Hidden Surprise Cookies

I saw these cookies and my first thought was "Who doesn't like chocolate in the middle of their cookie?"  An almond flavored cookie with a chocolate filling inside of it - I'm all over this one.  I mean look at these.......

surprise! there's chocolate inside :)

......and they are great warm out of the oven or cooled completely.  The dough is extremely easy and comes together quickly.  At the end you take out part of the dough and add cocoa powder to it to make the chocolate middle.  Once that is all ready to go, time to roll the chocolate dough into balls.  Then you take the regular dough and surround the chocolate dough.

pre-wrapped cookie

Make sure no chocolate is poking out anywhere.  Once you have a sheet full of these bad boys, into the oven they go.  And then you get this.....

pretty :)

......they puff up and don't spread out much so you can fit a lot on a sheet.  Ween came home first and had some - loved them!  Loved that it was an almond cookie with chocolate in the middle.  I took some to Jon last night and he was too funny.  He said they looked like a Snickerdoodle...and then ate one and was like oh there's chocolate in the middle!  Then it took him a minute to narrow it down to almond extract in the cookies, but he is a huge fan of these.  He took away any doubt I had about these cookies not being good. 

Hidden Surprise Cookies

makes about 30

1/2 cup butter, room temp

1/4 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

1 egg yolks

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup powdered sugar

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tbsp melted butter

1/4 tsp almond extract

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or Silpats.  In a large mixing bowl beat butter and shortening with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for 30 seconds.  Add granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Beat until combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.  Beat in egg, egg yolks and vanilla until combined.  Add in flour and beat until combined. 
2. Transfer 3/4 cup of the dough to a small bowl.  Add powdered sugar, cocoa powder and melted butter.  Beat until combined.  Shape chocolate dough into 1" balls.
3. Beat almond extract into remaining dough.  Mold about 1 tbsp of almond-flavor dough around each chocolate ball.  Roll gently to make a smooth, round ball.  Place balls 2" apart on cookie sheet.
4. Bake for 10-11 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned.  Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute.  Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.