A perfectly chewy and gooey chocolate chip cookie infused with a double dose of almond flavor, with puddles of melted dark chocolate and a sprinkle of flake sea salt to finish it off right.
Yield: 12 large cookies
Cook Time: 12 minutesminutes
Total Time: 45 minutesminutes
Ingredients
1½cups/ 188gall-purpose flour
½teaspoonbaking soda
½teaspoonfine sea salt
4oz/ 113galmond paste, crumbled
⅔cup/ 140gpacked light or dark brown sugar
½cup/ 113gunsalted butter, at room temperature
1largeegg, at room temperature
2tablespoons/ 30gamaretto liqueur*
1cup/ 130gdark chocolate chunks, a mix of chocolates between 50 and 70% works best, plus more for topping
flake sea salt, for topping
Instructions
Line a heavyweight baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
In a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix crumbled almond paste with brown sugar until no large pieces remain (break them up with your hands if necessary). Add butter, then increase speed to medium high and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add egg and beat on high speed for 30-60 seconds until smooth.
Add half of dry ingredients and mix on low speed, then add amaretto, followed by remaining dry ingredients until almost fully incorporated. Add chopped chocolate (reserve some for topping, if desired), and fold until evenly distributed and no streaks of dry flour remain.
Scoop out large 2-inch balls of dough (I use a large #20 cookie scoop which is just under 3 tablespoons of dough, or 60g by weight) and place on prepared cookie sheet (it's ok if they're close together for the initial chill). Chill for 20 to 30 minutes; the colder the dough, the less it will spread, so chill according to your personal preferences. If your kitchen is on the cool side, you may be able to bake it straight away without chilling. I recommend baking a test cookie or two and see how they look, then chill more if/as necessary.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Roll chilled cookies between your palms to smooth out the balls, then arrange on baking sheets with 2 to 3 inches of space between cookies to allow for spreading (I bake 6 per tray). If desired, press a few chunks of chocolate into the top of each dough ball for a prettier baked cookie.
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until tops are puffed and edges are golden brown (if baking from room temperature dough or if you are making smaller cookies you'll only need 9 to 11 minutes or so). Immediately after removing from the oven, swirl a large round cookie cutter around the warm cookies, tucking in the uneven edges to create perfectly circular cookies. Sprinkle with flake sea salt, if desired, while cookies are still warm and melty.
Let cool on cookie sheets for 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy warm, or store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 5 days, or frozen (wrapped in plastic wrap and sealed in a zip-top bag) for up to 1 month. Let come to room temperature for 30 minutes before eating.
Notes
*If you'd rather not bake with alcohol, you can replace the amaretto with 1 tablespoon vanilla extract and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract.