Cookie Madness!

It is finals week up at my school, so I thought I would make some cookies for the students I work with. I found a ton of recipes on the Cookie Madness site, and decided to go with almond chocolate chip & peanut butter. I especially liked the chocolate chip, the Corn Flakes & shredded coconut gave it an awesome flavor.

Crispy Crunchy Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cookie Madness

1/2 cup whole almonds, unsalted
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 tablespoons lightly beaten egg (doesn’t have to be precise)
1 cup all purpose, fluffed up and very lightly spooned and swept (4 1/4 oz)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 generous teaspoon salt
1 cups Corn Flakes cereal
6 oz dark chocolate, cut into chunks or 1 cup semisweet chips
2/3 cup loosely packed shredded sweetened coconut (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place almonds on a paper towel and microwave on high for 2 minutes, stopping halfway through the shuffle them around. Allow them to cool. Alternatively, you may toast them in the oven.**
In a mixing bowl, using high speed of electric mixer, cream butter, both sugars, both extracts and the
1 ½ tablespoons egg.

In a separate bowl, thoroughly stir together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir flour mixture into sugar mixture.

Transfer cooled almonds and coconut (if using) to a food processor and pulse until almonds are finely chopped. Add Corn Flakes and pulse 5 more times to crush cereal – don’t pulverize it, just break the flakes a bit.

Dump almond/cereal mixture into cookie batter and stir until batter comes together. It should be pretty dry.

Shape dough into balls of about 1 1/4 inch and place on cookie sheets about 2 ½ inches apart. Bake one sheet at a time on center rack for 13-15 minutes. Let cool for about 3 minutes on cookie sheet, then transfer to wire rack to cool.

Makes about 18 cookies.
** To toast almonds in oven, lay flat on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 8 minutes or until almonds start to crack.