Chocolate Almond Cookies

My brother is coming home from college today, and my Mom always like to make sure the house is fool of food for when he arrives. Though the cabinets and fridge are now full of thinks to snack on, the kitchen is still missing one thing that I know my brother will want when he comes home- freshly baked goods.

Usually my Mom makes these decadent chocolate and caramel sandwich cookies for when my brother comes home, but I thought I would try something different. He loves nuts and chocolate so I thought to just put those two flavors in a cookie.

What came out were what my mom proclaimed were "THE BEST COOKIES EVER!"

So here's the recipe for you to try:

Chocolate with chocolate chips and nuts, what's not to like?

Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup softened butter

1 cup light brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar


2 teaspoons vanilla extract


2 eggs

¾ cup unsweetened cocoa

2 ¼ cups flour


½ teaspoon almond extract

2 tablespoons plain yogurt

1 teaspoon baking soda


¾ teaspoon salt


1 2/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips


¾ cup chopped almonds

Don't cut the almonds too small, you
want to leave something to bite into.

Directions
:

Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease 2 baking sheets.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until fluffy. Add in the vanilla, almond extract, and yogurt and eggs and mix well. Sift the cocoa, flour, baking soda, and salt in another bowl and slowly add this into the wet ingredients as you mix until just combined. Finally, fold in the chocolate chips and chopped almonds.

Scoop dough into large spoonfuls and roll into balls to place onto the baking sheets.

Bake cookies for 11-12 minutes and remove from the oven.

Let the cookies cool for about 3 minutes before transferring to wire racks to finish cooling.

One Chocolate Chip Cookie

It's like built-in portion control.

This is a recipe for not a dozen, not a half dozen, not even 2 dozen, but for one, sole cookie.

I got the idea to create a recipe for just one cookie when my friend Olivia said she wished that you could mix ingredients together for just one cookie, instead of always having to make a full plate of them.

At the time I suggester to her that you could simply make all the dough and just freeze it to take out only what you need at a time, but this suggestion didn't satisfy her and so I decided to take on the challenge.

What I figured was that the main issue was the egg, because using a teaspoon of egg wouldn't work well for a recipe. However, cookies have eggs for a reason, so I needed an ingredient that would help coagulate the batter just like an egg would. For this, I turned to a recipe from All Recipes for yogurt chocolate chip cookies and scaled it down a ton and tweaked it a bit.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoons butter

2 teaspoons plain yogurt

2 drops vanilla extract

2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

Dash of salt

Dash of cinnamon

2 teaspoons semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and grease a cookie sheet.

In a small bowl, cream together the brown sugar, white sugar, and then stir in the yogurt and vanilla. Add in the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon until incorporated, and then mix in chocolate chips.

Form the dough into a ball and place on the greased cookie sheet.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes in the preheated oven, until the edges begin to brown. Cool for a minute on the cookie sheet before removing to wire racks to finish cooling.

The one, lonely cookie.

What's really good about this recipe (other than the fact it tastes good) is that if you love dough, you can just eat the uncooked cookie without worrying about salmonella from eggs. 


If you like this recipe and would like to make more than one of these, here is the recipe:

½ cup packed brown sugar

¼ cup sugar

½ cup butter

½ cup plain yogurt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 ¾ cups semisweet chocolate chips

Blueberry Cookies with White Chocolate

Everyone loves my whole wheat blueberry bread, (or they could just be lying to my face, but I'm assuming that's not the case), so when I saw an uneaten pint of blueberries in the fridge I thought hey, maybe I should try making a cookie using similar flavors of the blueberry bread, and for good, sweet measure, add in some white chocolate.

To make a healthier version of these cookies, you could easily substitute white whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour, and use chopped nuts (I think almonds would be best) instead of the white chocolate.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup butter

1/3 cup almond (or regular) milk

1 egg

¾ cup white sugar

¼ cup sugar

¾ cup white chocolate chips

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoons lemon zest

1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions

You have to fold the blueberries in so they don't burst.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, egg, milk, almond extract, vanilla and lemon zest. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add this dry mixture to the butter and sugar mixture in the mixing bowl. Add the while chocolate chips/chunks and finally fold in the blueberries, making sure not to crush them.

