Joanne Fluke's Lake Eden Cookbook Part 26

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt (if you use salted almonds, cut the salt to

teaspoon)

1 and cups finely ground almonds (grind them up in

your food processor with the steel blade they don't

have to be blanched)

2 beaten eggs (just whip them up with a fork)

4 cups flour (no need to sift)

13-ounce bag Hershey's Kisses (or small squares of milk

chocolate)

Microwave the b.u.t.ter in your mixing bowl to melt it. Add the sugar, vanilla and almond extracts, and mola.s.ses. Stir until it's blended, then add the baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix well.

Grind up the almonds in your food processor. Measure AFTER grinding. Add them to the bowl and mix. Pour in the beaten eggs and stir. Then add the flour and mix until all the ingredients are thoroughly blended.

Let the dough firm up for a few minutes. Then form it into walnut-sized b.a.l.l.s and arrange them on a greased cookie sheet, 12 to a standard sheet.

Cut the Hershey's Kisses in half (from the top down, so that each half has a point and a base.) Press the halves into the middle of your cookie b.a.l.l.s, cut side down. They'll look pretty on top as a yummy decoration. If you want to splurge a little, press a whole Hershey's Kiss into the center of the dough ball, base down and point sticking up. (If you do splurge, you'll need double the amount of Hershey's Kisses or squares of chocolate. If your kids help you unwrap the Kisses, you should probably triple the amount!) Bake at 350 degrees F. for 10 minutes, or until the edges are just beginning to turn golden. (Don't worry The Hershey's Kisses won't melt.) Cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Yield: Makes 10 to 12 dozen cookies if that's too many, just cut the whole recipe in half. And if you have any Kisses left over, the baker deserves a treat!

ANGEL KISSES.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

(That's two hundred seventy-five degrees F., not a misprint) 3 egg whites (save the yolks in the refrigerator to add to

scrambled eggs)

teaspoon cream of tartar

teaspoon vanilla extract

teaspoon salt

1 cup white (granulated) sugar

2 Tablespoons flour (that's cup)

approximately 30 Hershey's Kisses, unwrapped (or any other small chocolate candy) Separate the egg whites and let them come up to room temperature. This will give you more volume when you beat them.

Prepare your cookie sheets by lining them with parchment paper (works best) or brown parcel-wrapping paper. Spray the paper with Pam or other nonstick cooking spray and dust it lightly with flour.

Hannah's Note: These are a lot easier to make with an electric mixer, but you can also do them by hand with a copper bowl and a whisk.

Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar, vanilla, and salt until they are stiff enough to hold a soft peak. Add the cup of sugar gradually, sprinkling it in by quarter cups and beating hard for ten seconds or so after each sprinkling. Sprinkle in the flour and mix it in at low speed, or fold in with an angel food cake whisk.

Drop little mounds of dough on your paper-lined cookie sheet. If you place four mounds in a row and you have four rows, you'll end up with 16 cookies per standard-size sheet.

Place one Hershey's Kiss, point up, in the center of each mound. Push the candies down, but not all the way to the bottom. (You don't want the chocolate to actually touch the parchment paper.) Drop another little mound of meringue on top of the candy to cover it up.

Bake at 275 degrees F. for approximately 40 minutes, or until the meringue part of the cookie is slightly golden and dry to the touch.

Cool on the paper-lined cookie sheet by setting it on a wire rack. When the cookies are completely cool, peel them carefully from the paper and store them in an airtight container in a dry place. (A cupboard shelf is fine, just NOT the refrigerator!) Yield: 3 to 4 dozen cookies with a nice chocolate surprise in the center.

BLACK AND WHITES.

DO NOT preheat oven, dough must chill before baking.

2 cups chocolate chips (12-ounce package)

cup b.u.t.ter (1 and sticks)

2 cups brown sugar (or white sugar with a scant 2 Table-

spoons mola.s.ses mixed in)

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups flour (not sifted - pack it down in the cup when you

measure it)