Chocolate Chip Almond Toffee Cookies

I have been looking for almond paste everywhere! When I finally managed to get my hands on some, I lost the recipe where I want to use it! Silly me I know...for the mean time when I'm still searching for that coveted cake that suppose to taste like Almond Joy. I stumbled upon Two Peas and their Pod while I was doing my daily for now these cookies will suffice me, actually it's more than enough. For these I bring out the big guns, the precious and expensive almond paste and the Heath bits I found in the supermarket aisle during one of my late night supermarket binge.

With the aid of the almond paste, these cookies smells so good, they smell exactly like Chinese almond jelly (love these too by the way! ^_^) For an added bonus I threw in a couple handful of milk chocolate chips and off to the oven they went. The first batch came out not so pretty with their hump. I usually scoop by cookie dough out and normally the heat from the oven flattens out the cookies. However, in this case it didn't, I think it had something to do with the almond paste. Word of caution when making these, flatten the dough out like a cute little hockey pucks and everything would be great!

CHOCOLATE CHIP ALMOND TOFFEE COOKIES
recipe from Two Peas & their Pod

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 ounces almond paste
• 2  large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups chopped toffee
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars together with the beater blade for about two minutes.  Add the almond paste in pieces and mix until well combined. Add in eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla extract and mix well.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients slowly mix until dry ingredients disappear.  Stir in toffee and chocolate chips. Scoop dough onto prepared  baking sheet with a medium cookie scoop.  Bake for 12-14 minutes or until cookies are golden brown around the outside.  Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.

*Note-if you don’t have homemade toffee, you can use chopped up Heath or Skor bars.
Makes about 3 dozen cookies

NYC's Milk & Cookies Bakery

I'm a huge sucker for cookbooks written by famous bakeries from the US, UK or even Down under. I'm curious what these bakeries offers that makes them quite popular and have a huge followers.  I think one of the reason why I often buy those "bakery" books is that each bakeries has it's own quirks that makes their goods special and I want to see what does are and I get to apply their different techniques and make it my own great cookie! :D

Having purchase an exorbitant amount of cookbooks lately, in the line of bakery books, it's so hard to choose which one should go first. After much pondering the homey feel of NYC's Milk & Cookies Bakery's book cover got me; yes I'm easy that way. I easily get swayed by book covers. With a handful of different delicious looking cookies gracing the cover of Milk & Cookies cookbook, the first recipe that I tried from this book is the Chocolate Chunk Cookies. What differs their recipe form others is that it has ground oats in it, though come to think of it the urban legend of Nieman Marcus $250 cookie has some ground oats in them too! I haven't tried making those yet. Back to this recipe, the chocolates are chopped into two different styles. One is very chunky so that as you bite into it there are huge pockets of chocolates. The second style is chopped into shards so that every surface of the cookie would have some chocolates in them. I love the fact that the books are divided into different sections. It has basic recipe sections and then the suceeding recipes has the different variations on how you can give your cookies more life! Its easy to read and the instructions are very clear and precise. Great for newbie bakers and non newbies alike. Newbies would not get intimidated by it and non newbie bakers like me, still got some interesting recipes out of it. 

Another reason for opting to make cookies instead of cakes because I finally got myself SILPAT!!! Technically speaking my cousin who just got back from her doctor's convention brought it home with her for me. I bought it off amazon and had it set to her hotel. I was on pins and needles waiting for her to get back then finally last Saturday, she sent it to me! So I knew right away I have to make some kind of cookie. ♥♥♥ my new Silpat ☺