Chocolate Almond Crunchies

My daughter Katy who interns at the NYSE and writes the blog Dockery's Daily Docket, wanted Christmas cookies for the floor as a thank you to all the traders that have helped her throughout the year. She was so busy with finals she ask me to help and that translates to;  "Mom please make a selection of cookies for me to take to the floor." How could I say no?
Instead I pulled out all the stops and made a a plate of delicious holiday cookies worthy of the Queen of Wall Street.  I think I may have contributed to everyone's waste line at the exchange. 

My son got into the spirit of things and made more cookies for the Christmas Eve dinner. Our house smells spicy and fresh with the scent of cinnamon, vanilla and pine. 
Our favorite cookie was the Almond Chocolate Crunchies which is a recipe adapted from The Brown Eyed Baker's Nutella Hazelnut Cookies. We did substituted Trader Joe's Cocoa  Almond Spread for the Nutella and slivered roasted almonds for the hazelnuts. It was a terrific success with nary a crumb left.

Chocolate Almond Crunchies

3 cups all-purpose  flour

2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1¼ cups Trader Joe's Almond Chocolate Spread
 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1-1/3 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1/3 cup whole milk
1/2 cup whole roasted almonds, chopped
 1 1/2 cups roasted slivered almonds
1 cup powdered sugar

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to blend; set aside. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the Cocoa Almond Spread, butter, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, vanilla, and espresso powder and mix until incorporated. Reduce the speed to low and alternate additions of flour mixture and milk, starting and ending with the flour, and mixing until just combined after each addition. Fold in the chopped almonds . Refrigerate the dough until firm, about 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 
Line baking sheets with parchment paper or use a silpat. 
Place the slivered almonds and the powdered sugar in two separate bowls. Scoop out about 2 tablespoons of cookie dough and roll into balls, roll in the almonds, then roll in the powdered sugar. Place the balls 2 inches apart on the sheet pans. 
Bake until the edges are set and the middle still looks a tad soft, about 10 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. 
Good luck with storing them most of ours was gobbled up right out of the oven. 
Happy Christmas from our house to yours. 

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