Chocolate almond spritz cookies

1.     2 ½  sticks(275g)  butter   

2.     2/3  cup sugar

3.     2/3  cups (dark) brown sugar
4.     1  tbsp. vanilla extract

5.     2  eggs

6.     2/3 cup cocoa

7.     2  cup all-purpose flour

8.     ½  cup almond meal(ground up almonds)

9.     ¼  tsp. baking soda(use ½ tsp. if you don’t have baker’s ammonia)

10.  ½  tsp.  baker’s ammonia

11.  2  tbsp (apple cider)vinegar or lemon juice

12.   ¼  tsp. salt

I know you have a question about baker’s ammonia. This is an ancestor of modern baking powder. It is still used in Europe to make cookies very light and crisp. It may leave an unpleasant ammonia flavor especially if used in baked goods with high moisture. We used it a lot back home, and I was thrilled when I found it here! Some cookies just taste better with BA than with baking powder /soda, which makes them kind of hard.  Do not confuse this with your ordinary household ammonia, which is poisonous.

Now lets get back to our cookies

Preheat oven to 375 °F. In a bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at the time, incorporate well. Add vanilla, cocoa, almond meal ,salt and ½ of the flour. Beat well. Mix bakers ammonia with vinegar and quickly add it to the dough, mix well. Then add the baking powder and the other tsp. of vinegar and mix .I find that mixing the baking soda, ammonia with vinegar reduces that after taste in the baked goods .Add the rest of the flour, fill your cookie press, choose your template and press cookies onto cool ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 min (or less in convection ovens). Remove, cool on rack, and decorate as desired.

ENJOY!                             

Dipped in Milk Chocolate