almond blueberry cookies for valentine's day

so, dh and i were supposed to have a lovely romantic lunch for valentine's day and then he was going for a root canal - but they moved his appointment up to right after work so we had to postpone our lunch. he asked for it last night, but i would not make it because he could barely chew cottage cheese, let alone steak and i had gotten a bottle of wine - which is extrememly rare for us - and he was on pain meds, so i did not want to mix the two. he has already called me this morning to make sure that i was making it today lol. anyway i had already started this new recipe that i saw on everyday italian on food network, so i had to finish baking them. when i was making the dough i was drooling all over because they smelled soooooo yummy. i changed the recipe slightly, so if you want the original, you'll have to look it up on foodtv.com, but i don't think i changed it enough to change the taste from her recipe.

one of the changes i made was the amount of lemon zest - i could not find my zester, and my hands were not working well enough to cut it into small enough pieces.

next was toasting and chopping the almonds. mandi gave me the papmered chef chopper last year for my birthday - it is the most awesome thing for things like this - and if you don't chop toasted almonds often - it is easier to chop them after you have toasted them. they are at a softer stage while they are still warm.
you can see i couldn't the lemon zest very small, lol - but dh said it did not matter.


these come out to be pretty big cookies so i only put 6 on at a time. i used the big scoop from pampered chef and it makes the perfect size cookie - about 3 1/2 inches - YUM

and here is the final product - lol - they are almost gone - only made about 18 cookies, but that is ok. i like them because they are very fresh tasting with the blueberries and lemon. the only tip that i have is to use frozen blueberries - which i did - but i think using them less thawed out would be better. when folding them in mostly thawed, your batter will turn purple and that looks kinda funny. so i put mine in still half frozen. the batter has to sit in the fridge for about 30 minutes before baking, so they even if they do not completely thaw - your still sticking them in a hot oven. so here is the recipe the way i made it - like i said - not a huge change - only the extract, milk, and the addition of lemon juice. i also used a large scoop so i baked mine for exactly 15 minutes.

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg york

1/4 milk

1 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 teaspoons lemon zest

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/2 cup chopped almonds, toasted

1 cup frozen blueberries, just slighlty thawed and drained

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. In another medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar using a hand mixer. Add egg and beat to incorporate. Add milk, almond extract, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Fold in the almonds, then the blueberries. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. When to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Dollop mix onto cookie sheets. Bake until golden brown around the edges, about 15 minutes.