Almond Joy Cookies

Sweet and salty, gooey and a little crunchy. All the best parts of one of the best candies, Almond Joys, wrapped up into an amazing cookie!

Growing up, what most of my friends thought of as just Halloween season, was always combined with Diwali season for me and my family. This means that our Diwali at home always consisted of Halloween candy and our Halloween always consisted of Indian sweets. One candy that stood out the most is Almond Joy. Almond Joy, filled with a sweet, gooey coconut filling, is oddly similar to coconut ladoo, which might be why my parents and I love it so much. This meant that during pujas (prayer) we would have a variety of ladoos, paired with Almond Joy, as prasad, a food item that serves as a blessing after prayer. That's where these cookies come in. A perfect blend of my childhood memories of Diwali and Spooky season, incorporated into a cookie. The coconut flakes, almond extract, and chocolate chips, all come together into a beautiful symphony of flavor. These cookies are a great treat as we enter the colder months and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Substitutions:

- if vegan: replace butter with canola oil, equal amount will work fine. Replace egg with flaxseed egg following directions on the package. Alternatively, can replace egg with banana as well.

- Almond allergy: replace almond extract with equal amount of vanilla extract and leave out crushed almonds

Almond Joy Cookies

Servings: 16-18 cookies| Prep time: 15 minutes| Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter

• ½ cup brown sugar

• ½ cup white sugar

• 1 egg

• ½ tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

• 1 tsp almond extract

• 1 tsp salt

• ½ cup packed with unsweetened coconut shavings

• 1 cup chocolate chips

• 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour

• Optional: ½ cup crushed almonds

Topping:

• ½ cup unsweetened coconut shavings

• 2 tbsp white sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F, if baking right away. (recommend resting for half an hour or overnight if possible)

2. Heat a pan to medium heat and brown the butter. The butter will first melt, then foam. Make sure to mix during foaming stage so the milk solids do not burn. After the foam goes away, the butter will begin to brown quickly.

3. Whisk browned butter (while hot) with brown sugar and white sugar. Once butter is cooled, whisk in egg until mixture is fully combined.

4. Mix in apple cider vinegar, salt, and almond extract into mixture.

5. Once fully combined, mix in baking soda, coconut shavings (make sure to pack coconut shavings into half cup measuring cup) and chocolate chips. If adding crushed almonds, add in now as well

6. Mix in flour until fully combined and then stop mixing. If time allows, let dough rest in fridge.

7. Make coconut sugar by combining ½ cup of coconut shavings with 2 tbsp sugar. If using sweetened coconut shavings, can leave out added sugar.

8. Scoop cookie dough into 1-inch balls and roll each ball into coconut sugar and place 1-2 inches apart on sheet pan.

9. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the corners are golden.

10. Optional: if you want your cookies to have golden ripples, while cookies are baking, bang the sheet pan on the counter every 5 minutes.

11. Allow cookies to cool for around 5 minutes and then ENJOY!