Nutty Chocolate Chip Cookies

makes 16 cookies

Ingredients

¼ cup (50 gr) white sugar

¾ cup (150 gr) dark brown sugar

1 ¾ cups (200 gr) cold unsalted butter, cubed

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 ½ cups (200 gr) all purpose flour

1 cup (120 gr) cake flour

1 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

⅔ cup (150 gr) dark chocolate chunks

⅔ cup (150 gr) milk chocolate chunks

2 ½ cups (260 gr) nuts of your choice, chopped (i used walnuts)

Preparation

Cream the sugar and cold butter together.
Beat eggs in a separate bowl.
In two batches, add eggs to sugar/butter mixture and mix on high speed. Scrape down the bowl occasionally.
Add vanilla extract to wet ingredients. Mix well.
Sift dry ingredients together.
Add dry ingredients mixture to wet ingredients.
Mix lightly until combined.
Add chopped nuts and chocolate chunks.
Mix gently on low. Do not over-mix.
Divide dough into 90 gr (3 oz) balls.
Place cookie doughs on baking tray, 3 inches apart
Cover and freeze for 90 minutes (or refrigerate overnight)
Preheat convection (fan forced) oven to 392 F degrees.
Lower to 350 F degrees and bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown. Rotate half way.
Let cool completely for 15 minutes before removing from pan.
Enjoy!

Good to know

Feel free to use any nuts of your choice or mix/match different kinds of nuts together for additional textures.

Use an ice cream scooper to divide the dough for consistent and uniformed looking cookies. Shape by hand if you prefer a chunkier look.

Refrigerating the dough before baking is always recommended. This will prevent the cookies from spreading after they hit the oven.

Linzer Cookies

makes makes 48 cookies or 24 cookie sandwiches

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cup almond flour

1⁄2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2/3 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup strawberry jam

1/3 cup almond butter

Powdered sugar, for dusting

Preparation

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, almond flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt.
In a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together on medium high until light and fluffy. About 2 to 3 minutes.
Scrape down sides of bowl to ensure sugar and butter are well incorporate.
Add egg to sugar and butter mixture, one at a time. Let mixer run for 30 seconds in between each egg addition.
Add vanilla extract and beat until well combined, stopping occasionally to scrape down bowl.
Add in the flour mixture and mix on low speed until well incorporated.
Divide dough in 2 pieces. Wrap each piece in plastic wrap and roll each of them out to about 1 inch thick.
Place dough disks in the refrigerator and let chill for least 2 hours before baking.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Line the baking sheets with parchment paper.
Roll out the dough disks to about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.
Use a round cookie cutter (mine is about 2 inches in diameter) and cut out as many circles as possible.
Use a smaller heart shape cookie cutter to cut out the center of half of the cookies. These will be the top cookie pieces.
Transfer cookies to baking sheets, cover loosely with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 5 - 10 minutes before baking.
Remove cookies from refrigerator, remove plastic wrap and bake for 12 to 15 minutes. The edges should be slightly golden when done.
Remove the cookies from the baking sheets and let cool completely before filing.
To fill, add about 1 teaspoon of jam or almond butter to the flat, bottom pieces. Place the heart cut out pieces on top and gently press together.

Good to know

The high fat content from the butter, almond flour and egg will make the dough very moist so make sure to flour your work surface generously before rolling them out. Alternatively, you can roll out the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper.

If the dough get soft while handling, put it back in the fridge for 5-10 minutes before continue handling.

Chilling the cookies again right before baking will help them retain their shape and not spread out too much. Again, this is due to the high fat content.

You can re-roll the scraps to make additional cookies if needed.

The dough can be made 5 days ahead, tightly wrapped and refrigerated.

Match top and bottom cookie pieces before filling to make sure they are the same size.

Dust the heart cut out cookies with powdered sugar first then place them on top of the strawberry jam. This will avoid getting powdered sugar on the jam and helps retain the cookies’ vibrant red center.