These gluten-free whiskey almond cookie bars with sea salt are nothing short of delicious. The gooey almond cookie is stuffed with chocolate chips, topped off with a smooth whiskey kick and gorgeous sea salt flakes.
Jump to:
✏️ Why you'll love this recipe
When I first made these, I was using a plain flour gluten-free blend. It was delicious but tasted a little powdery and dry. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't what I'd call the best-ever gluten-free cookie bars!
Instead, I swapped this for a small amount of cornflour (known as cornstarch in the US) and a hefty amount of delicious ground almonds. They provide so much extra flavour, I love it!
Each bite is pure heaven (at least, I think so!). You get the crunchy outside of the biscuit bar and a delicious gooey cookie centre. The sweet almond flavour matches perfectly with the boozy kick.
It’s perfect for a gluten-free adult dessert or treat, and is such a crowd-pleaser at potlucks and BBQs.
🥘 Ingredients
This gluten-free whisky almond cookie bars recipe calls for the following ingredients:
- Unsalted butter: allows you to control the salt content.
- Light brown soft sugar
- White sugar: finely granulated e.g. caster sugar.
- Egg: large size, room temperature for ease of mixing.
- Vanilla extract: use paste or extract over essence for best flavour.
- Plain all-purpose flour: sieve for a smooth batter.
- Ground almonds: also known as almond flour.
- Milk chocolate chips
- Cornstarch: fine white powder called cornflour in the UK and other places.
- Baking powder
- Whiskey
- Sea salt flakes (optional)
- Flaked almonds (optional)
See the recipe card for quantities.
Top tip: For accuracy, it’s best to weigh your ingredients rather than using cups.
♻️ Substitutions / Variations
Use your favourite brand of whiskey for these gf cookie bars. I tend to use a scotch whiskey like Johnnie Walker or Whyte & MacKay, or you could go for the well-loved Tennessee classic - Jack Daniels.
I usually make these cookie bars with milk chocolate chips, but swapping these for dark chocolate or a mixture of chocolates would also be delicious!
As an optional decoration over these bars, I sometimes like to add flaked almonds over the cookie bars before they go into the oven.
Another delicious decoration idea is to melt 50g of chocolate and drizzle this generously over the cooled cookie bars before cutting them into squares.
Alcohol-free option:
If you don’t drink alcohol, you can still make these delicious whiskey almond cookie bars by swapping the whiskey for flavouring. Swap the 2 tablespoon of whiskey in this recipe for 1 teaspoon of whisky / bourbon extract.
📖 Method
- Pre-heat oven: 180°C / 160°C (fan) / Gas Mark 4 / 350°F
- Melt the butter (microwave for 30-60secs) and stir in the sugars until smooth.
- Lightly beat the egg and add this to the slightly cooled butter mix along with the vanilla extract, stirring until fully combined.
- Add the ground almonds to the mix and stir until smooth.
- Sieve the baking powder into the mixture and then add the chocolate chips to the sieve. Sift the cornflour through this into the mixture to coat the chips.
- Set the chocolate chips to one side and fold the sifted flour and powder into the mixture.
- Add the whiskey to the mixture and stir until smooth.
- Stir in flour-coated chocolate chips until spread evenly throughout.
- Pour the cookie mix into a lined 8inch square tin, smoothing it out evenly, before sprinkling the flaked almonds on top and baking for 20-25mins, or until there is only a slight wobble in the centre and it has a crispy top.
- Remove the cookie bars from the oven, and sprinkle the sea salt over the top, before allowing them to cool and cutting them into squares.
🍱 Storage
You can store your gluten-free cookie bars in an airtight container. They should keep for up to 4 days stored at room temperature.
If you like your cookie bars a bit firmer and chewier, you can store them in the fridge instead.
💭 Top tips
- When making your whiskey almond cookie bars, try not to over-beat your cookie mix. This will make your cookies a bit dense rather than soft and light.
