Eleven items and under half an hour, with no butter creaming and no chilling.
Almond flour behaves nothing like wheat. There is no gluten to develop, so the dough is stirred rather than worked, and the cookies stay soft and coarse-crumbed.
Why This Recipe Works
- Almond flour gives a coarse tender crumb that wheat flour cannot.
- Scooping thick rounds keeps the centres soft as the edges set.
- Half the zest in the dough and half on top puts orange in two places.
- Cooling completely stops a thin icing melting straight off the cookies.
- Chopped almonds on top echo the flour the cookies are built on.
Ingredient Notes
- Almond flour
- Two cups, and the entire flour content. It is a defining tree-nut ingredient and cannot be swapped out of this recipe.
- Orange zest, divided
- A tablespoon, split. Half goes into the dough and half is scattered over the icing where it stays visible.
- Orange juice
- A tablespoon in the dough, then one to two more in the icing. The range in the icing is the control on how thin it runs.
- Chopped almonds
- A quarter cup, on top. A second tree-nut component, and one the title does not name as a topping.
How to Make It
Oven to 350°F
Heat oven to 350°F.
Dry ingredients mixed, then egg, butter, half the zest and juice
Mix almond flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt; stir in egg, butter, half the zest, and 1 tbsp orange juice.
Thick rounds scooped and baked twelve to fourteen minutes
Scoop thick rounds onto a lined pan and bake 12 to 14 minutes until pale golden.
Cooled completely
Cool completely.
Icing whisked thin, drizzled, almonds and remaining zest scattered
Whisk powdered sugar with enough orange juice for a thin white drizzle; drizzle cookies and scatter with chopped almonds and remaining zest.
Almond Twice, Orange Three Times, and an Icing That Stays White
Two ingredients in this recipe each appear in more than one place, and knowing which parts of the cookie they land in explains both how it is built and what the finished plate looks like - including the thing that seems wrong at first glance, an orange icing that is not orange.
The dry mix - 2 cups of ALMOND FLOUR, and no gluten
With 1/3 cup SUGAR, 1/4 tsp BAKING SODA and 1/4 tsp SALT. Almond flour is ground nuts rather than milled grain: there is no gluten in it at all, which changes how the dough is handled. Nothing here needs working or developing, and overmixing only makes the dough greasy as the nuts release oil. It is also the first of two tree-nut components and is not substitutable - swap it and this is a different cookie.
The wet mix - and HALF the zest
1 EGG, 3 tbsp MELTED BUTTER, HALF of the 1 tbsp of ORANGE ZEST and 1 tbsp ORANGE JUICE, stirred in. Melted rather than creamed butter, because there is no gluten structure to hold air anyway. Half the zest goes here so the crumb itself tastes of orange; the other half is being kept back deliberately for the top, where it stays visible as shreds.
THICK rounds, 12 to 14 minutes, PALE GOLDEN
Scooped thick onto a lined pan. Thick is the instruction that keeps the centres soft while the edges set - these have no gluten holding them up, so a thin scoop dries all the way through into a biscuit. PALE GOLDEN is the endpoint rather than browned: almond flour carries a lot of fat and colours fast, and past pale golden the nut flavour turns bitter.
COOLED COMPLETELY - a step of its own
Step 4 exists on its own for a reason. The icing that follows is deliberately thin, and thin icing on a warm cookie does not set, it slides off onto the plate and takes the toppings with it. Completely means completely.
3/4 cup POWDERED SUGAR whisked with 1 TO 2 TBSP of ORANGE JUICE into A THIN WHITE DRIZZLE - and it stays WHITE despite the juice, which is worth expecting rather than being surprised by: orange juice whisked into that much powdered sugar carries flavour but almost no colour. The quantity is a range because it is the control on how far it runs. Then 1/4 cup of CHOPPED ALMONDS - the second tree-nut component - and the REMAINING ZEST scattered over while the icing is still wet. ORANGE WEDGES alongside, as part of the serving.
Success Tips
- Do not overwork the mixture; almond flour has no gluten to develop.
- Scoop them thick — spread thin, they dry into biscuits rather than soft cookies.
- Cool completely before icing, or a thin drizzle runs straight off the top.
Serving Ideas
Twelve thick pale golden cookies with a coarse soft crumb, drizzled with thin white icing and scattered with chopped almonds and shreds of orange zest, with orange wedges alongside.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the icing white if it has orange juice in it?
Because orange juice is barely coloured once it is whisked into powdered sugar. The icing carries the flavour and stays white — it is not meant to look orange.
Can regular flour be used?
Not without making a different cookie. Almond flour is what gives the coarse tender crumb, and it is the defining ingredient of this recipe.
Do these contain nuts?
Yes, throughout. Almond flour is the base and chopped almonds go on top — both are defining tree-nut ingredients.
