Almond Sticks
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Serves: 20
Ingredients
  • Butter - ½ cup
  • Brown Sugar - ½ cup
  • Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
  • Wheat Flour - 1 cup
  • Salt - 1 pinch
  • Cardamom powder - ⅛ tsp(optional)
  • Raw Almonds - ½ cup
  • Milk - 1 or 2 tsp (if required)
For topping:
  • Raw Almonds - 8
Instructions
  1. Five to six hours before, keep ½ cup (usually 1 stick) butter in a bowl in the room temperature.
  2. Powder ½ cup sugar in a dry mixie jar and keep aside.
  3. Add ½ cup raw almonds to mixie jar and use pulse mode to pulse it to coarse powder. It's ok if there are some bits.
  4. The butter would have been soft by now. Whisk the butter well until creamy. Initially some butter might accumulate in the center of the whisk. Gently tap it out and whisk again.
  5. Once butter is creamy, add powdered sugar to it and whisk again until well combined for 2 mins.
  6. Finally add 1 tsp vanilla extract and give a quick mix.
  7. To a sieve, add 1 cup wheat flour, ⅛ tsp cardamom powder and a pinch of salt. Sieve this to the bowl with wet mix.
  8. Add the powdered almonds (do not sieve) too and mix the dough gently with hand.
  9. Do not knead hard like a chapathi dough. Gently combine all to resemble a chapathi dough ball. You shall sprinkle 1 or 2 tsp milk, if required. Do not add more milk. The dough should not be loose.
  10. Place the dough ball in a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Place another parchment paper on it and start rolling like chapathi. But it should be lil thick - ½ inch thickness. Try to adjust the edges and make it like a square or rectangle.
  11. Finely chop 8 almonds and sprinkle on top of the rolled dough. Again, place the parchment paper on top and gently roll so that the chopped nuts stick to the dough.
  12. Leave this tray in the fridge for 30 minutes.
  13. Take out of fridge, remove the top parchment paper, and cut the spread-out dough vertically and horizontally to resemble elongated sticks.
  14. Separate and place the sticks with ample gaps around each stick as it might spread while baking.
  15. Preheat oven to 320 degrees Fahrenheit or 160 degrees Celsius.
  16. Once preheated, place the tray in center rack of the oven and bake it for 15 to 20 mins or until bottom is brown (not so dark) in color. Mine took exactly 20 mins. Check the bottom from 15 mins. After 15 mins, every minute is crucial and if missed, the cookie might have burnt bottom.
  17. Once baked, take out of the oven and let the biscuits cool down in the tray.
  18. After 20 mins, remove from tray and transfer to a container. Keep closed, once it is completely cooled. Stays good for 1 week or more, if stored air-tight and handled using dry hands.
Notes
1.Vanilla extract can be replaced by Almond essence.
2.If you don't have time to bring butter to room temperature, then thaw/defrost in microwave for 30 to 60 seconds. Do not melt it. It should just become soft to touch.
3.You can just use ⅓ cup sugar, if you want to reduce sugar. It still tastes good.
4.Instead of powdering almonds, you can use ⅓ cup Almond flour.
5.Making equal sized sticks will result in even baking, else smaller sticks might brown/burn/char.
6.Cardamom is optional and you can skip, if you don't like the flavor.
7.Instead of chopped almonds topping, you shall use thin silvered almonds or just powdered almonds, as you wish.
Recipe by My Healthy Kiddo at https://www.myhealthykiddo.com/almond-sticks-recipe/