Roasted Almond-Chocolate Chip Cookies

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a great new cookbook, The Good Neighbor Cookbook by Sara Quessenberry and Suzanne Schlosberg. The book contains 125 recipes which are intended to be shared with new neighbors, new moms, friends recuperating from surgeries, etc. Many of the main dishes can be frozen and reheated, all of them look simply delicious, and each seems to be very simple to make. I like the idea of taking care of friends and neighbors, and I'm a firm believer that sharing homemade food with someone shows great love and provides a great deal of comfort. I highly recommend this book!

You can preview many of the recipes from the book here, at The Good Neighbor Cookbook's web site. My favorite recipe is not listed on the web site, so I'm going to share it with you here. Hope I'm not breaking any laws :)

These cookies were incredible. At first I though something had gone terribly wrong. The cookies were totally flat and packed with 'stuff'. They just looked funny. So funny, in fact, that I had to give an all call on Facebook to see if any of my friends could figure out what went wrong. I just assumed it was a high altitude baking issue. But then. . .I tried one. Holy smokes! Best cookie I've ever had, hands down. I'm not going to share with you how many of these cookies I consumed, or how quickly they were consumed. I did have a little help from my husband, who also loved them. If you're a fan of salty and sweet, I really suggest you try these!

Roasted Almond-Chocolate Chip Cookies

Prep time: 20 mins
Total time: 50 mins
Makes 40 cookies (made 40 exactly for me!)

2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp kosher salt
12 Tbs (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temp
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate, chopped or chips (I used Ghiradelli)
1/2 cup unsalted roasted almonds, chopped (I used salted because I love the salty/sweet combo)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. (Or just spray 'em with Pam if, like me, you have no parchment paper.)

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. (Using a whisk really worked wonders - looked like it had been sifted!)

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer with a large bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on medium speed until creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips and almonds.

Drop the dough in heaping tablespoon-size balls 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake, rotating the sheets halfway through the baking time, until the edges are golden and the centers are just set, 12 to 15 minutes. Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheets before transferring them to a wire rack.

The authors also provided a 'cook's tip' about freezing the dough, which I did. I scooped out the extra dough (heaping tablespoons again) onto cookie sheets, stuck them in the freezer for 10 minutes to set, the placed the dough balls in a freezer bag and popped them in the freezer. I can't even begin to tell you how good the frozen dough was - we ended up eating frozen cookies because they were just as good, if not better, than warm ones!

Go get to baking, then come back by and let me know what you thought of these delicious cookies!