I don’t think there is any tastier combination than sweet and salty. Next time you are hankerin’ for a sweet-salty fix, look no further than these Salted Almond Chocolate Chunk cookies (and also maybe look at making some praline bacon as well. YUM!).
Loaded with crunchy almonds, big hunks of melty chocolate, and a light sprinkling of sea salt on top, these are the perfect sweet treat you’ve been looking for!
A quick disclaimer: these are good, old-fashioned cookies made with white flour and refined sugar. I usually try to stay away from processed ingredients, and have made cookies before that don’t use these ingredients (like my spicy ginger date cookies and orange chai spice cookies). But sometimes guys, you just need a regular ol’ cookie (I love food way too much to give up anything completely! Read more about my real food/diet philosophy here.).
And sometimes, you just need a good old fashioned cookie straight out of the oven with a glass of milk before going to bed. Which is exactly what happened last night with these :-)
Here’s an awesome trick that my mother taught me for how to mix cookie batter using only one bowl (it’s the only way I ever make cookies!).
Usually, cookie recipes will instruct you to mix the wet ingredients in one bowl, the dry in another, and then mix them both together. The way I do it is I mix the wet ingredients together (butter, sugar, vanilla, and eggs). Then, mix the small amounts of dry ingredients (spices, baking powder or soda, salt). This ensures that these ingredients will be equally distributed throughout the dough, without over-mixing the flour and therefore making the cookies tough. Now, you can add the flour and mix until just combined, folding in the chocolate chunks and nuts at the very end.
Perfect, every time!
I was in a hurry for cookies, so I did not chill the dough before baking them. As a result, these came out fairly thin. If you want a “chunkier” cookie, refrigerate the dough for at least an hour (and as long as overnight) before dropping them onto the baking sheet to cook.
Speaking of baking sheets, I just got this Nordic Ware Aluminum Baker’s Half Sheet
a few months ago and I LOVE IT. It distributes heat so evenly and nothing ever sticks to it (though I did use parchment paper for these cookies!). You can even make an entire roast chicken and potatoes dinner on it, and use an oven-safe cooling rack inserted on top of it to cook bacon! I highly recommend one, if you don’t have one.
This recipe is for a half batch of cookies, and makes about 2 dozed medium-sized cookies. If you need more, just double it!
Enjoy your salty-sweet fix :-)
Salted Almond Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened (8 tablespoons)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup slivered or sliced almonds
- 1 cup chocolate chunks
- coarse sea salt for sprinkling on top, such as Maldon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Beat together the butter (1/2 cup), brown sugar (1/2 cup), and white sugar (1/2 cup) until light and fluffy with a mixer.
- Add the egg, beat for another 2 minutes.
- Add the vanilla (1/2 teaspoon), kosher salt (1/4 teaspoon), and baking soda (1/2 teaspoon); beat until mixed.
- Add the flour (1.25 cups); beat until just combined.
- Fold in the almonds (1 cup) and the chocolate chunks (1 cup).
- Using a spoon or a medium kitchen scoop, drop balls of the cookie dough on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 10 minutes, or until slightly browned along the edges. Sprinkle with sea salt.
Notes
- The provided nutrition information does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. Feel free to calculate it yourself using this calculator or by adding the recipe to Yummly.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and reflects one serving of the recipe (total servings indicated at top of recipe card). It does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
Elizabeth
Thanks! Hope you like it!
Irina
I loved these cookies. This may very well be the BEST recipe I tried so far! I was on a quest to get a nice, chewy, chocolaty cookies and this recipe worked beautifully. I have had a great track record with your recipes – they all work for me! I used salted butter (my kids will not love the salt sprinkled on top, they are too little), and bread flour to try and get the cookies to be a little extra chewy, it worked great for the recipe as well. Sadly, I lean towards walnuts in chocolate chip cookies (must be my old age), and I think these will be fantastic with walnuts. Can’t wait to make another batch. Thanks so much and best of luck with your blogging and recipe development. I am very curious what you will be up to next!!!!
Elizabeth
Thank you so much Irina!! I think walnuts would be delicious in these cookies, too. Thank you also for the kind words about my blog- after putting in lots of hard work it’s so nice when people like you come back and leave a comment like this :-)
SBO
Thank you,I will try to do it.
I never tired of cookies, These cookies looks awesome!
grace
i actually get really tired of pecans and walnuts in my chocolate chip cookies–kudos to you for branching out into the world of the underused almond!
Lisa
Yum! I love sweet and salty too! These cookies sound and look divine! And I’m excited to try the one-bowl technique. Thanks :)
Melissa @ Bits of Umami
“Sometimes guys, you just need a regular ol’ cookie” – SERIOUSLY! This is just too true. These look terrific!
Elizabeth
TOO true :-) Thank you!