Slow Like Honey

One of my favorite chefs on the Food Network is Giada De Laurentiis. She was born in Italy, developed her culinary skills at Le Cordon Bleu and has slowly taken over the television with both her show, Everyday Italian and her guest spots on the Today show. Plus, she is pregnant now! What a busy lady, right?

While some people dislike Giada, I personally like the girl. In fact, her show was the first one that I tuned into every day after school because not only did her food seemed delicious and tasty, her dishes always looked gorgeous and appetizing.I never used to be a big fan of Italian food until I saw her show, so I credit her for introducing me into the world of culinary adventures.

Her recipes have yet to let me down too. I made some of her pasta dishes including baked rigatoni with bechamel sauce, grilled brie and chocolate panini, and Parmesan popovers a while ago, and most of her meals are mouthwatering enough to wish I had enough time to experiment with her recipes. I’ve been eyeing this recipe for Amaretto Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches since I saw this show for a while now and decided to whip up a bath for a girls night out.

Instead of using Amaretto liqueur, I added in some hazelnut liqueur known as Frangelico because I enjoy combining different nuts together. Plus, I like Frangelico more so it seemed like a good fit. In fact, next time, I’d add more because it gives the cookie a nice bite and tang, which helps these cookies stand out.

I like the texture that the minced almonds add to the cookie. Instead of these big nutty chunks, you get tiny flecks of almonds that enhance each bite. And of course, they look pretty.

The first batch of cookies spread quite a bit, so in between cooking rounds I put the dough in the oven, which helped the dough firm up.

As I was getting ready and doing my hair, I caught a whiff from the kitchen and had to step away from my curling iron, following the amazing scent from the oven. Oh my god. These cookies are to die for. They turned out thin and crispy, with a hint of the finely chopped almonds in every bite. They aren’t overly nutty but instead leave you wondering, “What is that?!”

Needless to say, these cookies were gobbled up rather quickly. You could make these into ice cream sandwich cookies, I imagine that they’d work well with coffee ice cream or Breyer’s vanilla bean ice cream (one of my favorites). But for us, they were better off by themselves, accompanied with many glasses of champagne :)

Giada’s nutty chocolate chip cookies- makes 4 dozen cookies
adapted from Giada’s Amaretto chocolate chip cookie sandwich

Ingredients:

1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 (12-ounce) bag semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup raw, sliced almonds
3 tablespoons Frangelico liqueur

Directions:

1. Line heavy large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Spread sliced almonds on a baking sheet till they begin to toast, around 5 to 10 minutes. Once toasty and warmed, transfer to food processor and pulse till almonds become finely chopped and minced. Put aside.

3. Finely chop the oats in a food processor. Mix in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

4. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars in a large bowl until fluffy. Scrape down sides of mixing bowl. Beat in the eggs and almond extract. Add in the Frangelico liqueur and mix. Add the flour mixture in 3 parts and stir just until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips and chopped almonds.

5. For each cookie, drop 1 rounded tablespoonful of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing 1-inch apart (do not flatten dough). Bake until the cookies are golden (cookies will flatten slightly), about 13 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.