These fun, beachy sand dollar cookies are a cross between a snickerdoodle and a sugar cookie. They’re crisp with lightly cinnamon/sugared exteriors (meant to mimic sand) and almond slivers arranged to mimic the star in the center of real sand dollars. While assembling them one by one can be a bit time consuming, the cookies themselves and the process are actually quite simple. This is a great recipe for those of you who, like myself, maybe aren’t so handy with royal icing or just aren’t great cookie decorators but still want to be able to make a cute cookie! These cookies would be perfect for any beach-themed party or ocean-themed party and I actually developed them for my sister’s under-the-sea themed baby shower. Let’s jump in!
What You Need to make Sand Dollar Cookies
Flour. I recommend using all-purpose flour with this recipe.Sugar. I use a blend of granulated sugar and brown sugar. The brown sugar adds a bit of flavor and softness to the cookies, but since we want them to ultimately be crisp and firm we’re mostly using granulated sugar.Butter. Use unsalted butter and then add salt for best control over the flavor. Your butter needs to be softened, but it’s important that it’s not so soft that it’s melty or the outside is melting and oily. If your butter is too soft, your dough will be too and will definitely need to chill for longer than the 15 minutes indicated.Cream of tartar and baking soda. The cream of tartar adds a subtle tang to the cookies (think of the flavor that you know and love from snickerdoodles!) and these two ingredients play together to add a smidge of lift to the dough. This won’t make them thick or puffy, but it adds just enough lightness that the cookies err on the side of snappy and crisp rather than dense and chewy. Let’s just pretend the baking soda made it into the above photo, it must’ve run off while I was grabbing my camera!Vanilla extract. For flavor.Egg. You’ll need one large egg, but separate the yolk and the white before you begin. The yolk will go into the dough while the white will be brushed on top to help the cinnamon/sugar and almonds adhere.Cinnamon. A dash of cinnamon goes into the dough for flavor, then the rest is mixed with additional granulated sugar and sprinkled over the tops of the cookies for a sandy texture.Almond slivers. The recipe calls for a bit more than you actually need because often when you buy almond slivers, many of them come fractured, broken, and just not ideal for making these cute sand dollar imprint designs. Keep a few extras on-hand, that way you can sort through and pick the best looking slivers for your cookies!
This is just an overview of the ingredients that I use and why I use them. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Sand Dollar Cookies
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Enjoy! Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook!
