SHF #16: Recipe for Love, or Something Sweetly Suggestive

And a nameless longing filled her breast, - a wish, that she hardly dared to own, for something better than she had known…
    -- John Greenleaf Whittier

But then again, even if I were to wish for something better than I had known, what could be better than some of our favorite aphrodisiacal friends:  almonds and chocolate?  They are here combined in a sweetly suggestive cookie in order to fulfill, with no small  haste, this month's Sugar High Friday which demands sweets that invoke the act of love.  This treat is hosted by none other than Jennifer of the lovely blog Taste Everything Once. 


Almond Butter Dark Chocolate "Blossoms"
Adapted from Fran Gage's recipe for Almond Butter Cookies from
A Sweet Quartet: Sugar, Almonds, Eggs, and Butter

1/2 cup whole blanched almonds
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of fine sea salt
1/2 cup almond butter (mix before using)
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup firmly packed light-brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature

30 dark chocolate Wilbur Buds or other dark chocolate "kiss"-shaped candies

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Toast the almonds on a baking sheet until they are lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Let them cool, then roughly chop them with a knife.  Line a large baking pan with parchment paper.
Sift the flour baking soda, and salt together.  Put the almond butter and the unsalted butter in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer, and beat with the paddle attachment until they are mixed together. Beat in the brown and granulated sugars, then the egg. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt, and beat until the dough is uniform.  Beat in the almonds.  Take about a tablespoon of dough from the bowl and roll it in your palms, shaping it into a ball. Put it on the baking sheet and continue with the rest of the dough, placing the balls about 2 inches apart. Press a small indentation into the tops of the rounds with your finger or the handle end of a wooden spoon, as for thumbprint cookies.  Put the baking sheet on the middle shelf of the oven. Turn the pan halfway through cooking and bake until the edges of the cookies start to turn brown but the centers are still slightly soft when pressed with a finger, about 12 minutes.

Remove the pan to a rack to cool. While still quite warm, place a dark chocolate bud or kiss into the center of each cookie.  Let cool completely.  Store the cookies in an airtight container in a cool but not cold environment.

Makes about 30 cookies.  Can be used as part of the costume for an exotic dance -- or you can just take turns feeding them to each other...

SHF16

Comments

[Christine]

Don't worry - I always seem to be scrabling for a recipe at the last minute. Those look really good. Is it too early in the am to crave Chocolate?

[Ivonne]

What a perfect recipe for a Friday. They look delicious ... and just in time for Valentine's Day!

[Jennifer]

What a tempting cookie to find in my morning inbox. These look divine!

Thanks for taking part in this month's Sugar High Friday.

[Bakerina]

Oh, yeah. I love these cookies almost more than life itself. Alas, we have eaten all the Wilbur Buds, so I'll just have to hack up the 10# Wilbur semisweet bar into Bud-sized pieces. :)

Thank you for posting this, Julie. Have I told you lately that you rock? (That's spelled "rawk," incidentally.)

[Tania]

I've never tried baking with almond butter; I usually just slather it on toast. What a yummy idea!

[keiko]

Julie, these cookies are so adorable, I'm sure they taste as lovely as they look...

[valentina]

They look gorgeous. Never baked with almond butter before. Should do some investigating.

[tanvi]

Julie, these sound fabulous! I have my own almond butter cookie recipe, which will only be bettered with the addition of chocolate, as most things are :-)