Lacey Cookies

I first tried these delicious cookies more than six years ago, when my best friend had purchased a box at Costco. Since then, I have tried others (both store bought and homemade), and this recipe is the best and closest to the original that I've come across. It may seem like a lot of work/directions, but it does go quickly and trust me - they are so worth the effort!

Ingredients:

1 ¾ cups almonds

3 tbsp all purpose flour

¾ cup sugar

2 tbsp heavy cream

2 tbsp light corn syrup

5 tbsp butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 -12oz bag milk chocolate chips

Directions:

1. In a food processor, pulse the nuts until finely chopped but not pasty. If you don't chop them fine enough, it may be difficult for the dough to form into a ball so make sure to chop them pretty fine. Transfer nuts to a large heatproof bowl and add the flour. Mix together and set aside.
2. In a small saucepan over medium heat, add sugar, cream, corn syrup, and butter. Stir occasionally and cook until mixture comes to a rolling boil and the sugar is dissolved. Continue to boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Pour hot mixture into the nut mixture and stir just to combine. Let cool for about 25-30 minutes until it's cool enough to handle. The mixture will stiffen up into a firm "dough" as it cools.
3. While the dough is cooling, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Once the dough is cool enough to handle, scoop the dough using a 1 teaspoon measurement and roll into balls. I get about 50 balls out of one batch, enough to make about 25 sandwich cookies. The dough will spread out into 3 inch cookies when baked. Roll all the balls out at once and place on a large plate until ready to bake. The dough continues to stiffen up the longer it sits out; if it cools down too much, it gets crumbly and more difficult to shape into balls. If this happens, just pop the bowl into the microwave for about 30 seconds to warm it up and make it more pliable.
4.  Place balls onto prepared baking sheet, leaving about 3-4 inches of space between each cookie. Bake one pan at a time until the cookies are thin and an even golden brown color throughout, 9 to 11 minutes. Rotate pans once halfway through the baking time.
5. Melt chocolate chips using the double boiler method: Fill a saucepan with about an inch of water, bring it to a low simmer, then place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl that's large enough to fit in the pan but not touch the bottom. Set the bowl over the simmering water without letting the bowl touch the water. Stir occasionally until melted and smooth.
6. Since the cookies are kind of delicate, I set the cookie on a solid surface like my cutting board to keep it stable and use a pastry brush to spread the chocolate to the edges. This will reduce the risk of breaking the cookies as you're manhandling them with chocolate. Then top the chocolate cookies with the remaining cookies. I sandwich them bottom-to-bottom so the tops of each cookie face the outside. Place cookies back onto wire rack and let set completely. Chocolate may leak through some of the undersides of the lacy cookies while they're cooling, so place a paper towel under the rack to catch any drips.