Dark Chocolate & Almond Cookies

When I was little, I used to be allergic to chocolate. Crazy, right? How could anyone be allergic to such a divine substance? Whenever I ate chocolate, I got a nosebleed momentarily after. It was weird because all of my siblings were the same way; chocolate equals nosebleed. Of course, that never stopped us from eating Crunch ice cream bars or nibbling a bit of chocolate every now and then. It just meant that we had to be prepared later on with wads of tissues and a comfortable place to sit down.

I actually got so many nosebleeds in elementary school that I became BFFs with the nurse, Barbara. She was the sweetest little lady and knew me by name. She always knew to grab the ice pack and tons of tissues the moment she saw me walking through the door. Why did this happen? I’ll never know. All I know is that I eventually grew out of it and was able to eat all the chocolate in the world without a worry. Thank goodness!

This recipe is adapted from pixie baker and I’d say it’s a good base for a cookie. I’ve come to the conclusion that baking cookies with bread flour is my favorite way to make cookies. It always results in a firm and chewy cookie. I used 72% dark chocolate, but that may have been a bit much for some people, so feel free to use whatever kind of chocolate you want!

Ingredients

• 1 cup (two sticks) unsalted butter, at room temp.
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups Bread flour
• 3/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon baking Soda
• 1 1/3 cups dark or bittersweet chocolate chips (I used Trader Joe’s Pound Plus Dark Chocolate Bar)
• 1 to 1 1/3 cups coarsely chopped almonds

1. In a large bowl, cream butter and both sugars just until they come together. Add the egg and vanilla extract, beat just until incorporated. In a seperate medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda. When thoroughly mixed, add to batter and stir just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. The dough should be neither sticky nor dry. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for at least two hours.
2. Preheat oven to 350.
3. Form the cookie dough into balls.
4. Place the cookies on an ungreased insulated cookie sheet or an upside down rimmed cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet for five minutes before removing.