t get past how hard they are. And yes, they’ve been in an air tight container.
Hi Erin, They do have a little crunch due to the toffee and almond pieces, but the cookies themselves should not be hard. They should have more of a shortbread consistency. Sorry you had a problem with them!
Erin, that was my impression, too, on the first day. But these cookies are better on the 2nd & 3rd days – and more – great for gift giving. I used the entire bag of toffee bits, since there was only about 1/4 cup left over when I weighed out the amount called for in the recipe. Perhaps subbing brown sugar for some of the white sugar would up the flavor? I might give that a try next time, although it will increase the moisture in the cookie, and possibly ruin their beautiful Shortbread quality. Fingers crossed.
These cookies were okay. There was nothing particularly wrong with them or the recipe, but they weren’t special and I wouldn’t put them near my top 20 cookies. The texture was fine for sandies, but the taste was lacking. I’m not sure how to improve the taste – the almond extract was nice and the almonds added a little crunch, but the toffee flavor didn’t really shine through. I’ve made a variety of recipes from this website and have loved every other one, but I’m sorry to say that I won’t make this one again.
These cookies are so delicious! 2nd time making them and everyone loves them. Thank you for all your wonderful recipes.
Hi Jenn, Do you roast the almonds? Are the skins left on? Thanks!
Hi Cathy, I use slivered almonds, which are blanched (and I don’t toast them for this recipe – but you could). 🙂
Thank you! I’m making them tomorrow for a wine and cheese party.
I did roast the almonds for 4 minutes in my toaster oven and then chopped them. These cookies are so yummy, my new favourite. Took them to a wine & cheese and they disappeared.
I’m making these as soon as I get some toffee bits, Jenn! I noticed in your notes that they keep quite a while, and am wondering how many days that means (in general). Am trying to put together a few ideas for cookies to ship for Christmas, so specific shelf life would be really helpful. Thanks!