Almond Crumb Bars
Easy to make, buttery almond crumb bars, with a simple filling of sweet almond paste sandwiched between layers of crumbly shortbread.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom or cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ cup cold, unsalted butter, cut into chunks
- 8 oz almond paste (not almond pastry filling)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line an 8x8 inch square baking pan with parchment paper, so that the paper hangs over sides a little.
- In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt and cardamom. Drizzle with the vanilla extract.
- Add the butter, and use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour mixture until moist and crumbly.
- Dump the dough crumbs into the prepared pan (reserving 1 cup of the crumbs for the topping), and press firmly against the bottom of the pan.
- Crumble the almond paste with your hands, and sprinkle it evenly over the crust. Sprinkle the reserved 1 cup of crumbs over the almond paste.
- Bake the almond bars on the center oven rack for about 30-35 minutes, until golden brown and crisp.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack and cool completely before lifting the bars out by the parchment paper and cutting into bars.
Notes
Leftover cookie bars should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. They can also be wrapped and frozen for 3-6 months.
These are very rich, so you can cut them even smaller, into 16-20 squares.
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