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Cocoa Almond Thumbprint Cookies are yummies you'll want to add to your holiday baking list today!  Cocoa and almond flavored buttery shortbread cookies are coated in Planter's® Cocoa Almonds and then finished with raspberry jam and a white chocolate drizzle. These cookies are guaranteed to make any cocoa lover happy! 

Planter's® Cocoa Almonds are some serious goodness.  I absolutely adore a good cocoa and anything covered in it's goodness. Cocoa Almonds are crunchy, sweet and just a little salty, which to me, is like the perfect trifecta of deliciousness.

Add these lovely morsels to a candy type cookie and well...you've got something remarkable.  I was inspired for my cookie by the Chocolate Pecan Jam Thumbprint Cookies I found over found at my friend Mary Ellen's blog, Recipes, Food, and Cooking, where Mary Ellen cooks and bakes up the MOST amazing things I have ever seen!! I instantly knew replacing the pecans she used in her recipe with some of these cocoa almonds would make this cookie a cocoa lover's dream.

You get a double cocoa burst with the cocoa in the cookie itself and the Cocoa Almond coating.  I made a few more changes from her original recipe by choosing raspberry jam to fill them with and using a white chocolate drizzle for a nice contrast.  I also added bit of pure almond extract to the cookie batter to compliment the nutty almond coating.

Every year, I wait with anticipation to see what new seasonal flavors Planter's will come up with for their nut collection.  I love to give these out as gifts. They are so different and flavorful, and come in such nicely decorated tins and boxes.  Nuts make an awesome gift because they are a great wholesome snack!

This year, when I was at Walmart, I spotted the Cocoa Almonds among the seasonal varieties being offered in a special display over by the dairy products and decided to pick up a few boxes for gifts and one for myself.  Once I sampled the Cocoa almonds, I knew I wanted to kick them up a notch and use them in cookies!

This recipe is easy and fun to make too!  I started by chopping the Cocoa Almonds in the food processor, then put them in a bowl and set them aside.  I made the cookie batter and shaped all the cookies into balls.  Then rolled the balls into frothy egg white and then into the chopped cocoa almonds.

I used the end handle of a wooden spoon to make indentations in the dough before baking so the jam had a place to go.

Once the cookies were baked and cooled, I added raspberry jam to the centers of each cookie...

then drizzled them with some melted white chocolate.

Once the chocolate was all set, I boxed some up in cute holiday boxes and tied it with some twine to give out as gifts.

Nothing says Happy Holidays like a box of homemade goodies!

Cocoa Almond Thumbprint Cookies

By Renee's Kitchen Adventures
Adapted from Recipes, Food and Cooking

Double cocoa goodness from cocoa almond flavored cookies covered in Planter's® Cocoa Almonds and filled with raspberry jam then drizzled with melted white chocolate

Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup good quality unsweetend cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg yolk (save the egg white for coating cookies balls)
• 1/4 tsp. pure almond extract
• 1 cup Planter's Cocoa Almonds, finely chopped in food processor
• 1/2 cup good quality raspberry jam
• 2 oz. white chocolate, melted

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or use silpat.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In another large bowl, combine the butter and sugar and beat with electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in the egg yolk (reserve the egg white to coat the cookie balls) and almond extract. Beat on medium speed until combined. Slowly add the flour-cocoa-salt mixture to the bowl with mixer on low. Beat until combined. If the dough is soft, you can chill it, covered, for about an hour. If you can shape the dough into balls, no need for refrigeration. (I didn't chill mine)
4. Using a small cookie scoop or scooping out by rounded TBS, shape dough into balls. Shape them all.
5. In small bowl, whip the egg white slightly until frothy. Place the chopped cocoa almonds in another small bowl. Roll the cookie ball in the egg white and then in the chopped almonds and place on prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
6. With the back of a wooden spoon, make an indentation in each cookie, about halfway down into the ball.
7. Bake at 350 degrees F until they are set, about 10-12 minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool completely. if indentation has disappeared, you can press down lightly to remake it with your finger as soon as the cookies come out of the oven.
8. Fill each indentation with about a 1/4th to 1/2 tsp jam. Drizzle with melted white chocolate. Let cookies sit until chocolate is set. Store covered.

Yield: approx. 2 dozen cookies
Prep Time: 00 hrs. 15 mins.

Cook time: 00 hrs. 12 mins.
Total time: 27 mins.
Tags: cookies, cocoa, almond, jam, raspberry, Planter's, treat, dessert

Printable Recipe 

*Note: If Cocoa Almonds are not available you can substitute regular roasted, salted almonds.

I've also got to tell you about something very cool I discovered!  It's called the Blippar App and you can download it for free on your apple, Android, blackberry or windows device.  What is Blippar?   It  is an interactive mobile app that uses image recognition to bring the static visual world to life!!  It's a ton of fun to use. You can find out all about it and how to download it here. 

Here's what happened when I used the Blippar App on my box of Planter's Cocoa Almonds:

After opening up the Blippar App, I positioned it over the Planter's logo on the box, then waited to see what new things I could discover... 

The famous Mr. Peanut popped up with some fun things to explore! 

I could find out information on all the seasonal varieties!  (ooooo...this one looks like a great gift for my husband!)

We even had fun taking photos of my kitty with Mr.Peanut "helping" us decorate the Christmas tree!

Do you have the Blippar app installed on your device?  What fun things will you discover with it?

Like what you see?  Follow RKA on all these social networks!!

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