Today is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day! That is a great reason to celebrate and to bake some cookies, of course! But before I get to the recipe for today’s treat, I wanted to share some interesting facts I found about this day.

The first chocolate chip cookie was a happy accident.  In 1938, Ruth Graves Wakefield of the Toll House Inn, located in Whitman, Massachusetts, threw chunks of a semi-sweet chocolate bar into her regular chocolate cookies when she ran out of baker’s chocolate. To her surprise, the chocolate did not mix well with the cookie dough and remained as tasty chunks of chocolate. This turn of events led to the emergence of the Chocolate Chip Cookie and the birth of the Toll House company. In 1940, as Ruth’s Chocolate Chip Cookies became more and more famous, the Nestlé company, who had been selling their semi-sweet chocolate bars with a chopping tool for easy chunking of the bar, took it to the next level and introduced chocolate morsels to the world. Nestlé reached out to Ruth and agreed to add her recipe to the wrapper on the morsels in exchange for a lifetime of free cookies for Ruth. The deal was agreed to and the rest, as they say, is history.

My recipe for this delicious day includes toasted almonds along with the Nestlé Toll House morsels, taking these iconic treats up another notch!

Toasted Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from thekitchn.com) Makes 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (3-1/2 ounces) raw, whole almonds
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup (3-1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup (2-1/2 ounces) brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1-1/2 cups (6-3/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a large cookie sheet with a Silpat mat or baking paper.
Place the almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat. Toast them, stirring often, for 2 to 3 minutes, until they are fragrant. Transfer them to a cutting board and allow them to cool.

In the same skillet, melt the butter over low heat until it is just melted. Pour the melted butter into a medium bowl and allow it to cool slightly.

Add the two sugars, salt, and vanilla extract to the butter.

Stir the mixture well to combine, then add the egg and beat it in quickly.

Stir in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda, until just barely combined.

Roughly chop the toasted almonds.

Add the chopped almonds and chocolate chips to the bowl and gently stir them into the dough.

Roll heaping tablespoons of dough into balls. Place them on the prepared cookie sheet, spaced about 2 inches apart.

Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes, until they are just barely golden around the edges with a soft center.

Let the cookies sit on the tray for 2 minutes then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Store them in an airtight container.

Delicious happy accidents are the best!  ~Linda

Toasted Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from thekitchn.com) Makes 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (3-1/2 ounces) raw, whole almonds
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup (3-1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup (2-1/2 ounces) brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1-1/2 cups (6-3/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a large cookie sheet with a Silpat mat or baking paper.
Place the almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat. Toast them, stirring often, for 2 to 3 minutes, until they are fragrant. Transfer the almonds to a cutting board and allow them to cool.

In the same skillet, melt the butter over low at until it is just melted. Pour the melted butter into a medium bowl and allow it to cool slightly. Add the two sugars, salt, and vanilla extract to the butter. Stir the mixture well to combine, then add the egg and beat it in quickly. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda, until just barely combined.

Roughly chop the toasted almonds. Add the chopped almonds and chocolate chips to the bowl and gently stir them into the dough.

Roll heaping tablespoons of dough into balls. Place them on the prepared cookie sheet, spaced about 2 inches apart. Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes, until they are just barely golden around the edges with a soft center. Let the cookies sit on the tray for 2 minutes then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Store them in an airtight container.