Brown Eyed Susans

Brown Eyed Susans are one of my favorite flowers! I just love he bright yellow/orange petals and the contrast of the dark brown center. They certainly stand out in a bunch! I’ve never heard of Brown Eyed Susan cookies until looking through Cookies by Bess. Being it’s the middle of summer in Denver, where it’s hot and dry and the Brown Eyed Susans are blooming everywhere, I just had to make these cookies!

And I am so glad I did! I’m on a bit of an almond cookie kick because I’ve had a huge bag of almonds in the freezer for a while, and I want to use them up…these Brown Eyed Susans were a perfect pick and when I was done baking the cookies, I couldn’t get over how AWESOME they taste. I sure wish I had found this recipe earlier in my life ?

I rate this cookie 2-stars for difficulty just because of the multiple steps. Making the frosting and slicing the almonds in half. Not hard to do, but added extra time and frosting the cookies was a bit more difficult than you would expect due to the consistency.

No major changes were needed to the recipe. I did decide to use 1 cup of butter versus ½ cup butter and ½ cup shortening. Also, I needed to add more hot water to the frosting to get the consistency just right.

Having said all that, let’s get started! As usual, I gathered all my ingredients together and got organized.

Once everything was all mixed together, the dough was a perfect blond color. Of course, I had to try the dough…it was amazing! The smooth texture and almond flavor give this dough a unique and delicious taste.

The recipe says to use a level tablespoon of dough to roll the cookie balls. I was glad to have specific instructions for the size of the cookie, it just helps me stay consistent and not have to guess how big or small to make the cookies. I was thinking a tablespoon was going to make a big cookie, but it really didn’t.

The next step was to flatten the cookies with a glass dipped in confectioner’s sugar. A small juice glass with a flat bottom worked perfect! I didn’t get too much confectioner’s sugar on the bottom of the glass at first, but once you flatten a couple cookies, the sugar sticks to the bottom of the glass. I really love these little tricks I come across in these recipes…I’m sure the person that created this recipe just made this step up. It’s a fun and clever addition to the baking process!

I baked the cookies for 10 minutes. They spread a little while baking, and they also puffed up a little. The puffiness maintained when they cooled after baking. I just love the creamy off-white color of this cookie! And the texture of the cookie is just as smooth as the cookie dough. These aren’t a soft cookie, but they are an almost delicate cookie that seems to melt in your mouth…so good!

While the cookies were baking, I mixed the frosting together. This is an interesting frosting with only four ingredients. As I mixed everything together, I realized the consistency wasn’t like “normal” chocolate frostings I’ve made/eaten before. This frosting was very thick. I decided to add a bit more hot water to help loosen it up a little, but it ended up thickening again as it sat. As you can see, the frosting was also nice and shiny.

Next, I halved my almonds and got everything set up to start frosting the cookies.

The recipe made plenty of frosting, so I was able to put a good amount on each cookie. The thickness of the frosting made it a bit difficult to actually frost the cookies. The frosting didn’t adhere to the cookie so well, so I had to maneuver it around a bit to get it evenly spread.

When I was finally done frosting the cookies, I topped them off with the almond halves. As I mentioned, it took a little effort to slice the almonds…and after trying the finished cookies, I think next time I’ll just use a whole almond. I say this because I realized, you can’t get too much almond flavor! The almonds themself have a mild flavor, so there is definitely room for more real almond flavor with the almond extract flavor…if that makes sense ?

Aren’t these cookies just AMAZING looking? I was so pleased with the results…and these cookies taste just as amazing as they look! The light almond flavor cookie coupled with the thick chocolatey frosting and the added real almond flavor from the nut all put together made me stop in my tracks and say, “WOW! This is a REALLY GOOD cookie!

I honestly can’t recommend these Brown Eyed Susans enough. Please try them…and then tell me what YOU think! Send me a note by commenting below or by going to our Join The Community page.

I don’t just hope you enjoy these cookies, I know you WILL enjoy these cookies ?

XXOO,

Janet

Brown Eyed Susans

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★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

Ingredients

Brown Eyed Susans
½ cup butter
½ cup shortening
3 Tbs sugar
1 tsp almond extract
2 cups sifted flour
½ tsp salt

Instructions

Cream butter and shortening. Add sugar, almond extract, flour and salt. Mix well. Roll level tablespoonfuls of dough into balls. Place on greased cookie sheets. Flatten lightly with bottom of glass dipped in confectioner’s sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for about 10 to 12 minutes.

Notes

Chocolate Frosting

1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar
2 Tbs cocoa shifted
2 Tbs hot water
½ tsp vanilla
Almond halves

ombine confectioner’s sugar and cocoa. Add hot water and vanilla. Place ½ tsp frosting one each cookie. Top each with a half almond. Let set, then store.

Recipe Yield

Make about 4 - 5 dozen cookies 1x

Cookie Category:  Molded or Shaped

Cookie Difficulty Rating

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