The Boston cookie Takedown 2013!

The weekend after Thanksgiving, I participated in the Boston Cookie Takedown at The Middle Eat nightclub hosted by Matt Timms! The event turned out a good number of cookie lovers despite the timing just after a face-stuffing holiday. Having two Food Experiments under my belt and one 3rd place prize for my strawberry cake last year, I was excited and prepared to create one delicious cookie for this event! Once again, my incredible and talented baker friend, Natalie teamed up with me on the day of the event. Our cookie creation was inspired by my chocolate almond cocoa cookie which is gluten free, easy to make and one of the most incredibly delicious cookies I have ever made. I added chocolate chips, a nice dollop of caramel in the center of the cookie and then topped them off with drizzled melted milk chocolate! Our Peanut Butter Chocolate Almond Caramel Lava cookie was the only gluten free cookie at the event and scored us 3rd prize with the judges vote! There were many delicious cookie concoctions at the event. My favorites included a caramel stuffed double chocolate cookie and the overall winner, a walnut spiral cookie. A fun time was had by all, and I look forward to the next cooking competition. Hope to see you there!

The Middle East buzzing with cookie lovers!

chocolate

Natalie and I with our cookie setup

I won a food processor!

Photo with Matt Timms

Peanut Butter and Cocoa Almond Spread Cookies!

I recently discovered Trader Joe's Cocoa Almond Spread when searching for some Nutella to make these cookies. It is similar to Nutella, except made with almonds, and may even be better! These cookies are simply just... YUM! I adapted the recipe from Simply Scratch. I replaced the oats (not a fan) with almond meal, and was very pleased with the results. I also added in some vanilla extract in addition to using the Cocoa Almond Spread. Next time I will throw in some chocolate chips for added decadence! Drop a dollop of raspberry jam in the middle, and these very well could become one of my top most craveable cookies of all time!

Ingredients

1 egg

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon milk (I used soy)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup peanut butter (the crunchy works really well here!)

1/2 cup cocoa almond spread or Nutella
3/4 cup almond meal

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheet with silpat or parchment paper.  In a large bowl, mix together egg, brown sugar, milk, vanilla, peanut butter, and almond spread. Add in salt, baking soda, and almond meal. Drop heaping teaspoons onto the prepared pan. Shape into a ball for nice, round cookies. Bake for 8 minutes. This timing was impressively exact! As difficult as it may be, let the cookies cool for 10 minutes before transferring from cookie sheet to serving plate, or mouth! 

Excellent alone by the spoonful!

mixing!

ground up almonds

peanuts, chocolate, and almonds, oh my!

The perfect cookie!

Enjoy!!!