Swedish Butter Cookies (Mandel Kakor)

Emma Whitley
Emma fearlessly explores bold flavors and perfects her baking craft, sharing her delicious experiments with joy.
Published: 1/28/2020

These buttery almond-infused cookies are perfect for gifting—they keep beautifully.

These cookies have an ounce of almond extract—it may seem like a lot, but we found it to be just right. They’re shaped and baked like biscotti, but one bite will tell you they are butter cookies. Cook longer for crisper cookies and shorter for chewier cookies.

Serves: 70 Save

Ingredients (9)

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 ounce almond extract
  • 3 tablespoon cream
  • 1 -- egg, beaten
  • -- Swedish pearl sugar or cake decorating sprinkles

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Combine butter and granulated sugar in a large bowl. Using a mixer at medium-high speed, beat until light. Add flour, baking powder and salt; beat well. Add almond extract and heavy cream. Mix well.
  3. Turn dough out and work into a ball. Cut into 4 portions and shape each into a ball. Flatten each ball into a 4-inch circle. Refrigerate 10 minutes.
  4. Place dough rounds on a baking sheet. Brush tops with beaten egg. Sprinkle pearl sugar on top.
  5. Bake 20 minutes. Remove from oven. Decrease oven temperature to 300F.
  6. Cut each round into 10 slices, then cut each slice in half (except the short ends). Return to oven and bake 20 minutes for crispy cookies or 10 minutes for chewier cookies. Makes about 70 cookies.