- I know it sounds weird, but tossing your chocolate chips in flour before you bake them is the best way to stop them from all sinking to the bottom of the bars. If this does happen, don’t worry too much, as each bite of your cookie bar will still be delicious! I like to chuck my choc chips into my sieve over the cookie mix and tip the flour over them – two birds, one stone.
- When cooking your whiskey almond cookie bars, it’s important to remove them from the oven when there’s still a slight wobble in the middle. This will give you nice soft and gooey bars. However, if you prefer your cookies to be less gooey and slightly more cake-like, then bake them for an extra 5mins from this point.
- Sprinkling sea salt flakes over your cookie bars as soon as they come out of the oven is optional, but it will add an extra delicious taste a texture. You can also use other types of salt to sprinkle over the top.
- As with any gluten-free baking, always check your ingredients to ensure there is no gluten contained within them. Sometimes items that should be naturally gluten-free can have cross-contamination from other foods produced in the same factory, etc.
🧁 Other goodies
Looking for more delicious gluten-free desserts?
Check out these deliciously moreish moist gluten-free chocolate cupcakes or gluten-free fudgy chocolate brownie cookies.
If you love that salty-sweet combo, then you’ll also love my recipe for salted rum dulce de leche sauce. It’s perfect drizzled over ice-cream or added to your buttercreams. So much boozy baking joy!
Or if you’re a big fan of a cookie bar, why no take a look at my recipe for Bakewell cookie bars with a jam swirl? I’m obsessed with all things Bakewell and these bad boys are such a sweet treat!
Other Related Recipes:
Looking forward to some new recipes? Check out my Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest pages for a few sneak peeks and some sweet inspiration!
Or if you’d like to hear about our latest recipes, why not subscribe to our newsletter?
📋 Recipe
Gluten-Free Whiskey Almond Cookie Bars
Rate this recipe here:
Equipment
Ingredients
- 115 g (½ cups) unsalted butter
- 100 g (½ cups) light brown soft sugar
- 80 g (⅓ cups) golden caster sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 100 g (1 cups) ground almonds
- 150 g (⅔ cups) milk chocolate chips
- 45 g (⅓ cups) cornstarch (cornflour in the UK)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoon whiskey
- 30 g (¼ cups) flaked almonds (optional)
- 1 teaspoon sea salt (optional)
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven: 180°C / 160°C (fan) / Gas Mark 4 / 350°F
- Melt the butter (microwave for 30-60secs) and stir in the sugars until smooth.
- Lightly beat the egg and add this to the slightly cooled butter mix along with the vanilla extract, stirring until fully combined.
- Add the ground almonds to the mix and stir until smooth.
- Sieve the baking powder into the mixture and then add the chocolate chips to the sieve. Sift the cornflour through this into the mixture to coat the chips.
- Set the chocolate chips to one side and fold the sifted flour and powder into the mixture.
- Add the whiskey to the mixture and stir until smooth.
- Stir in flour-coated chocolate chips until spread evenly throughout.
- Pour the cookie mix into a lined 8inch square tin, smoothing it out evenly, before sprinkling the flaked almonds on top and baking for 20-25mins, or until there is only a slight wobble in the centre and it has a crispy top.
- Remove the cookie bars from the oven, and sprinkle the sea salt over the top, before allowing them to cool and cutting them into squares.
Notes
- This is a gluten-free recipe, but always check the label on your ingredients for cross-contamination and other allergen warnings.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate based on an online nutritional calculator, actual values may vary.
Milvi
Question: is corn flour synonymous with corn starch in this recipe? (GF Whiskey Almond Cookie Bars)
Sweet Mouth Joy
Hi Milvi, thanks for your question! In the UK we call cornstarch and cornflour the same thing, which I believe is cornstarch in the US. I would use cornstarch (the white chalky ultra-fine flour) if you can, as I've not tried this with US cornflour before. Happy baking!