These rich and crunchy cookies were the highlight of my cookie trays this year. In addition to being delicious, they’re naturally gluten and dairy free:

Basier Brunsli (Chocolate Spice Cookies)

Ingredients:

196g slivered almonds, toasted (~1.75 c)
4 oz 10x sugar (1 cup)
4 oz 60% cacao dark chocolate, chopped
50g turbinado sugar (1/4 c) plus equivalent for coating
18g unsweetened cocoa powder (if using DP use 15g)
5g cinnamon, toasted
heavy pinch kosher salt
heavy pinch cayenne pepper
2 large egg whites at room temperature
6g almond extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 with racks in center of oven 4″ apart. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.

Toast almonds and cinnamon in skillet until fragrant, 2-4 minutes.

Process almonds, cinnamon and 10x sugar in food processor until almonds are finely ground, approximately 30 pulses (~45 seconds).

Add chocolate, sugar, cocoa, salt & cayenne. Process by pulsing until chocolate is finely ground and incorporated, roughly 20 pulses (~30 seconds).

Add egg whites and almond extract. Pulse 10-15 times until it forms a doughy consistency.

Transfer dough to clean sheet of parchment or silpat. Kneed gently until dough is less sticky, roughly 10 minutes. Do NOT handle aggressively – fold and re-fold using the parchment.

Top dough with clean sheet of parchment and roll 1/4″ thick. Refrigerate at least 10 minutes or until you’re ready to bake.

Spread the remaining 50g sugar in shallow bowl. Remove dough and stamp out 2″ shapes, coating both sides in sugar and placing on parchment lined sheets 1″ apart.

Bake 13-15 minutes in 325 oven (9 for convection) or until cookies have puffed and slightly cracked but centers are still soft. Rotate sheets halfway through baking for best outcome.

Let cookies cool on sheets 15 minutes before removing to wire racks. Let baking sheets cool completely before re-loading. Store unused dough in fridge for best results.