Toasted Almond-Honey Ice Box Cookies.

I love ice box cookies, especially in summer.  You make one batch of dough without the worry of having to bake them right away and you've got something you can slice and bake whenever you feel that sweet tooth coming on.  These are the perfect little cookie to accompany anything - coffee, tea, sorbet, ice cream, or ice-cold milk!

Almonds and honey are one of my favorite combinations, but as always, feel free to substitute your favorite nut here.  Pistachios always make a beautiful ice box cookie since their color gets to shine through, though I would recommend lightly toasting and coarsely chopping whatever it is you choose if not sliced almonds.

I used white whole wheat flour in this cookie dough which gave them a lovely ecru color, along with some sparkly turbinado sugar sprinkled on top.

Toasted Almond-Honey Ice Box Cookies
1 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup sliced almonds, lightly toasted
Turbinado sugar for sprinkling

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.  In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugar and honey together until light and fluffy, then add the egg and vanilla extract, mixing well.  Stir in the flour mixture, then the almonds until a dough starts to form, then divide the dough into 2 portions.  Form the dough into logs on wax paper and wrap tightly.  Freeze at least 1 hour, or up to a month.

To bake these cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Unwrap a log of cookie dough and cut into 1/4" slices and place them on the baking sheet.  Sprinkle with turbinado sugar and bake until golden around the edges, 8-12 minutes.

Let cool completely, then store airtight up to 5 days.

By the way, hello August! :) I hope everyone is having an amazing summer, I can't believe it's already halfway over!