A chocolate cookie with a nice crunch and a hint of almond. For Christmas or a special occasion.

Ingredients

This recipe makes enough dough for ~120 cookies.

• 120g raw almonds (grated)
• 250g sugar
• 350g flour
• 250g unsalted butter, nearly room temperature, cut into workable squares or cubes
• 50g dutch process cocoa powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• pinch ground cloves

Special Tools: small metal cookie molds (traditional Czech molds in the shape of country folk and fish are impossible to come by, so I use tartlet tins like these or these; the fluted ones make more interesting cookies). And, a rotary nut grater, like this one.

Directions – Mixing the Dough

1. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl that is comfortable for hand mixing. You can grate the almonds ahead of time, or straight into the mixing bowl. Sift the cocoa powder and cinnamon into the bowl to eliminate any clumps.
2. To mix: flatten the butter cubes between your fingers and press them into the dry ingredients until the mixture gets crumbly. Eventually it will look a bit like fine sand. It will probably take 15 minutes of kneading before you achieve a consistent texture and color, and clumps start to form on their own. (See photos). You’re done mixing when you can press the mixture into one cohesive mass.
3. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 in hour, or overnight if you plan to bake the next day.

Directions – Baking

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Take your cookie molds and fill each one about halfway. The dough rises slightly during baking so the filling should be concave.
   • My method for filling is to start in the middle of the mold, pressing the dough in and scraping excess off the edge, rotating the form as I go. I’m constantly pushing excess off the side and adding small crumbles back in to make a nicely packed mold. You want to press the dough in at every angle– especially if your mold has fine detailing–so that your baked cookies come out of their molds with nice definition.
3. Prep one whole tray, then bake for ~24 minutes.
   • You want to bake them long enough so they have a nice crunch when cooled, but you also want to be careful not to burn them. Sometimes I do a test batch of just a few.
   • If you have enough molds, start on the next tray, or return the dough to the fridge while the first batch cooks.
4. When the timer is up, and your kitchen smells deliciously like chocolate, remove from the oven. The cookies may feel soft to the touch but they will harden as they cool. Let cool 5 minutes before removing from their molds.
5. To remove: take one and drop it from a short height, at an angle, letting the edge of the mold hit the counter or cutting board. The cookie should come out of the tin after a few drops. Set each cookie aside to cool. You will also want to let the molds/tins cool down before reusing. Once each batch is cooled, and ready for storage, sprinkle the tops with powdered sugar.
6. Repeat this process until all cookies are baked, cooled, and powdered. It’s a bit of work to get through it all, but these delicious cookies are worth it! Bon appetit.