The Kitchen: Easy and elegant Almond & Chocolate Cookies

By Angela McRae, The Shopper Kitchen

Although September is still pretty hot here in Georgia, it’s also the month when I typically ramp up my baking again.

In the interests of portion control, I like to make cookies or other small treats so that my husband and I can eat a few and freeze the rest. One cookie I enjoy making is these Almond & Chocolate Cookies, and the recipe hails from a 1988 cookbook published by the Rose and Thistle tearoom in Ontario, Canada.

This cookie recipe caught my eye because it’s one of those cookie doughs that you shape into logs and then slice. I find these are easy to whip up and produce perfect cookies. Also, these cookies are dipped into a chocolate chip mixture that is created a bit differently than most. That appealed to me because I have a long history of burning chocolate chips when heating them for thirty seconds at a time in the microwave. One second they’re still in the shape of chips, and the next second I’m smelling scorched chocolate.

This recipe, however, calls for both butter and hot water to be added to the chocolate chips before melting them, and I must say that when I microwaved them in twenty-second increments, it created a chocolate mixture that was ideal for dipping—not too thick and not too runny. I would never have thought to add water to the chocolate chips, so it was fun to learn a new trick, one I am happily using whenever I need to dip cookies or candies into melted chocolate chips.

Thanks to the ease of slicing up the dough rather than spooning it, these cookies baked up super fast, and I had them all dipped in no time. And best of all, while they’re easy to make and look so lovely, these cookies are absolutely scrumptious!

Almond & Chocolate Cookies
1 cup butter (no substitutions)
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups finely chopped almonds, divided use



Chocolate Dip
6 ounces chocolate chips
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon hot water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, then add sugar, egg yolk and vanilla. Stir in flour, salt and 1 cup of the chopped almonds. Use hands if necessary to combine, as dough will be very stiff. Divide dough in half and shape into logs. (Mine were 10 inches long and about 1-3/4 inches in diameter.) Wrap in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator until chilled. Then, using a sharp knife, cut logs into slices about 3/8-inch thick. Bake cookies for 10 minutes on greased cookie sheets, or line sheets with parchment paper. Let cool completely.

Make dip by melting chocolate chips, butter and hot water in microwave (or over a double boiler). Dip half of each cookie in chocolate and then the remaining 1 cup of almonds. Let set on parchment or wax paper. Yields 4 dozen cookies.