A lot of people ask me if I eat my cookies... um, heck YES I do! I love cookies and I love playing around with flavors. My favorite combination that I created was Chocolate Chipotle. The rich chocolate with notes of cinnamon that finished with a bit of heat at the end. Yum! You may have noticed I said "was" my favorite combination. That is because when I was trying to come up with something special for Mother's Day cookies, raspberries came to mind. I started with the lovely NFSC {No Fail Sugar Cookie) recipe and added some flavors and realized almond would add a perfect nuttiness to the cookie, and... I created a monster!
I seriously could not stop eating the dough! The raspberry and almond dough was a touch softer than the regular NFSC recipe but it still rolled out beautifully and baked up with nice, sharp edges. Then it was time for a baked taste test and if I do say so myself, the results were gorgeous! I added a tiny bit of almond, and some raspberry extract to the royal icing to bring out the flavors a bit more with the decorations.
I didn't want to take my word for it, so I tested it out on everyone. Mr. John is always my first victim, I mean helper. {Don't tell anyone, but he is not a big fan of sugar cookies, gasp!} He took one bite and his eyes went wide, "What is that?" Needless to say, not his usual reaction. I think he even finished the whole cookie. The kids loved them, but they have never met a cookie they didn't like and have been known to eat 2 week old cookies, even though I tell them, "Life is too short to eat stale cookies!" so they are not to be trusted.
I needed more tasters. I used my new recipe to bake up the batches of cookies for my McGoo U students to decorate. They all enjoyed the flavors, so after class I sent them home with the recipe to test it out. I gave the recipe out to a couple of other people to test in their kitchens. I made some for my mom and dad, my brother, sister-in-law, and their almost 2 year old nephew {who kept stealing them from the platter} and they were well received... devoured, received, whatever you want to call it.
Now that this wide range of people have tested and tasted this recipe, I think it's ready for a wider audience. So now that I've hyped this recipe and your expectations are high, I am scared to share it in case you don't like it. Or it doesn't work for you. I hope it does. I hope you enjoy it.
Super simple, right? I am not one for fuss. Okay... so maybe when I decorate I can get a bit into the "fussy" territory. I never chill my dough, I don't use a silpat or parchment paper. I use 1/4" wooden dowels to keep my dough an even thickness when rolling out, and I use wax paper on top and bottom instead of flouring any surfaces. Easy peasy.
*I used McCormick raspberry extract and LorAnn's almond emulsion
Have a fantastic day and if you try out this recipe, let me know how it works for you!