Friday, January 1, 2016

Almond Joy Cookies

Every year my best friend has a cookie exchange party right before Christmas.  I love to try new recipes for this event.  A friend from work mentioned maybe I'd like to try Almond Joy cookies, and I thought that was a fantastic idea.
An Almond Joy candy bar has a coconut based center with an almond or two on top, coated in chocolate. I looked for a recipe, but couldn't find one I liked. The recipes I found all had the elements of the candy bar mixed into the cookie.  I did not want them mixed in, so I decided to make a more layered version of an Almond Joy cookie.  I used a chocolate chip cookie base, but took out the chocolate chips, and added coconut extract and shredded coconut. I then created a soft chocolate, spread it on the cookies, and sprinkled sliced almonds on top.  The look and taste was well achieved! The recipe is as follows.

Almond Joy Cookies


Ingredients:

Cookie base:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coconut extract
2-1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded coconut

Toppings:
2 cups chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet, but milk would be more in keeping with an Almond Joy.)
1/4 cup butter
1 cup sliced almonds
Now these are for topping the cookie, of course, so the amounts may vary depending on how much you actually put on top of each cookie.

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375˚F.
In a mixing bowl, cream sugars, and 2 cups butter, room temperature, until fluffy.  Crack eggs into a seperate bowl (to avoid getting shells into your cookies), and add to butter/sugar mix along with vanilla and coconut extracts. Mix thoroughly.  Combine flour, salt, and baking soda; added to butter mixture.  Mix just until combined. Add coconut and mix gently until incorporated.  Do not over mix.

Scoop cookies onto a baking sheet.  Bake in preheated oven 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
Melt chocolate chips and butter in a microwave safe dish, 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between. Do not over heat, as chocolate burns easily.
When the cookies are done, and cooled, spread the chocolate mixture over each cookie; sprinkle with sliced almonds.

I don't have a yield for this recipe, because it truly depends on the size of cookie you make. I actually made several sizes of cookies.  It probably makes about 3 dozen average sized cookies.