Chocolate Dipped Almond Cookies and Santa’s Milk Drive

These simple and decadent almond cookies are sandwiched between a layer of rich dark or milk chocolate filling and are then dipped in dark or white chocolate and sprinkled with chopped nuts or crushed peppermint candy for a delicious crunch.

This whole thing started with my wish to teach my 10 year old daughter a little bit about the true spirit of Christmas. To reinforce to her and her friends that it’s better to give than to receive. And I have to say, my wish was granted in spades.

Chocolate Dipped Almond Cookies | foodiecrush.com #filling #recipes #christmas

My daughter is an only child. And let’s face it, she is totally and utterly spoiled. And I am 100% okay with that.

We’re, ahem, “more mature” parents who’ve lived a lifetime of pre-kid fun, travel and experiences. So when she surprised us and showed up in utero with an unanticipated pee test (which is a whole ‘nother story for another day,) it was no surprise to us or those around us that she’d have 100% of our attention, our love, and the keys to our wallet.

But in turn, my husband and I agreed that this girl was in no way going to grow up a prima donna. A spoiled brat. A young adult who doesn’t appreciate the love and luxuries she’s been lucky enough to receive. And in my opinion, that’s our job as parents. To be sure to instill the work ethic and gratitude that damn well better be drilled into our children’s core.

And because of that, the idea of Santa’s Milk Drive was born.

This past fall I received an e-mail from the blogger network Mom It Forward to participate in a charity event with the Utah Food Bank to pack kid’s back-to-school backpacks with food for themselves and their families. For kids who unlike my daughter, don’t have a lunch to eat. For kids who don’t have food at home to pick and choose from and ponder over as they look at it with an empty stare trying to decide which yogurt or cheese or leftover to simply pluck from the fridge to have as an after school snack. Just for a snack. Not even for dinner. Just pretty much a whole meal for a snack if they like. I want her to know how lucky she is, just like I was.

I was so excited to join in this philanthropy (hello Chi Omega sisters!) and bring Smudge along with me so she could see what it’s like for those less fortunate than she is. And she was excited too. Until we found out that you have to be 12 years old to volunteer. We were bummed, but we weren’t to be deterred.

After I mentioned that we couldn’t participate in the event to Kristi of the Utah Dairy Council (a co-sponsor) I said I’d love to be involved in something similar and get my daughter and her friends involved. Long story short, the two of us brainstormed and came up with the idea of Santa’s Milk Drive.

An homage to Charlie’s Angels. But who gets to be Jill?

“Oh my gosh Katie! You’re right! It worked! They’re doing all the work and we get the cookies!”

“Sure, why not? What’s one more gallon of milk?” That’s a good man you got there mama of binki boy…

What Is Santa’s Milk Drive?

The Great American Milk Drive is the first-ever national program to help deliver milk to hungry families who need it most. Made possible by the nation’s dairy farmers and milk companies, the goal of the campaign is to deliver two million gallons of milk to food banks across the country.

Santa’s Milk Drive is a grass roots, aka grass-food-blogger-effort, to raise awareness of the demand for milk at food banks across the nation.

A few milk facts:

Milk is one of the most requested items at food banks, yet it is rarely donated.

Of the 46 million Americans food banks serve, the average person gets less than 1 gallon of milk per year.

The entire dairy industry from dairy farmers to dairy processors has come together and joined with Feeding America food banks to help get milk to those who need it most.

And now, so have a bunch of 10 year olds!

“Hey mom! We’re on T.V.! Fans: Line up for autographs on the left and don’t bother the patrons.”

BooJam: “That was so easy!” Gracer: “Easy? Seriously? Those stickers sure look heavy.”

Utah food blogging milk maids Annalise of Completely Delicious , me, Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Dara of Cookin’ Canuck. Why am I always the tallest?

“Do it. Do it. Do it.” Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Hey! He did it!”

“Take THIS, lady!”

This past weekend I gathered a few of Smudge’s friends, and the lot of us—along with my husband and other local food bloggers—headed to a brand spankin’ new Kroger/Smith’s Food and Drug for their weekend grand opening to solicit shoppers to donate to Santa’s Milk Drive.

I must say, I couldn’t have been more proud of these girls and the effort they put forth in approaching total strangers and asking them for donations. GASP! As if they should talk to strangers, and even worse, be seen by their friends doing it. But these gals were all in it together and kicked some serious booty.

At day’s end they’d helped persuade customers to donate over 200 gallons of milk to the Utah Food Bank via Winder Farms.

And if a bunch of 10 year olds can do make a difference, so can you.

About the Recipe

This cookie recipe is perfectly dunkalicious. It’s perfect for Santa’s Christmas Eve plate and…duh...Santa’s milk. With a shot of homemade Bailey’s in my book.

A simple almond cookie sandwiches a decadent chocolate ganche, in your preference of either white or semi milky chocolate. It’s your cookie, it’s your choice.

I originally found this recipe in an issue of Bon Appetit. From 2001. That I made these cookies from THE YEAR IT WAS PUBLISHED. Or the year some of my readers were born. Ugh. But it’s so good it deserves a refresh.

Refresh I did by adding a white chocolate and peppermint variation. But not much more than that. Because it is perfectly good in it’s original form.

I first made this recipe as a group of cookies I made for my bosses as a Christmas gift. I made like 6 cookie recipes for them as their lovely homemade gift. I doubt they even took them home. Man, what a waste on them. I wish I’d given them to my friends instead. Because these cookies are way better than those bosses were to me. And these cookies are still too good to be true.

This dough is a bit fragile and will soften very quickly the more you work it, making for a tough time to create cut out rounds as they will easily stick to the parchment paper after rolling them out. To combat this, I roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment paper then pop in the fridge for about 5-10 minutes to harden. Then, I cut the dough and then move the dough rounds with a spatula so they’re spaced about 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. If the dough rounds get sticky again while you’re moving them around, simply refrigerate again for a few more minutes.

This year I added the white chocolate and peppermint baking chips variation to the original almond and regular chocolate combo. If you’d like, switch up the nuts to pecans, walnuts or pistachios. But the almonds…oh, they’re good. But it’s your mouth. It’s your choice. Go for whatever tickles your tastebuds. Or some beautiful colored sugars would be a fun addition.