Chocolate Chip Almond Chunk Cookies

Do you ever get focused on a flavor combination and you just can't get it out of your head? I was flipping through my new David Lebovitz book (My Best Desserts) and I saw an awesome looking recipe for almond chocolate chunk biscotti. However, it was the middle of the work week and biscotti, no matter how awesome looking, just seemed like too much work. But by then I had that flavor combo stuck in my head (kind of like that Kylie Minogue song... "can't get you out of my head.")

So I decided to make some chocolate chip cookies to take care of the problem. I considered several different versions of chocolate chip cookies, but finally opted for one that seems to consistently come out perfect -- the Carole Walter's Great Cookie book version where you grind oatmeal up in the food processor along with the sugars. I usually opt for an easier version than these since I hate washing the food processor, but I had already talked myself out of the biscotti out of laziness so I figured washing the food processor was something I (or the dishwasher) could handle.

The original recipe called for 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts, but since I had almonds on the brain I chopped up whole roasted almonds and used them instead. Since I had almonds on the brain, I added a 1/4 tsp of almond extract and made sure to leave plenty of nice big chunks of almonds so that the almond flavor would come through. The almonds I had were the unsalted variety, but I think the salted ones would make awesome cookies too with that salty/sweet combination that was so popular last year.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar

1/2 cup oatmeal

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour, spooned in and leveled

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly firm

2 tbsps corn syrup

1 lage egg

2 tsps vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used a whole bag of ghiradelli 60% chips)

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped almonds

Preheat oven to 350.

Place the sugars and the oatmeal in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the oatmeal is ground fine.

In a small bowl stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream the sugar with the corn syrup until smooth and creamy. Add the sugar/oatmeal mixture and mix cream until fluffy -- about 2 minutes. Add the egg and extracts, scraping down the bowl as needed until everything is mixed together. Add the dry ingredients and mix until they just disappear. Finally add the nuts and chips and mix until they are blended in.

Drop mounds of dough (I use a small cookie scoop) on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper, and bake for 10-11 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. Let them cool on the pan until they are firm enough to handle, then move to cooling racks and let them finish cooling completely.