Double Chocolate Cookies with Salted Almonds
Ingredients
- 2 sticks butter room temperature
- 1 ¼ cups brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-½ cups unbleached flour
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 packet Starbucks Via 0.11 oz. Instant Dark Roast Coffee – I like Italian Roast or 1 tablespoon espresso powder
- 1- teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 package dark chocolate chips 11.5 oz.
- 1- cup whole almonds see instructions below with about 1 tsp. canola oil and some salt
Instructions
- FOR THE ALMONDS
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and spread 1 cup of whole almonds (or if you are an almond fiend like I am, add another cup and save those for later munching) on a cookie sheet. Drizzle very lightly with canola oil and sprinkle with kosher salt – just a light sprinkle, so maybe about ¼ teaspoon or less over the whole works. Roast for about 10 minutes or until you can smell roasted nuts and they look a little darkened and glossy. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Once they are cool, put one cup of the nuts on a cutting board and chop roughly with a sharp, heavy knife. Think about the size of bite of nuts you want and chop away accordingly. They don’t all have to be the same size so no obsessing over it is necessary.
- FOR THE COOKIES
- In a mixer, beat together the butter and brown sugar until light and as creamy as you can get it – go for about 3 minutes or so.
- Add in the eggs, one by one (allow one minute of mixing in the first egg before you add the second one)
- Stop the mixer and add the flour, cocoa powder, Via or espresso powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix slowly until everything is well combined.
- Add the chocolate chips and nuts, and mix slowly to combine.
- Drop on parchment lined baking sheets in 2 tablespoon sized balls. If you happen to have a small ice cream scoop, now would be the time to use it.
- Run some cold water on your hands and smash the cookies down gently on the baking sheet, then bake at 350 for about 10 -12 minutes. It’s hard to know when these guys are done, but the tops will start looking dry and maybe even crack just a little. If you touch them with your finger, the dough should not sink in.
- Remove from the oven and cool on a cooling rack until you can’t stand it anymore. Grab a glass of milk (or red wine, depending on what kind of a day it’s been) and make yourself happy.