Ingredients
Equipment
Method
Preheat the Oven & Prepare Your Baking Sheet
- Preheat your oven to 190ºC (375ºF).
- Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper, and put a second cookie sheet underneath it; this extra cookie sheet acts as insulation to keep the bottoms from burning, especially since these cookies bake quickly and have a high sugar content.
Make the Dough
- In a food processor, combine the blanched almonds, powdered sugar, and salt.
- Pulse until you get a very fine, flour-like texture. Take your time with this step—it’s the key to a smooth cookie.
- Once it’s finely ground, add your almond extract and half of the egg whites.
- Pulse again and gradually add more egg whites until the dough is thick but pipeable. You want a consistency that falls off a spoon in soft blobs—thick enough to hold its shape, but not stiff like cookie dough. If it's too dry, add a touch more egg white. If it gets too loose, you can mix in a little extra almond flour. If it's too thick, and you have used up all the egg white you can add some water also.
Pipe the Cookies
- Scoop the dough into a piping bag fitted with a plain round tip about 2 cm (7/8 inch) wide.
- Pipe small rounds, about 3 cm (1 3/8 inch) across, onto your parchment paper, leaving space between them—they will spread as they bake. If you don’t have a piping bag, two spoons will work, though the look will be more rustic.
Bake and Finish
- Bake the cookies for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the tops are just starting to turn golden. The centers should still look pale and soft.
- While they’re in the oven, wet a clean dish towel and lay it flat on your counter.
- When the cookies are done, carefully lift the parchment paper off the baking sheet and place it directly onto the damp towel. The steam from the towel helps release the cookies from the paper without tearing—another handy old-school trick.
- Let them cool completely before removing them.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
Video
Notes
Can I use almond flour instead of whole almonds?
Yes, absolutely! If you want to save a little time, you can use fine almond flour instead of grinding your own blanched almonds. Just make sure you're using blanched almond flour, not almond meal (which still has the brown skins). The texture should be very fine—almost powdery.
Use 150g of almond flour to replace the blanched almonds 1:1 by weight. If your almond flour is a bit coarser, you can still pulse it with the sugar and salt to refine it a little more.
Storing and Freezing
Bitterkoekjes are best the day you bake them, when they have that crisp edge and perfectly chewy center. But that doesn’t mean they don’t keep well!
Store your cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. They’ll stay good for 3–4 days, and they often get even chewier as they sit.
If they start to dry out too much, here’s a Dutch grandma trick: add a slice of soft white bread (or even half a slice) to the container. The cookies will slowly absorb the moisture from the bread and become soft and chewy again. Just don’t forget to replace the bread slice every couple of days so it doesn’t go moldy.
Want to bake ahead? No problem! Bitterkoekjes freeze beautifully. Once they’re completely cooled, place them in a single layer (or between sheets of parchment) in a freezer-safe container or zip-top bag. They’ll keep well in the freezer for up to 2 months.
To serve, just let them thaw at room temperature for about 20–30 minutes. You can also pop them in a low oven (about 150ºC / 300ºF) for 3–4 minutes to bring back a little bit of that fresh-baked warmth.
