Almond chocodoodle cookies - an original recipe

Ingredients & Procedure ^{^}

MAKES 24 cookies. If you are going to bake immediately, turn oven on to 350F. Place a rack in the middle of the oven.

Weighing the first two ingredients is important, as they both vary in volume considerably depending upon how finely they are ground. Volume measurements cannot be trusted.

1: In a medium-small bowl, mix up the first 4 Ingredients

• almonds, ground: 114 gr. (about 3/4 to one cup) - to get this, grind a scant cup of almonds in a food processor until they look like fine sawdust - but no finer. Depending on the size of your processor, you may need to grind a larger amount. Don’t worry, you’ll be making these cookies again, I predict!
• flour, whole wheat: 90 gr (3/4 cup) - I use a moderately coarse white whole wheat flour I make myself from bagged white wheat I get at Winco, but regular whole wheat flour should work fine, as should pastry whole wheat flour.
• baking soda: 1/2 t
• cream of tartar: 1/2 t
• OR: replace the soda and cream of tartar with 1 t baking powder. It’s unlikely that you’ll notice any difference, especially with this recipe.

2: In small bowl, cream until pale yellow and fluffy:

• butter, cool (~65F): 4 T (1/2 stick), cut into 1/2” cubes

3: To the butter add and mix in well:

• sugar: 3/4 cup
• cinnamon: 1/2 T (1.5 t)
• salt: a healthy pinch - but only if your butter is unsalted

4: To the butter mixture, add these. Mix them in just until reasonably well blended.

• applesauce: 1/4 cup
• egg: 1 large, cold
• vanilla extract: 1/2 T

5: To butter mixture, add and stir in:

• 3/4 c dark chocolate chips, chopped up a bit (or use mini-chips). I grind mine up in my food processor. Then I leave it dusty with chocolate - perfect for making a batch of my Mexican coffee mix.

I grind the chocolate chips so that they are small bits of chocolate which will melt into the cookie as it bakes. They also darken dough without turning it obviously “chocolate”. You can leave them as they come and the dough will be looser, with obvious chocolate chips in it. Your choice!

6: If necessary, transfer the butter mixture to a medium bowl, then add in flour mixture. Mix it in by folding it with a large wooden or plastic spoon. Don’t worry about over-mixing. Just make sure all the flour is mixed in. The dough is usable immediately, but can be refrigerated for later use.

7: For coating the cookies, mix up 3 T sugar and 1 T cinnamon in a 2 cup container with straight sides.

Baking ^{^}

If the dough seems too soft to work with, chill it.

1: I use a 1.5 T cookie scoop. One could use a tablespoon measure, and somewhat mound the dough, to approximate this. Use the dough as it’s shaped by the cookie scoop, or form a rough ball if using the tablespoon measure.

2: Drop each dough ball into the cinnamon/sugar mixture and roll it around to coat it.

3: Place the dough balls 2” apart on a cookie sheet - ideally using parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. If using a cookie scoop, place the flat side down. If your dough is in a ball, flatten it to about 3/4”.

4: Bake for 14-18 minutes. With my oven set carefully at 350F (I use an oven thermometer, I find that 16-18 minutes is perfect.) There will likely be a crack through the middle, and little or no evidence of browning.

5: Let cookies rest a full 5 minutes on the cookie sheet, then cool them on a rack.

6: They are best if allowed to cool and then rest in a sealed container for at least 4 hours. The flavors will blend, and they will become more uniform in texture. BUT they are also wonderful after only a 5-minute rest!

The dough should freeze well, as should also the cookies. Allow them to thaw slowly at room temperature.