One of the most traditional events during the holidays is a cookie exchange. If you’ve never been lucky enough to take part in one, you don’t know what you’re missing! What you do is arrange a get-together with your friends or family and everyone shows up with enough homemade cookies, brownies or other treats for the whole group. Then, everyone takes a few (or more than a few) of each variety, leaving at the end of the evening with an amazing assortment of goodies. Basically, it’s bring one, bring home A LOT.
I am invited to a cookie exchange coming up at a friend’s house. I want to make something a little bit different than the usual sugar or gingerbread cookies, so I’m bringing these Holiday Almond Bars. They’re soft like a cookie on the bottom with a crunchy almond topping and no refined sugar, making them a refreshing change from the sweets you’re used to this time of year.
Perfect to give as a gift for your little one’s teacher, as a unique surprise for a cookie party or just as a treat to share with you kids, these bars are a special treat that may just become a new holiday baking tradition for you!
Holiday Almond Bars
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 Cup flour
- 1/4 Tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 Tsp nutmeg
- 1 egg
- 1/2 Cup honey or agave
- 1/2 Cup butter, melted
- 1 Tsp vanilla extract
- 1 Cup Raw Almonds, sliced thin
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 Tsp water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Place flour, salt and nutmeg in a bowl and stir to combine.
- In another bowl, whisk together egg, honey, butter and vanilla.
- Combine the dry ingredients with the wet and stir.
- Place batter into a 7×11 inch baking dish lined with parchment paper.
- In a bowl combine 1 tbsp of honey with 1 tsp of water to loosen the honey, and toss with the almonds.
- Sprinkle the almonds on top of the batter to cover.
- Bake for 25 minutes.
- Cool, cut into bars and serve.
*Held not He’s
I used Almond flour in place of the regular flour and they turned out delicious! He’s together fine and were a big gluten free hit!
Great
I added 1/2 tsp. almond extract and 1/2 tsp. vanilla to replace the 1 tsp. vanilla. Added a more almond flavor. Really rich “cookie” but delicious. Thanks Catherine!
Just did this few days ago and they were a big hit with everyone! As someone suggested here, I added chocolate chips to half the batter and is really good !! Great recipe! Thanks,
how far in advance can I make these? Are they “freezable”?
These are foolproof. I ran short on honey and grabbed the maple syrup (the real stuff) to use too. Also was short on the flour and topped off with bread flour! Substituted almond extract for the vanilla. All in all, they are very good! Not overly sweet. Used a 9 X 9 baking pan. Thanks for sharing!
I tested this recipe 3 times, they should be about an inch thick. Hmmm
These were really tasty, but I can’t help feel like something went wrong.
I made exactly to the recipe (using honey, not agave), and I barely had enough batter for thin 1/4″ bars in an 8×8 pan. It would have never covered a 7×11.
Ideas?