I'm wishing you Joy... Almond Joys

An Almond Joy Gallery

I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my kitchen. @MoshJosh, this one is for you!

As you may know, I made cookies and treat boxes as 2012 Christmas gifts. They were a hit! At some point, I'll probably discuss all of the recipes in detail, but I wanted to talk about the Crispy Coconut Cookie. This cookie was borne out of necessity: I had all of the ingredients on hand and needed another treat to take the place of a nut free-alternative. Yes, I'm aware of  that almonds are nuts, but the original recipe does not call for nuts, and is delicious as is. In fact, many people (especially those who don't particularly care for coconut) prefer it that way. 

This recipe is a three part process. You have to toast the coconut, but it does cool rather quickly; which means that you can proceed with the rest of the recipe whilst the coconut is cooling. I do, however, recommend that you allow the recipe to cool/rest before attempting to roll it out and cut the shapes. That said, plan ahead! I cannot provide a yield for these cookies, as it depends on the size and shape of your cookie cutters. Just know that I used a medium-sized star shape and had about 45 cookies.  

My jar full of coconut cookies...the basis of the recipes.

Crispy Coconut Cookie adapted from Joy the Baker.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract

Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Spread the coconut on a baking sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes stirring once, until the coconut becomes evenly golden. Set aside to cool.

Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and brown sugar until smooth and fluffy, about 1 minute.  Add the egg, vanilla and almond extract and mix until completely blended.  On low speed, add the flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated.  Use a large spoon to stir in the toasted coconut.

Divide the dough into two portions and pat into a flat rectangle. Wrap up the dough and chill until easy to roll out, about 45 minutes. Roll out the dough on a well floured board and cut with a small to medium sized cookie cutters. Since I was making this for Christmas, I chose stars. 

Place the cookie cut-outs on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 8-12 minutes. Cooking times will vary due to the thickness of the cookie, so keep watch! If you do make a batch too crispy, like I did, simply glaze the cookie with coconut glaze and its accoutrement or use the ganache and or almonds and coconut. 

Tip: to expedite the setting process, place the cookies, on a flat surface, in the freezer for five (5) minutes. 

I promised you an Almond Joy gallery, right? Right! How about some cake?

Almond Joy Cake

This recipe is based on the Almond Joy Bread recipe, which you can find here. In order to make the recipe more cake-like, bake it in a 13 x 9 inch pans or 2-3 8/9" rounds. Make sure you butter and flour the pans well. In fact, I recommend that you use some parchment paper. This recipe calls for oil and butter, you can use all butter to increase the richness and make it more of a cake. Finally, the recipe calls for a drizzle of chocolate. As you can tell from the pictures, I essentially covered the cake with chocolate and drizzled with almonds. You could also use coconut. Use your imagination. If I didn't have so much ganache, I probably would have drizzled both white and regular chocolate. Just imagine... 

Coconut Glaze

1 1/2-2 cups of sugar

1/2 -3/4 cup of water

1 tblsp of coconut oil

1 tsp coconut extract

Place all of the ingredients in a small saucepan and let come to a rapid boil. Let cool, so that it may thicken. Complete the glaze as soon as the cake is in the oven and/or when the cookies are chilling in the fridge. After a 1/2 an hour, taste to check for sweetness. Add sugar and boil as needed, until the desired sweetness is reached. Remember that this glaze will be layered with other sweet elements, so don't look for a coconut flavored lollipop! The longer it chills, the thicker it typically becomes. Adjust with water until you reach the consistency that you desire. 

The Almond Joy bread recipe calls for you to brush the poked bread with the coconut glaze. You can also brush (or dip) the coconut cookies with the glaze and do one or more the following: 1. leave alone 2. sprinkle with sugar 3. sprinkle with almonds 4. sprinkle with coconut or 5. finely chop almonds and coconut and sprinkle on top.

The Ganache

When I make a ganache, I usually mix a few chocolate chips together. I always start with a dark chocolate (a fave of mine) and then mix in some semi-sweet and/or milk chocolate chips, which is what I did below. I also melted in some coconut oil to give it a gloss and spreadable quality. If you don't have coconut oil on hand, use whatever flavorless oil you have; butter can be used in a pinch, too.  I melt my chocolate by placing my stainless steel mixing bowl over a pot of simmering to boiling water. I let sit for 3 minutes and then stir together, over the water, with a whisk. Once the chocolate is melted, remove from heat and place on a heat proof surface.

Tip: this is the last step that you should do, once everything has been baked and cool. Otherwise, you run the risk of having the chocolate harden on you.  

I call this the "melange" of chocolate. 

Another gratuitous photos. Eat your heart out, Instagram!

Dipping the star cookies. Using the coconut oil in the ganache makes the chocolate super shiny.

Ready for coconut, almonds, and/or both!

The finished product!

Bonus Recipe! Almond Joy Cupcakes

Do you have any almond joy-like recipes? If, so please share in the comments. Cheers!