Dark Chocolate Dipped Chai Almond Cookies
These dark chocolate dipped chai almond cookies are the perfect dessert along with a cup of tea! Lightly sweetened, nutty, biscuit-like cookies are flavored with chai, then dipped in dark chocolate! These pretty cookies are perfect for holiday baking!
It's the most wonderful time of the year - Christmas cookie time!
Ever since I was a kid and would count down the days until snow covered oreos were available, Christmas cookies have made me crazy happy. Although who are we kidding, cookies make me crazy happy year round!
When it comes to holiday baking, I tend to get delusions of grandeur. I think I've read too many holiday issues of Southern Living, because I dream of making all my friends pretty little boxes filled with homemade cookies. I pulled it off one year for my coworkers, and even though I started the day before, I was up till like 2 am baking. Maybe I'll attempt again when I retire! I was so scarred from that experience that I’ve yet to attempt more than one Christmas cookie since.
(Timeout. Just as I was writing this, Scott walked in the door with a box of Christmas cookies from a coworker. Universe, sometimes you are awesome).
Inspiration for Dark Chocolate Dipped Chai Almond Cookies
This year I wanted to whip up a batch of cookies to bring to a holiday lunch with my officemates, and came up with this recipe for dark chocolate dipped chai almond cookies. These were very loosely inspired by my memories of an Italian bakery we used to go to growing up in New York. I would stare into the glass case filled with dozens of kinds of cookies and basically turn into Veruca Salt, begging my parents 'I want them ALL!'
I remember this one buttery, crumbly, barely sweet almond cookie that was dusted with powdered sugar. Another one I loved was this sweet butter cookie dunked in chocolate. This is kind of a hybrid of the two. And then I threw in chai spices because why not!
Baking With Whole Grains
These dark chocolate dipped chai almond cookies are made with white whole wheat flour, which is one of my favorite ways to bake with whole grains. White whole wheat flour is harvested using a different variety of wheat, which has a softer flavor and lighter color. It has a slightly wheaty flavor without being as strong as regular whole wheat flour, which is why I like to use it in whole grain baking in recipes that won’t taste as good with a strong wheat flavor. It also has a softer texture, so I find for most recipes you can use 100% white whole wheat flour without a huge difference in taste and texture, while most of the time baking with regular whole wheat flour it works best to do 50/50 whole wheat and white flour.
Baking with Almond Meal
To give these dark chocolate dipped chai almond cookies a nutty flavor, I use both toasted chopped almonds and almond meal. Almond meal is frequently used in gluten free baking, but my favorite way to use it is to add nutty flavor to cookies. I find it adds a yummy texture too, especially in combination with regular wheat flour. You might see almond meal and almond flour at the grocery store. Almond flour is a bit more flour like, made from blanched almonds that are finely ground. Almond meal is more like finely ground almonds and has a bit more flavor, which I really like in this recipe. Either works though!
What are your favorite Christmas cookies? Leave a comment or a link below!
Dark Chocolate Dipped Chai Almond Cookies
Makes about 30
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup white whole wheat flour
1 cup almond meal
The contents of 2 chai tea bags, finely ground (you could use a coffee grinder)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup toasted almonds, finely chopped
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon coconut oil
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In the bowl of a large standing mixer, mix butter and sugar on high speed until fluffy and fully combined, about 1-2 minutes. Add egg, almond milk, vanilla extract and blend until combined, scraping down sides if needed. Slowly mix in whole wheat flour, almond meal, chai tea powder and salt while mixer is running on medium-high speed, stopping to scrape down sides as needed. Add chopped almonds, mix on medium-high speed until combined, then set aside.
Using a tablespoon measure, form balls of dough. Place evenly on a large, greased cookie sheet (they won't spread much) and press down lightly to flatten. Bake 20 minutes until lightly browned.
Remove cookies from oven and let cool. Once cool, heat chocolate chips and oil in the microwave in 15 second intervals, stopping to stir between each interval, until smooth. Dip cookies in chocolate, then place on a sheet of parchment paper over. Carefully place cookies and parchment paper in the refrigerator to harden. When chocolate is firm, store cookies in a container with a lid in the refrigerator or at room temperature.
If you like these dark chocolate dipped chai almond cookies, you might also like:
Everything But The Kitchen Sink Cookies
Almond Trail Cookies
Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies
