Almond shortbread bars

Almond paste filled shortbread topped with almond icing and sliced almonds. An almond lovers dream!

Original recipe from The View From Great Island.

This dessert leaves no almond opportunity left unturned. The shortbread dough includes almond paste, the glaze includes almond extract and sliced almonds. It's a delicious, crumbly, and yet melt in your mouth treat.

This dough is very sticky and hard to spread. I found that using and offset spatula, slightly angled was the best way to get it to spread evenly.

While the sliced almonds in the icing definitely enhance the look of these bars, I actually think they tasted better without and removed them from the icing when I ate them. The texture and taste is delicious without!

Ingredients

For the shortbread

• 1 cup or 227 grams unsalted butter at room temperature

• 3/4 cup or 166 grams granulated sugar

• 1/2 cup or 128 grams almond paste at room temperature

• 1 large egg at room temperature

• 1 tsp almond extract

• 2 cups or 295 grams all purpose flour

For the glaze

1/2 cup or 114 grams unsalted butter

1/4 cup or 60 grams heavy cream

2 and 1/2 or 300 grams confectioner's sugar sifted

1 tsp almond extract

1/2 cup or 55 grams sliced almonds (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F

2. Line a 9x13 baking pan or lightly butter and flour.

3. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

4. Add the egg, almond paste, and extract, and beat until well combined. Make sure to smooth out any lumps of almond paste.

5. Add the flour and gently mix until just blended and no dry flour remains. Don't over mix.

6. Spread the dough out evenly in the baking pan with an offset spatula. It will take a minute or two to get it spread and level as the dough is quite sticky. Drop chunks of the dough all over the bottom of the pan before spreading it out. I ended up using my ands a bit and then spreading with the offset spatula slightly angled.

7. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, just until set and starting to turn golden along the edges of the pan. Don't over bake, as you want your shortbread to be tender. Check the pan on the early side.

8. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes before glazing.

9. To make the glaze, heat the butter and cream in a medium saucepan until the butter melts. Stir in the sugar and extract, and whisk until the glaze is smooth. If it seems too thin, add a bit more sugar, and if it seems too thick, add a touch more cream. Stir in the sliced almonds (if adding!) and pour over the warm shortbread. Ease the glaze to all the edges with an offset spatula, working quickly.

10. Let the pan cool before slicing.