Recipe: Chocolate Almond Bonbons (glazed cookies using almond paste)

CHOCOLATE ALMOND BONBONS

1 (8 ounce) can almond paste
1 (12 ounce) package semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)
1/4 cup butter
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (1 1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour

FOR TOPPING THE COOKIES:
Almond Glaze, Chocolate Glaze or Powdered Sugar Coating (recipes follow)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Use a teaspoon and make tiny balls out of your almond paste. Do this prior to getting your chocolate together. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, combine the chocolate pieces and the butter. Cook and stir over low heat until melted and smooth. Stir in the sweetened condensed milk and the vanilla. Stir in the flour until well combined.

Once your dough and chocolate are ready, enrobe each almond paste ball with chocolate. Place your rounded chocolate balls on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Drizzle with glaze or coat with powdered sugar.

TOPPINGS:

ALMOND GLAZE

1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons enough milk to make the glaze

In a small bowl sift the powdered sugar, almond extract, and enough of the milk to make a glaze. You can tint it
with food coloring.

CHOCOLATE GLAZE

1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3 teaspoons enough milk to make the glaze

In a small bowl mix all ingredients to make a thin glaze.

POWDERED SUGAR COATING

2 cups powdered sugar

In a large Ziploc bag, add the cooled cookies, 30 at a time, to the powdered sugar. Shake gently and remove with a large slotted spoon to remove excess sugar.

Makes 90 cookies
Adapted from source: The Christmas Cookie Club: A Novel by Ann Pearlman