Chocolate and Almond Stuffed Cookies

Now that you have my Soft and Lemony Ricotta Cookies, it’s time for my second cookie recipe of the week, and do I have a great one for you today! This cookie is a chocolate glazed butter cookie wrapped around a filling of cocoa and fresh almond paste and with an extra little chocolate surprise in the middle. So buttery and chocolaty and so good for Christmas!

There are a couple of steps since you need to fill the cookies, but if you have a small (or maybe not so small) helper, the work goes fast. My daughter separated the filling into portions and then stuffed the chocolate chips into each portion (As well as modeling for me so I could show you the process.), while I took care of the butter cookie dough and did the final stuffing. Do expect to lose a few extra chocolate chips if you employ a helper., though. 🙂 I consider it a fair trade – her labor for a little of my chocolate.

Unlike my recipe for Soft and Lemony Ricotta Cookies, this recipe is new recipe for me. I love to try different cookie recipes each year along with some older tried and true recipes. It keeps things interesting! I first came across the recipe that I used as a basis for my recipe on the King Arthur Flour site, their Almond Bonbon recipe. And it was very good as is! However, I am not fond of the flavor of commercial almond paste nor am I fond of buying containers of things where I’m going to throw out half. So a little research later, and guess what you need to make your own almond paste? Almond meal, confectioners’ sugar, and egg whites. Easy and all ingredients I have! I really think that making fresh almond paste makes a huge difference in these cookies.

Also, I decided that the recipe really needed more chocolate. Because you can’t go wrong with more chocolate. It’s one of my rules of life. The glaze on top was tasty and nice, but chocolate inside too? That’s what I’m talking about. Once I had the final recipe, I had a cookie recipe that flew off the plate and disappeared almost before I finished making them.

Come back Friday for my Pecan Snowball Cookies. A yummy, easy classic!

– Happy Eating, Annemarie

Chocolate, Almond Stuffed Cookies

 

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Prep/Hold time

30 mins

Cook time

14 mins

Total time

44 mins

 

These chocolate covered cookies have a tender butter cookie outside and are filled with almonds and more chocolate.

Author: Just a Little Bit of Bacon

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: Italian

Serves: 28 cookies

Ingredients

Butter Cookie Dough

• 1 cup (8 oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 1½ cup (6 oz) confectioners' sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• ¾ tsp table salt
• 2½ cups (12½ oz) all purpose flour

Cocoa Almond Filling

• ¼ cup almond meal
• ½ cup confectioners' sugar, divided
• 1 tbsp egg white
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 tsp corn syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp butter, softened
• ¼ cup cocoa powder, dutched if you can find it
• 1 cup (5 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

Chocolate Glaze

• 1½ cups (7½ oz) semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 tbsp (1 oz) unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp corn syrup
• sugar pearls for decoration, optional

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. For the butter cookie dough: cream butter and confectioners' sugar in a mixer set on medium speed until light. Add vanilla and salt and mix for 30 seconds. Turn mixer speed to low; add flour and mix until just blended in. Divide the dough into 28 pieces.
3. For the filling: In a bowl with a hand mixer, beat together almond meal, ¼ cup confectioners' sugar, egg white, and almond extract until it has formed a paste. Add in remaining ¼ cup confectioners' sugar, corn syrup, vanilla extract, butter and cocoa power and mix until combined. Once everything is mixed in, knead the filling a few times on a board to until the butter has been incorporated and it is smooth and easy to work with. The filling will be glossy and dark. Divide the filling into 28 pieces as well. Take each portion of filling, make an indentation in it with your finger, and fill the indentation with 3 chocolate chips. Then bring up the filling around the chocolate chips to enclose them inside.
4. To fill the butter cookie dough, you'll do the same thing again. Take each portion of butter cookie dough, make an indentation, put the filling inside, and then shape and smooth the dough around it.
5. Bake the cookies for 14 minutes. When done, remove the cookies to a cooling rack and allow them cool to room temperature.
6. For the glaze: heat the chocolate chips in a heat-proof bowl over, but not in, a pot of simmering water. Stir frequently. Once the chocolate is fully melted and smooth, stir in the butter and corn syrup. The glaze should be very smooth and easily stick to the cookies when you dip them in.
7. To glaze the cookies, take each cookie and dip it top down into the glaze. Lift the cookie out of the glaze, allow the excess to drip off while you twist them a bit still facing down. Then carefully flip the cookies up and place them back on the rack to allow the glaze to dry. If desired, top with sugar pearls while the glaze is still wet.

Notes

If the glaze granulates and seems to seize up after you've stirred in the corn syrup, do not despair! Just add a little more butter, about a tsp of butter at a time, stirring it in until the glaze smooths out again.

This recipe was inspired by Almond Bonbon Cookies by King Arthur Flour.

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