Cover the dough and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Drop your chilled dough by small spoonfuls onto cookie sheets.

Bake the cookies for 11 to 14 minutes in the oven.

Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Oozing with blueberry goodness.

When I made these my friend's dad proclaimed they were the best thing I've ever made, and that's saying a lot considering he's always at the track meets and offers to try out what I made for the team that day.
I guess I now know what to make him for his birthday...

Espresso Cookies

I was getting ready with a group of friends for a party this weekend when one of my friends disclosed to me that she had seen my blog and loved it. I don't know exactly how she found out about it (since I don't really tell anyone about my weird blogging hobby), but anyways I was happy to hear she liked it and I promised I would bake her something soon.

Though at the end of the night I forgot my crutches in my friends car (whoops...), I still remembered my promise to bake for my friend and came up with some yummy cookies to give her. 

Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup softened butter

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 ½ cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons plus 1 tablespoon instant espresso or coffee powder

1 cup white chocolate chunks or chips

Adding the espresso and milk to the rest of the batter.

Directions:

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of the instant espresso powder.

In another bowl, beat together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, and then add the eggs and vanilla. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over low heat, pour the 2 tablespoons of milk and two tablespoons of instant espresso powder. Heat over low heat, stirring until dissolved. Remove the milk mixture from heat and pour it into the bowl with the other wet ingredients and mix. Once combined, slowly add in the dry ingredients. Finally, stir in the cup of white chocolate. Now, cover the batter bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour.

Once the batter has been chilled, preheat the oven to 350 F and grease two cookie sheets.

Spoon scoops of batter onto the sheets, and bake for 12-15 minutes (keep in mind these are crispier cookies so do not remove them from the oven too quickly).

Let the cookies cool for a bit before removing to finish cooling on wire racks.

Chocolate Mint Cookies

So now I'm back from vacation with a tan and crutches.

The day before I was leaving for the DR, I had to get an MRI because my leg was hurting and it turned out that I have a stress fracture which literally sucks. After many tears, I was forced to get crutches, and this was all at 5 o'clock and I hadn't even packed yet. Anyways, I still had a great time away (my friends gobbles up the muffins at 5 in the morning), but now I can't run in the outdoor track season. However, I am obviously going to all the meets and therefore still must make the team treats for after running.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoons peppermint extract

2 cups flour

2/3 cups unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Heat the oven to 350°F and lightly grease cookie sheets.

Beat together the butter, brown sugar, eggs, peppermint and vanilla. One well blended, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt. 


Stir in the chocolate chips so they are evenly distributed throughout the batter.

Drop the dough by rounded teaspoons about 2 inches apart onto your prepared sheet. 


Bake 10 minutes and let cool before removing from the cookie sheets.

Yeah, those blobs don't look to appetising.

These cookies are incredibly easy to make and are moist with the right blend of chocolate and peppermint. 

My friend Olivia who loves peppermint is on the team too and I actually made her these cookies as a good luck for getting into Dartmouth and she did!

Ready to bring to the team.

Apricot Almond Oatmeal Cookies

Oatmeal raisin cookies are a classic for a good reason. The combination of oats and dried fruit is tasty, but it can be even better when you se an unexpected fruit combo such as dried apricots.

For this recipe you can use whatever type of dried apricot is your favorite, and any nut you like. I thought almonds worked best with the taste of apricots.

Ingredients:

Almonds and apricots chopped
& ready on the cutting board.

½  cups rolled oats

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup  softened butter

½ cup packed light-brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon nutmeg

3/4 cup roughly chopped dried apricots

3/4 cup chopped almonds

 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Toast the oats in the oven for 10 minutes. After the oats have cooled, in a medium bowl, combine the oats, flour, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugars and then afterwards beat in the egg and vanilla. Once this is all well mixed, slowly mix in the oat mixture. Afterwards fold in the apricots and almonds (may do this by hand).

Roll the dough into 2 dozen balls on greased baking sheets. Using your fingers, flatten balls to about a 3/4-inch thickness.

Bake cookies for about 15 minutes, or until the edges begin to golden.

