THE Cookies!

I'm not much of a baker. I can follow directions with the best of them, but I don't know that I ever turn out anything fantastic. This recipe, however, is awesome! I up the amount of almonds and chocolate I use. Feel free to use the original recipe, but the nuttier and chocolatey-er the better in this house. Hope you enjoy!

Almond Roca Cookies

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 package toffee bits
1 cup coarsely ground almonds (I usually use the whole 12 oz bag instead)
4 ounces milk chocolate (again - the whole bag for me)
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil


Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend sugars together on medium speed. Add butter and mix to form a grainy paste. Add eggs and vanilla and mix at medium speed until light and fluffy. At low speed, slowly add the flour mixture and then the toffee bits. Mix until just blended; do not over-mix.

Place ground nuts in a small bowl. Using your hands, roll balls of dough into 1 to 1 1/2 inch balls, then roll in the ground nuts. Place on cookie sheets several inches apart.

Bake approximately 22 minutes and then transfer cookies to a cooling rack.

Melt the chocolate with the vegetable oil in a double boiler. Drizzle melted chocolate over cooled cookies. (I like to dip mine in the chocolate instead.) Place cookies on a cookie sheet and place in freezer or refrigerator until chocolate is firmly set. (Overnight on the counter in wintertime usually works just as well.)

Two batches later we're off to my parent's house for Christmas Eve and then the in-law's house tomorrow. YUM-MO!

Merry Christmas everyone!

~Becky