As I mentioned before, I tend to think of shortbread and icebox cookies at this time of year. If you're like me, you've probably had quite a few batches of Christmas cookies coming out of the kitchen and been savoring plenty of holiday goodies in general. That said, let's squeeze in one more recipe for this holiday season.
Have you ever had Almond Roca? They are small log-shaped buttercrunch/toffee coated in chocolate and almonds. Growing up, they were the only candies I can remember my mother liking. I used to eat them, too, and while they weren't my very favorite, I certainly enjoyed them and loved scraping off the chocolate and almond coating and then biting into that crunchy toffee center.
Last month, I caught a cookie roundup over at Kelly's blog (I do enjoy seeing all the holiday recipe roundups and gift guides at this time of year) and saw a recipe for Almond Roca cookies...it made me think of all those red tins of Almond Roca we used to have around the house during the holidays or around Chinese New Year.
So I thought it would be fun to make these cookies, which are essentially shortbread with sliced almonds and toffee bits folded in. To simplify things a little bit, I used chocolate-coated toffee bits (instead of plain) and omitted the chocolate coating on top of the baked shortbread.
These were a fun version of shortbread to make and eat! They have that classic sandy texture with extra crunch from the almonds and toffee bits. If you like nuts and crunch in your cookies, this Almond Roca shortbread is a great rendition to try one day.