Party Time Cookies

These are shortbread-style cookies that masquerade as drop cookies. There’s no egg, no baking powder, no leavening at all, just butter, sugar, flour, chocolate chips, and slivered almonds, perfumed with both vanilla and almond extract. The result is a tender, sandy-textured cookie that crumbles like shortbread but holds its shape thanks to a flatten-with-the-palm trick.

The eggless dough is the hallmark. Without egg, the cookies don’t spread or puff, so flattening each ball with the bottom of a glass before baking is what gives them their classic disc shape. Two extracts (almond plus vanilla) double up the perfume since there’s no egg or brown sugar to add depth, and the almond extract complements the slivered nuts in the dough. Don’t overmix once the flour goes in. Gluten development gives shortbread a tough, crackery texture instead of the melt-in-your-mouth crumb you want.

Pro Tips

• Use cold or barely-softened butter, not melted. Properly creamed butter holds air pockets that give the cookie its tender crumb.
• Toast the slivered almonds briefly in a dry skillet before adding. A few minutes wakes up their flavor.
• Press the balls with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar for a sparkly, crackled finish.
• Pull the cookies just as the edges turn pale gold. Overbaked shortbread loses its melt and turns sandy.

Variations

• Swap chocolate chips for white chocolate, butterscotch, or chopped dried cherries.
• Roll the dough in cinnamon sugar before flattening for a snickerdoodle-leaning cookie.
• Drizzle cooled cookies with melted dark chocolate and a sprinkle of flaky salt for a finished-look gift cookie.