Wow, Mom, it’s been too long since I’ve updated! This post is old news because I made them in September for our company picnic. Sorry.

I thought these would be fun. They weren’t. 

The recipe calls for blanched almonds, so I looked that up. Supposedly, this is what you do:

 Step 1: Cover almonds in boiling water for one minute.

 Step 2: Rinse with cold water.

 Step 3: Tap dry on a paper towel, then slide the skin off.

This was not as easy as “sliding.” It hurt my thumbs. A lot. I ended up putting them back in the hot water and then it became a little easier.

Who knew one cup of almonds can cause so much pain?

 Step 4: Pulse almonds in food processor until very finely chopped.

 Step 5: Gather all ingredients: Almonds, chocolate, flour, brown sugar, vanilla, baking powder, course salt, butter, eggs.

 Step 6: Melt chocolate in a double-boiler.

I love doing this.

 Step 7: Stir almonds with flour, baking powder, and salt.

 Step 8: Beat butter and brown sugar.

Oh, look there. It’s my bottle of Method pear ginger spray. It’s amazing. (FYI – I’m not sponsored by Method, but would love to be!)

Step 9: Add eggs and vanilla.

 Step 10: Mix in chocolate.

I was worried because the chocolate was hot and the rest was cool, but that was a stupid worry. Nothing happened. I should have been more worried about how messy my kitchen was.

Step 11: Add almond mixture.

Step 12: Chill for 1 hour, then shape dough into 1-inch balls.

Um, I don’t think this is ready. The dough stuck everywhere.

Ugh, back in the fridge.

Take two: This is better.

Step 13: Roll dough in granulated sugar.

Step 14: Roll dough in powdered sugar.

Did I mention this recipe contains sugar?

Step 15: Bake.

WAIT! Why is the powdered sugar melting? These aren’t pretty!

And the next batch melted! This isn’t going well.

I considered not bringing these to work in fear that my blog would lose popularity.

I didn’t have to worry about that because I discovered that it was blocked by IT!

So…

Thumbs down to my aching thumbs (F you, almonds) and to being blocked.

Link to original recipe

Yields: 48
I got: 50-something

Start time: 8:00
End time: 11:35 (3 hours, 35 mins)
Martha’s estimated time: 1 hour, 30 mins (Yeah, this one sucked.)

What did I learn? 

• Blanching almonds is difficult.

 What do I need to learn? 

• Why was that dough so sticky/melty even after refrigerating it a few times?
• Why did the powdered sugar melt? Martha’s look so pretty.
• How did I accidentally bake a holiday cookie in late Summer?

At least a few turned out looking good. The reviews were mixed.

So, did you miss me? Leave me some comments/love. Thanks!