Ingredients

For the almond butter:

• 3 cups almonds, raw and slightly roasted

For the cookies:

• 200g unsalted butter
• 150g almond butter
• 125g caster sugar
• 125g brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 300g all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Salt
• Whole almonds to garnish

Tools

• kMix
• MultiPro Excel

Method

For the almond butter:

1. First, we start off by making the almond butter. You can totally skip this step and use store-bought almond butter instead but once you’ve had homemade almond butter there is no going back to the store-bought ones.
2. Place the raw or roasted almonds in the Kenwood processor. I have roasted the almonds at 180C for about 8-10 minutes as it gives it a nuttier taste and also starts the process faster. If you are using the Kenwood blender and you might need to use some (olive) oil to facilitate blending.
3. Start the food processor and as the ground almonds start collecting around the edges, stop and scrape down the sides every few minutes. The food processor will need to run for quite some while before you start to notice a change, around the 14–15-minute mark. The oils start to release and a clumpy mass begins to form that moves around the bowl.
4. Persist and continue to process and just when you think you’ve got it all wrong and want to give up, it starts to come together, first as the grainy-looking almond butter and then finally as the smooth and creamy one, just what we want for these cookies.
5. Let the almond butter cool before transferring to a container. It can be stored for at least 2 weeks in the fridge but mine usually never lasts that long, as it gets all eaten much sooner.

For the cookies:

1. To the Kenwood mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the unsalted butter, almond butter, caster sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Add the eggs and mix until blended.
2. Gradually stir in all the dry ingredients of flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix to form a soft dough.
3. Roll the dough into small balls and place 2 inches apart onto baking sheets. Flatten each ball with your thumb and press an almond into each.
4. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C/350F for about 13-15 minutes or until cookies begin to brown lightly and the edges begin to crack. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.