Almond Meltaways

My brother and sister-in-law moved a few months ago to a house with a glorious kitchen. While I'm envious of many of its features, I am most jealous of the double oven! You don't know the number of times I've wished for multiple ovens of my own. Maybe some day...
The usefulness of this feature became clear when we were baking Christmas cookies last month. I was already occupying one oven and Erin had actually completed her baking for the day. Then, on a whim, she remembered she'd been meaning to try these Almond Meltaway cookies and she quickly whipped up a batch. We had plenty of space, both in the ovens and the countertops, and didn't have to worry about the fact that our cookies required different oven temperatures.
Believe it or not, the double oven wasn't even the best part of the day...it was the discovery of these cookies, my new favorite! The name describes them perfectly--they're a buttery sugar cookie whose primarily flavor is almond extract, which in my opinion far surpasses the more popular vanilla extract. Texture-wise, they literally do melt in your mouth. Erin sent me home that day with some of the cookies, but I insisted on making another batch a few days later because I couldn't wait to share them with my visiting family, who also fell in love with them!

One Year Ago: Buttermilk Clover Rolls and Layered Asian Dip
Two Years Ago: Eat & Repeat: Salt and Banana Bread Ice Cream with Peanut Butter and Chocolate
Three Years Ago: Oregano and Prosciutto Pinwheels and M&M Dream Bars
Four Years Ago: Carrot Cake Pancakes and Butternut Squash Lasagna

Almond Meltaways
from The Novice Chef

Ingredients: 
-2 cups all purpose flour
-1/2 tsp baking powder
-1/4 tsp sea salt
-1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
-3/4 cup granulated sugar
-1 large egg
-2 tsp almond extract 

for the icing-
-1 cup powdered sugar
-1 tbsp milk (or water)
-2 tsp almond extract

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. Beat butter and sugar in a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and almond extract, mixing until combined. Slowly mix in the flour mixture until combined.
4. Roll tablespoons of dough into balls and place on baking sheet. For flatter cookies, flatten slightly with your hand or a cup dipped in flour. For puffier cookies (my preference), leave as balls.
5. Bake for 8 minutes and remove from oven. Cookies will look underdone. Allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Whisk together icing ingredients until smooth and drizzle over cookies. Allow to set until hardened. Store cookies in the fridge.