Monday, October 31, 2011

Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies

When the weather gets cooler, I get more exited about baking and I start thinking about baked desserts. Much of the time, that means cookies.

One cookie is a perfect serving size - no need to slice a cake. And cookies tend to have a longer shelf life than cakes or pies because they're less moist. That's a big selling point around my house since there are only two of us.

Cookies are also easy to give away in small quantities. A couple cookies is a nice gesture and they're easy to transport and serve. It's a little harder to plate up a slice of cake to give to someone.

And if you’re sharing with multiple someones, slicing and serving cake requires forks and plates for everyone. Cookies are finger foods.

While you're at it, a cookie or two is a nice, transportable snack. You know, if you're not interested in sharing the wealth.

There have been some concerns lately about the peanut crop and the possible rise in the price of peanut butter, so I thought I'd use a different nut. But instead of a nut butter, I used a nut flour. Almond flour is easy to find these days, but you could make your own, if you wanted to. It's just finely-ground nuts - but not ground so much that it becomes a paste.

As far as the sugar, lately I've become a fan of evaporated cane sugar. It's the stuff that's not quite white - a very pale brown. It's got a slight molasses flavor, but not as strong as light brown sugar. And since it's not as wet as brown sugar, it pours and measures like granulated sugar. If you don't have evaporated cane sugar, you can use white sugar or half white sugar and half brown sugar.

Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies

Are these cookies smiling at me?
1 cup evaporated cane sugar
1 stick (1/4 pound) unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup almond flour
1 1/2 cups (6 3/4 ounces) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the almond extract, vanilla extract, and egg. Beat until it is well mixed.

In a separate bowl, combine the almond flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine. Add this dry mixture to the wet, and mix with a wooden spoon until combined. Add the chocolate chips and mix until well distributed.

Using a small scoop or a spoon, portion the dough into balls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Place them on the prepared baking sheet, leaving room between them to spread. (You'll probably need to bake these in two or more batches)

Bake at 375 degrees until the cookies are barely browned on top (they will brown a little more on the bottom) about 11 minutes.


Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before moving them to a rack to cool completely.
Yum

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How many cookies does the Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe yield?

Donna Currie said...

Depends on the size, but I ended up with about 2 dozen.

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