Soft French Helenettes Cookies
Helenettes are delicious little soft French cookies made with almonds and egg yolks. They are slightly crispy on top and soft on the inside. The great advantage of this recipe is that it takes no more than twenty minutes to prepare and bake. It’s a perfect way to use up leftover egg yolks from cakes or desserts that only use egg whites, such as macarons or meringues. These almond-flavored cookies are a real treat to nibble on with a cup of tea.
The recipe for these soft French almond cookies made with egg yolks made the rounds of the blogosphere about twenty years ago, and I’ve been making them ever since to accompany petit fours at teatime.
For the holidays, Helenettes are the perfect addition to your bredele box, small Alsatian Christmas cookies, and make a delightful Christmas gift.
A basic, simple recipe for tasty little cookies that you’ll actually want to make.
Table of Contents
Why you’ll Love this Almond and Egg Yolk Cookie Recipe
Basic Ingredients: A simple recipe with just five common ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen. Soft French Helenettes cookies are made with egg yolks, butter, sugar, almond flour, and flour. There’s no baking powder in these cookies.
If you don’t have almond flour, I’ll show you how to make homemade almond flour.
Very Easy, Quick, and Economical: The dough comes together in just a few minutes, and baking is just as fast, so you can enjoy delicious cookies even when you’re short on time.
Recipe Using Only Egg Yolks: If you end up with extra egg yolks, this recipe is perfect for using them up without any waste.
Easy Storage: These soft French almond cookies made with egg yolks keep well at room temperature or in the freezer. This makes it easy to prepare a large batch in advance while using up your leftover egg yolks.
Ingredients for Twenty Cookies
NB: You can print the recipe card at the end of the article.
In the photos shown, the recipe was scaled up 2.5 times.
- 2 egg yolks
- 100 g granulated sugar (3.5 oz)
- 120 g almond, hazelnut, or pistachio flour (4.2 oz)
- 80 g unsalted butter (2.8 oz)
- 80 g all-purpose flour (2.8 oz)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 3 drops bitter almond extract (optional)
- 1 pinch of salt
Note: I slightly modified the original recipe by increasing the amount of almond flour and reducing the flour. The basic recipe used 100 g of almond flour and 100 g of flour. This version enhances the almond flavor and makes the cookies even softer.
Ingredients for Thirty Cookies
- 3 egg yolks
- 150 g granulated sugar (5.3 oz)
- 180 g almond, hazelnut, or pistachio flour (6.3 oz)
- 120 g unsalted butter (4.2 oz)
- 120 g all-purpose flour (4.2 oz)
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract or 4 drops bitter almond extract (optional)
- 1 pinch of salt
How to prepare Soft Almond Cookies :
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) using static heat.
Melt the butter and let it cool.
Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until the mixture becomes pale.
Stir in the cooled melted butter to obtain a smooth, creamy batter.
Add the flour (without baking powder) and mix until combined, then add the almond flour and mix again until the dough is homogeneous.
Scoop out walnut sized portions of dough with a tablespoon and shape them into balls. I made 18 g balls.
Arrange the cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet, leaving a little space between each one. Gently press them down with the palm of your hand to slightly flatten the tops.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the cookies are very lightly golden on top. They should remain very pale. They will darken slightly as they cool.
Quick note: This almond cookies bake fast, so keep a close eye on them to avoid overbaking.
Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and let them cool completely before serving or storing.
How to store French almond cookies
Once completely cooled, place the cookies in an airtight container lined with aluminum foil. They can be kept at room temperature for up to two weeks.
You can also freeze them if you’ve made a large batch, for 2 to 3 months. To do this, either layer the cookies in a plastic airtight container with parchment paper between each layer, or freeze them on a baking sheet before transferring them to Ziploc freezer bags.
Other cookies you might like
Zimtsterne , Christmas stars with almonds
old-fashioned macaroons
Sesame Seed and jam filled cookies
Helenettes, soft cookies with egg yolks
INGREDIENTS
Ingredients for Twenty Cookies
- 2 egg yolks
- 100 g granulated sugar
- 120 g almond hazelnut, or pistachio flour
- 80 g unsalted butter
- 80 g all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 3 drops bitter almond extract optional
- 1 pinch of salt
Ingredients for Thirty Cookies
- 3 egg yolks
- 150 g granulated sugar
- 180 g almond hazelnut, or pistachio flour
- 120 g unsalted butter
- 120 g all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract or 4 drops bitter almond extract optional
- 1 pinch of salt
PREPARATION
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) using static heat.
- Melt the butter and let it cool.
- Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until the mixture becomes pale.
- Stir in the cooled melted butter to obtain a smooth, creamy batter.
- Add the flour (without baking powder) and mix until combined, then add the almond flour and mix again until the dough is homogeneous.
- Scoop out walnut sized portions of dough with a tablespoon and shape them into balls. I made 18 g balls.
- Arrange the cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet, leaving a little space between each one. Gently press them down with the palm of your hand to slightly flatten the tops.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the cookies are very lightly golden on top. They should remain very pale. They will darken slightly as they cool.
- Quick note: This almond cookies bake fast, so keep a close eye on them to avoid overbaking.
- Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and let them cool completely before serving or storing.
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