Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Cut the butter in to small cubes. Place the butter, along with the dry ingredients, in a food processor and pulse until it is fully incorporated. If you don’t have a food processor, use a pastry cutter or your hands to work the butter into the dry ingredients.
1 cup cold butter, 2 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 cup sugar
Transfer the flour and butter mixture to a large mixing bowl. In another small bowl, beat the egg with the almond extract. Add it to the dry ingredients and mix it until it forms a dough. At first, it will seem as though there is not enough liquid. Keep mixing, and it will eventually come together.
1 egg beaten, 2 teaspoons almond extract
Form the dough into 1″ balls and place them onto an ungreased baking sheet. Push the dough down with your thumb to indent/flatten it, as shown in the picture below.
Add some red food coloring to a small ramekin. I like to add a few drops of water to lighten the red color a little, but this is optional. Dip the large end of a chopstick into the the food coloring and put a dot in the middle of each cookie. Make sure to press it into the dough a little, so the food coloring doesn’t spread while baking.
red food coloring
Bake for 12–15 minutes, or until the bottoms are lightly golden.The tops of the cookies should remain pale, so be careful not to overbake them. I like baking them on a lower oven rack to help prevent the tops from browning too quickly.Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack.
