Delicious Sandy Dollars

Our theme for girls club has been Walk on Water this year and with a fun event with treats, I decided to go all in on the treats. These Sand Dollar cookies were a hit. I mixed and rolled them out a few weeks in advance then froze them. I used a straw to make little holes for the sand dollars. I was busy frosting cupcakes so Andy ended up baking these for me. He egg white washed them, sprinkled cinnamon sugar, and placed each almond with love. You do really have to take them out at 3 minutes to push the almond back in then bake the rest of the time. They came out perfect and taste wonderful. They were the sleeper hit of the night.

Sand Dollar Cinnamon Sugar Cookies
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
2 eggs whole
2 eggs separated
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 pinches of kosher salt
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
cinnamon sugar
sliced almonds

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350° F.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and powdered sugar; Mix until very creamy. (I may or may not have taken a lick after this step – HA! ;)
Add the 2 whole eggs and 2 yolks only (reserve the whites for later from the egg separation above); Beat until well combined.
Add vanilla and salt; Blend well.
Add flour and baking powder; Stir until the dough is very soft.
Form a ball with the dough; Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours (I left mine in the fridge overnight).
Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Roll out the dough to 1/4" thick on a floured surface and cut out 2 5/8” circles.
Brush the circles with the reserved egg whites.
Sprinkle each circle lightly with cinnamon sugar and press 5 almond slices into the center of each circle to make a sand dollar (like the pic above).
Bake at 350° F for 3 minutes.
After 3 minutes, remove the baking sheet from the oven and press the almonds in again, making slight indentations in the circle.
Add more cinnamon at this point too, if need be, to adjust the overall coloring of the final cookie.
Place the baking sheet back in the oven and bake until the edges are golden brown, another 10 minutes (this time will vary depending on how thick you cut the circles, so just keep an eye on them around the 7 minute mark).
Remove from oven; Let rest on baking sheet for 3 minutes.
Transfer to cooling racks to cool completely.
Store in an airtight container to keep up to 5 days (Yeah right, these won’t last 5 minutes!)