Sometimes I want to bake something sweet, but I just don’t want a big fuss with a mixer or running the oven for an hour. These chewy almond squares fit the bill. They’re basically blondies, but made with almond extract instead of vanilla, and with chopped toasted almonds mixed in instead of butterscotch. A big thank you to commenter Chris who made these substitutions on our blondie recipe and shared how well they turned out!
Chewy Almond Squares Recipe
PrintTo make the decorative almond halves, take a whole raw almond and pinch it between your fingers. Use a serrated bread knife to carefully cut the almond in half. The almond has a natural break-point so it should split easily once you start to cut it.
No need for a mixer for this recipe, all you need is a whisk and a strong spoon.
You can easily double this recipe.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick, 112 g), melted, plus butter for greasing the pan
- 1 cup tightly packed light brown sugar
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1 tablespoon of almond extract
- 1 cup (128 g) all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of salt
- 1/3 cup toasted, blanched almonds, chopped
- Whole almond halves for decoration
- One 8x8-inch baking pan
Method
1 Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease an 8x8-inch baking pan with butter. Toast blanched almonds if you have not already done so, and when cool, roughly chop them.
2 In a mixing bowl, whisk together the melted butter and brown sugar until there are no more lumps of brown sugar. Whisk in the beaten egg and almond extract.
3 In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and pinch of salt. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix until smooth. Stir in the chopped almonds.
4 Pour into the prepared baking pan and smooth the surface. You can "cut" the surface with a knife to make it easier to see where you will want to make cuts once the squares are done. Place an almond half, cut side down, in the middle of each square.
5 Bake at 350°F for 20 to 25 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool completely before cutting into squares.
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Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.
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Hello, I see the baking powder was cancelled out in the recipe list. Is this correct.
This is another excellent recipe of Elise. Simple yet very tasty. We just love it ! I tried with both blanched and whole almonds. We didn’t really taste bitterness with whole almonds, but if you use blanched almonds, it tastes more sophisticated. It is very easy to blanch whole almonds. Just put them in a bowl of hot water. In a few minutes, you can easily peel the skin. Sometimes I don’t even bother to toast them ! Thanks again for the recipe.
How can I tell if my almonds are blanched, says whole almonds all natural. I know I have to toast them, but do I have to blanch them?
Reply to Sandy S
Look up cream puff dough on Google. The one from Cake Boss is for a cake not puffs.
My wife made these yesterday, soooo good! I made a lemony whipped cream to top it off and it was the perfect balance.