You can’t see the candied almonds in these cookies, but you’ll taste them for sure.
Ingredients
Makes about 24
¾
⅓
5
¾
½
¼
⅓
1
1
⅓
Preparation
Step 1
Place racks in upper and lower thirds of oven; preheat to 350°. Toast almonds on a rimmed baking sheet on upper rack, tossing halfway through, until slightly darkened in color and fragrant, 6–8 minutes. Let cool.
Step 2
Gather almonds into a tight pile on a nonstick silicone baking mat or a rimmed baking sheet coated with nonstick spray. Cook granulated sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, undisturbed, until it begins to liquefy and turn golden brown around the edges. Use a heatproof rubber spatula to incorporate melted sugar into unmelted sugar and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until all sugar is melted and caramel turns a medium amber color, 6–8 minutes. Carefully pour caramel over almonds and let cool.
Step 3
Break almond mixture into large pieces and transfer to a food processor. Process, scraping down sides occasionally, until praline paste is very smooth and creamy (it should be as smooth as peanut butter with a slightly oily sheen; this takes time, so be patient), 12–16 minutes.
Step 4
Cook butter in a medium skillet over medium heat, swirling occasionally, until it foams, then browns, about 5 minutes. Let cool until just warm.
Step 5
Whisk flour, kosher salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat brown butter, praline paste, and brown sugar in a large bowl until mixture is smooth, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to medium, add egg yolk, vanilla, and 1 tsp. water and beat just to combine. Reduce speed to low and gradually add dry ingredients. Increase speed to medium and beat until well combined (this will help develop some gluten in the dough and help the cookies hold together). Using a wooden spoon, mix in chocolate. Scrape out dough onto a sheet of parchment paper and roll up into a 1¾"-diameter log. Chill until very firm, at least 2 hours.
Step 6
Reheat oven to 350°. Slice dough into generous ¼"-thick slices with a serrated knife (some of the chocolate pieces may fall out or get in the way—just squish them back in if they fall out; everything will meld together during baking). Place on 2 parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 1" apart. Sprinkle with sea salt and bake until cookies are firm around the edges and slightly darker, 9–10 minutes. Let cool on baking sheets.
Step 7
Do Ahead: Praline paste can be made 1 week ahead; store airtight at room temperature. Dough can be made 3 days ahead; wrap in plastic and keep chilled, or freeze up to 1 month.
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Reviews (12)
Back to TopAmazing flavor. I love the chemistry. Just need to work on naking less crumply when cut.
Anonymous
New Jersey
7/1/2021
For well-written, thoroughly tested recipes go to America's Test Kitchen. They have a show on PBS and a website. They don't accept advertising. They are an unbiased group of test kitchen experts. Bon Appetit is a fun magazine with great ideas but the testing is not thorough.
Frank
Glendale, CA
11/16/2020
These are probably the fanciest tasting cookies I've ever made. Yes it's work but so worth it! I used pecans because that's what I had and chocolate flakes instead of chips which made slicing a lot easier but makes the chocolate disappear into the cookie. Still tastes amazing. Love them and will make again next year.
Jule_its_pronounced_yoo-lah
Stuttgart, Germany
12/11/2018
Wish I would have read these reviews and updated recipes instead of just using my ripped out page from the magazine. Just finished trying to roll the dough with parchment and it's very crumbly. I think I will try to cut these while frozen? These cookies are a lot of work, I hope I can get them to hold together.
Anonymous
Jackson, MI
12/16/2017
Hey everyone! Your comments regarding the texture of the dough made me want to take another look at the recipe to see what the issue might be. It seems that the time for processing the praline paste was way too short. In cooking through the recipe again and looking back at my notes from July when I developed this, we may have just starting using some new food processors, whose blades were sharp enough that it took WAY less time to make the paste come together. Our cross-tester had a similar time as mine. Apologies that the results for anyone whose paste was still too coarse would have been a very crumbly dough. The paste should be like smooth peanut butter, and the dough should hold together when squeezed. I also added 1 tsp. water to develop more gluten in the dough and give a bit more structure. See the amended recipe above and many thanks for letting us know there was an issue.
chrismorocco
Bon Appetit Test Kitchen
12/6/2017
the dough seemed to have too much butter- did not hold together well after baking. disappointing after such a labor intensive recipe.
Anonymous
cleveland ohio
11/30/2017
The dough just crumbles when cut. My family still loved the crumbled baked pieces, but I could not serve them as part of my Thanksgiving desserts as planned. I will make them again but will find another way to shape them. The flavor is amazing but the recipe as written does not work!
Anonymous
Sacramento, CA
11/26/2017
The cookies were good (not that memorable though) but not worth the time and steps to make. I doubled the recipe and only ended up with about 30 cookies total which surprised me because the recipe said one batch should yield about 24. Also, all the steps took much longer than the recipe said. To process the almonds into a smooth paste took about 20 minutes in my food processor on high (I was worried the motor was going to burn out but it held up) not the 4 minutes the recipe stated. As the other reviews said, when it comes time to slice the cookies they do crumble quite a bit. I mashed the crumbled pieces back into place which seemed to work fine. The result is a slightly nutty chocolate chip cookie that's good but if I'm going to spend this much time I'd rather make something else.
Anonymous
Miami, FL
11/21/2017
These cookies do require some work but they are delicious and so worth it! I did get frustrated making them, but I eventually figured out what I was doing wrong. The dough doesn't really roll into a neat cylinder in the parchment, so you need to use your hands to form into a fairly evenly-sized log and then roll it again to make it more round. When the chocolate discs along the edges fall off, make sure to reinsert them horizontally and place them where it looks like they're needed. I recommend sealing the parchment-covered roll of dough in plastic wrap or foil to make sure it doesn't dry out in the fridge. To minimize the problems in slicing, let the dough warm up a few minutes first and,using a very sharp serrated knife, cut the slices in a quick, firm and straight downward motion. Do not saw the dough as if it were a slice of bread. I had no trouble cutting through the chocolate discs when I learned to do the slicing correctly. I still had some crumbling (especially if a slice had too many chocolate pieces in it) but just took my time and reassembled them and they were fine. This also gives you a chance to move some chocolate pieces around if you have some slices that didn't get any. I'll definitely be making these again.
Anonymous
Columbus, Ohio
11/15/2017
The cold chocolate chips were 'hard' to cut through and the log of dough shattered as pieces crumbled off as I sliced. There is a lot work to making these cookies and the instructions should have successfully guided me through this important step. I chopped up the chocolate into smaller pieces and mashed the dough together to form the cookies. I liked the flavor of the cookies, not sure the praline flavor rings out enough for all the steps. This recipe came from what appeared to be a carefully crafted group of recipes. Surprised the one cookie recipe was not fail proof.
Anonymous
alabama
11/11/2017