Hippity hoppity, Easter cookies are on their way…
Although jelly beans are usually my favorite Spring treat, these chocolate Easter cookies with almond butter filling are now a close second! The idea came about with inspiration from Project Denneler’s clever pinata cookies and all of the ads I have been seeing for chocolate peanut butter eggs. I decided to add a little bit of a twist with almond butter instead.
I started out with LilaLoa’s Chocolate Cookie recipe with one tiny adjustment… I added 1/2 teaspoon almond extract.
My original plan was to make each cookie out of three separate layers, a solid bottom layer, a middle layer with the center cut out (to hold the almond butter filling), and a solid top layer. As part of my fool proof plan, I rolled out the dough thinner than I usually do, 1/8-inch thick, so that the triple layer cookie wouldn’t be too thick to eat.
I used Sweet Sugarbelle’s Chocolate Royal Icing to decorate the top layer of the cookies. I’ve been dying to try this recipe since she first posted it and only made one small change… I added 1/2-tablespoon of almond extract. (Do you see a pattern here? Squeeze in that almond flavoring anywhere you can!) I added brown and black food coloring to get a few different shades of brown to work with.
After decorating, I assembled the first triple-decker cookie by gluing the layers together with royal icing. It was a colossal cookie tower not fit for any normal-sized mouth!
Disappointed by the cookie’s overwhelming size, I knew I had to go to Plan B. Only problem was there was no Plan B! Lucky for me, Hubby doesn’t mind listening to my cookie ramblings. He came up with the brilliant idea to put the almond butter filling between two solid cookies and seal off around the edges with royal icing. Easter treat saved!
Almond Butter Filling
sugarkissed.net
Ingredients
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup almond butter
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
1. Beat together the butter and almond butter until combined and smooth.
2. Sift the powdered sugar into the bowl and beat again for a couple of minutes.
3. Mix in vanilla extract.
Armed with one piping bag of almond butter filling and one piping bag of chocolate royal icing, I assembled the rest of my eggs and bunnies.
If you want any of these chocolate Easter cookies with almond butter filling for yourself, I suggest you don’t leave them unattended!
I love tutorial, and these are really cute cookies!
Thank you, Adrienne. These were a lot of fun to make!
Hi Janine! First off, cute cookies! And what a great idea doing the sandwich thing. I might have to try that sometime. I wanted to ask your opinion of the chocolate royal icing. I’ve been dying to try it, but haven’t yet had an opportunity to do all chocolate cookies. How did it taste and did it ‘handle’ the same as regular RI? You’re the first person I’ve come across that’s tried the recipe, or at least posted about it. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks, Kim
Hi, Kim. Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving a comment.
The chocolate royal icing was delicious, especially with the chocolate cookies. Do note that I added a little almond to both, which worked out really well. I love when there’s just a touch of almond flavoring!
It handled really well. I did some small detail work with 1 and 1.5 tips and it was easy peasy.
The only issue I had was some splotching after it dried. It didn’t really show up till the 2nd day. You can see it if u look closely at the bottom pic. The egg on the bottom left hand corner has some dark splotches in the light middle section.
Don’t know why this happened so I would love to hear any insight anyone has!
Thanks for the info Janine! I too have had some issues with splotching in dark colors. I wish I knew the cause. One theory is grease from the cookie leaching out into the icing and I do know that LilaLoa’s chocolate cookie has a lot of grease with all the butter and shortening…but that’s what makes them taste so good. 😉
I think the splotching just shows more on darker colors. I try to let my cookies “dry out” for a day or two before decorating. I let them cool and dry out in the open for a few hours then put them up in airtight containers with paper towels between the layers. This seems to help some.
I’m still trying to come up with an excuse to make an all chocolate cookie so I can try Sugarbelle’s recipe.
Good luck with your blog. I love the design. I too just started my own blog over at http://www.barefootnbaking.com. Stop by and say hello.
Hhhmmmm…. I’ll have to keep all this in mind as I play around with the chocolate icing some more. On my way to check out your blog!
Your kitty looks just like one of mine Ours is a Balinese.
This is a very neat idea!
Jennifer @ Not Your Momma’s Cookie recently posted..A Brief Blogging Hiatus
Aawww… your kitty is a handsome little devil too then! Furio (named after a character in The Sopranos) is Siamese.
Very cute!
Jeni recently posted..Sniffles, Meds and Easter Eggs
Thanks for your compliment on my Easter cookies, Jeni!
Precious! Great idea, great recipe and thanks for sharing on FFF!
Thanks for stopping by to check out my chocolate Easter cookies, Barbara!
Wow, these look so delish! I definitely need to make some! Thanks for sharing at March Madness
Thanks for stopping by, Marilyn. My taste tester gave these chocolate Easter cookies the thumbs up! I think the almond butter filling really takes them over the edge.
I can’t get over how beautiful these are! I love the brown on brown from the different shades of chocolate.
Wendy recently posted..Biscoff Toffee Crunch Bars with Biscoff Icing
Thanks so much, Wendy! Sugarbelle’s chocolate royal icing was perfect for decorating these Easter cookies.
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plain chocolate recently posted..plain chocolate
love that you didnt hesitate to tell us the triple deck was a bad idea… I love the whole choco cookie thing!!
Thanks for stopping by to check out my Easter cookies, Kimberley. I hope you get the chance to give them a try!