Give the cookies 5 minutes to cook on baking sheet, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

White and Semi Sweet Chocolate Cookies

A while ago I made these type of cookies with chocolate and candy canes for the holiday season, and my friend asked me to make them again because he liked their type of "scone-like" consistency. SInce the Christmas season has long passed, I no longer have candy canes in my house so I decided to add in white chocolate chips instead and slightly different flavoring to make these cookies still interesting, but the same type of texture.

Ingredients:

½ cup semi sweet chocolate chips

½ cup white chocolate chips

½ cup softened butter

1 cup sugar


1tsp baking powder

½ teaspoon salt


2 eggs


1 teaspoon vanilla

½ teaspoon almond extract

2 ½ cups flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 F and grease 2 cookie sheets.

In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. Add in the baking powder, salt, eggs, almond extract and vanilla. Mix well and then gradually add in the flour.

plain batter

chocolate chips

                         +

= perfect dough

Once this is all well blended, toss in both types of chocolate chips and give the dough a quick final mix.

Almond extract gives these cookies a distinct flavor.

Use a cookie scoop or regular spoon, drop balls of dough 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 8-10 minutes in your preheated oven. Remove from oven and let them cool for a minute before transferring them to wire racks.

Banana Bread Cookies

While banana bread is tasty, it sometimes isn't the best for serving because you have to slice it. To solve this, I designed a recipe that combined the great taste of banana bread in a cookie style that everyone loves. The result is cookies that are crisp on the edges like regular cookies, but have a middle that is the classic banana bread consistency.

Ingredients:

Don't worry, the batter is
supposed to be gloopy.

½ cup of softened unsalted butter

1 cup of sugar

1 egg

2 large bananas

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups of flour

¼ teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

½ cup sweetened coconut flakes

½ cup semi sweet chocolate chips

½ cup of pecans

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease two cookie sheets.

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and continue to beat until well combined. Mash the bananas in a separate bowl and add them to your butter/sugar mixture. In another bowl, Mix together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg and slowly add it to the butter and banana mixture and mix until just combined. Add in the coconut flakes and finally fold in the pecans and chocolate chips.

Drop in spoonfuls of the batter onto parchment paper-lined baking sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until nicely golden brown. Let cool on wire racks.

In order to make these healthier, you could replace some of the white flour with white whole wheat flour and still get great cookies.

Cranberry Chocolate Chunk Cookies

My Dad absolutely loves tennis and has for a while now volunteered to teach tennis to underprivileged children on the weekends with the program Grassroots. As a special treat, my Dad invited some of the kids over to our house to watch a tennis match and have pizza. In order to top off their meal, I decided to make special cookies for them to enjoy after pizza. 

They scarfed them up instantly and told me they were the best cookies they ever had.

Right out of the oven.

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/44 cups oats

1 stick softened butter

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup sugar

1 egg

1½ teaspoons honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

2/3 cup dried cranberries

2/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chunks

½ cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F and grease cookie sheets and set them aside.

Beat together the butter and sugars and slowly add in the egg and vanilla.

In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Slowly stir this dry mixture into the wet mixture until well mixed. Afterwards, stir in the oats, and finally the cranberries, chocolate chunks, and walnuts.

Roll the dough into small balls and place on the greased baking sheets.

Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes so the centers are still soft.

Let cool and then remove from cookie sheets.

Toffee Cookies

I used a cellophane bag and a large cupcake
liner to package the cookies nicely.

Being a senior in high school there has been a lot of news lately coming in from colleges for my friends. In the beginning of the year when people were hearing from their ED schools, I made some good luck cookies for my friends Brandon, Zack, and Olivia. They got into Cornell, UPenn, and Dartmouth respectively, so we deemed by cookies to be good luck charms.

My friend Steven is hearing back tomorrow from school and I promised I would bake him something for good luck.

Bake until they are slightly brown on the edges
so they're a mix of crispy and soft.

I hope he gets in!

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cups flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 stick softened butter

½ cups sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

1 egg

½ teaspoon vanilla

½ cup toffee bits

¼ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F and grease two baking sheets.

Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda in one bowl and in another beat together the butter in sugar. Once mixed, beat in the eggs and vanilla to the butter and sugar mixture. After it is well blended at in the dry mixture until mixed. Finally, stir in the walnuts, chocolate chips, and toffee bits.

Spoon 1-inch balls of dough onto the greased cookie sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool.