What’s better than a chocolate chunk cookies? How about Raspberry Almond Chocolate Chunk Cookies?! These soft, moist cookies have a delicious almond flavor, tons of tart and tangy dried raspberries, and huge pockets of semi-sweet chocolate chunks. You may never make regular chocolate chip cookies again!
Chocolate Chunk Cookies with Almonds and Raspberries
As regular readers might know, I’m more than a little obsessed with freeze-dried fruit, especially raspberries. (Not sure how to use freeze-dried fruit in desserts? Check out these cookies, these bars, or this buttercream!)
Freeze-dried raspberries
So it had been my plan to add my favorite to a chocolate chip cookie recipe for awhile, but when the time came, I thought they might need something more. Something to give them a little extra dimension…so I added almond paste
The almond paste
Table of Contents
Special Ingredients You’ll Need
→ Almond paste is a soft paste, usually found in a bar shape, made from ground almonds, sugar, and a bit of oil. It has a delicious almond flavor so if you’re an almond lover like me, you’ll LOVE desserts made with almond paste! It can usually be found in the baking aisle of the grocery store.
In this recipe, the almond paste adds not only flavor, but also a wonderful texture. It keeps the cookies soft and moist for DAYS. If you’re tired of your chocolate chip cookies going a bit stale after a day or two, give this recipe a try and see if you don’t fall in love with adding almond paste to your cookies!
→ Freeze-dried raspberries are very different from regular dried raspberries. Rather than being super-sweet and chewy, they’re crunchy and taste JUST like a tart, tangy raspberry! I love using freeze-dried fruit because it can be added whole to some desserts, like cookies, or it can be ground into a powder in the food processor and used to flavor frostings and other soft desserts.
Freeze-dried fruit can be found near the dried fruit/nuts at Trader Joe’s and in many large grocery stores, and can also be easily purchased online. It should be kept in an airtight container or bag, because it will start to get soft and chewy once it is exposed to air.
How to Make Raspberry Almond Chocolate Chunk Cookies:
- Combine the almond paste and 2 types of sugars in a mixer, and mix until it looks like coarse crumbs.
- Add the butter, then mix until it looks light and fluffy.
- The egg, yolk, and vanilla are then mixed in until well-incorporated.
- Whisk the flour, corn starch, baking soda, and salt together in a small bowl, then add the dry ingredients to the mixer.
- Mix on low speed until just a few streaks of flour are left, then finish mixing by hand.
- Now for the good stuff! Add the chocolate chunks, freeze-dried raspberries, and chocolate chunks.
- Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours–overnight is good too!
- Scoop the cookies into large balls, and bake them at 350 F for 10-12 minutes. Let them cool a bit, then devour!
Chocolate Chunk Cookie Tips and Tricks:
- If you can’t find almond paste, you can substitute marzipan. Marzipan is made with almond paste, and has a similar flavor and texture. It does have added sugar, however, so your cookies will be sweeter than if you had used paste.
- No chocolate chunks? No problem! Swap in semi-sweet chips instead, or mix it up and use milk, white, or dark!
- This recipe is made to be used with freeze-dried raspberries, so swapping in fresh is not advised in this recipe.
- You CAN use other freeze-dried fruit, though! Try it with strawberries or blackberries instead!
🍪More Fun Cookie Recipes You’ll Love:
Raspberry Almond Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Ingredients
- 4 oz almond paste, soft, cubed
- 5 2/3 oz brown sugar, (3/4 cup), lightly packed
- 1 3/4 oz granulated sugar, (1/4 cup)
- 6 oz unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 9 oz all-purpose flour, (2 cups)
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chunks, (1 cup)
- 3/4 cup almonds, toasted, coarsely chopped
- 1 cup freeze-dried raspberries
Instructions
- Combine the almond paste, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in the bowl of a large stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Turn the mixer to low and mix the almond paste and sugars together, until the paste is worked into the sugar and the mixture is coarse crumbs.
- Add the butter, and cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes. Add the egg, yolk, and vanilla extract, and beat until combined.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, corn starch, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and turn the mixer to low, mixing until just a few flour streaks remain. Turn the mixer off and mix the dough the rest of the way by hand, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the chocolate chunks, chopped almonds, and freeze-dried raspberries, and stir them in until everything is well-mixed.
- Wrap the dough tightly in cling wrap, and refrigerate it until firm, about 2 hours. (Dough can be made several days ahead and kept in the refrigerator until ready to bake.) Once the dough is firm, preheat the oven to 350 F. Scoop the dough into large (1 1/2”) balls, and place on a parchment-covered baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until cookies are puffed and starting to brown around the edges. Remove from the oven and let cool at room temperature on the baking sheet.
Recipe Notes
Measuring Tips
Our recipes are developed using weight measurements, and we highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking whenever possible. However, if you prefer to use cups, volume measurements are provided as well. PLEASE NOTE: the adage “8 oz = 1 cup” is NOT true when speaking about weight, so don’t be concerned if the measurements don’t fit this formula.
Want to learn more about baking measurements and conversion?
Haha, believe me, I think I’ll avoid this flu-flu aka the second black plague! Yuck, sounds horrible, glad you are feeling better. These cookies – oh my goodness!!! This is how I’m going to get my fruit servings in. And that chocolate – drooling over here!
Thanks Mary Frances! I can’t argue, these would be the best way to get in a serving of fruit. You’re a genius!
Oh no that sounds terrible! Feel better soon.
These cookies look amazing! I’m drooling over that melty chocolaty goodness. 🙂
Thanks Tina! Fortunately I’m mostly recovered and back to cookie snarfing. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
I am a big cookie head! These look yummEEE!!
Thanks Jett! I have to say, I’d never heard the term cookie head before, but it’s a pretty perfect way to describe me, so I’m stealing it. Love it!
Looks delicious! If i didn’t want to add the almonds could it be okay if i just skip the almonds and almond paste, or is the almond paste an essential part to make the cookies moist?
Hi Bailey! You can skip the almond paste, but I would recommend increasing the brown sugar to 1 cup. Almond paste is sweetened so I used less sugar in the recipe, so to compensate you should up it if you omit the paste.
oh wow…these look beautiful & decadent! Love the red/brown color combo.
Thanks Brandie! I love it when desserts look great without any special effort–somehow raspberries and chocolate just naturally look awesome together!
Oh no! I can’t believe you got the flu-flu!! (Which, btw, is a perfect name for it.) My MIL always cautions me to be careful what I wish for precisely for this reason! Oh, and it’s so hard when there are little ones running around. Sometimes I think they like the all-tv days though! And wow – I want almond paste now!! Hope you are all better by today!! xoxo!
Haha, I know. I felt super guilty about using the tv as a baby-sitter, while he seemed happy as a clam to veg out. Come to think of it, he probably gave me the flu with his day care germs, just to get a tv day… ha. Thanks Sara!
I’m totally drooling over these cookies! The melty chocolate gets me every time. I’m sorry you have the flu-flu. Feel better soon!
Thanks Natasha, I’m a total sucker for melty chocolate too!
Yuck…the flu-flu, I bet you thought that it couldn’t get any worse, eh? Thanks goodness you had the cookies to devour! I’ve never tried almond paste before but I intend to now as we all like the flavor of almond. BTW, do you use natural or artificial lighting for your pics? They’re gorgeous! I’ve never had luck with artificial.
Thank you Liz! Almond paste is awesome–it’s similar to marzipan, but not as sweet. I love baking with it!
I use mostly natural light–I am lucky to have a great window in my kitchen that works near-perfectly, although it is getting some harsh direct sunlight this time of year! When that happens, I put up a diffuser so there’s not bright sunlight on the food. Also, I always bounce the light back with foamboard, and I supplement with a Lowel EGO light on a tripod. It’s not great on its own (when it’s dark) but as an addition to the natural light it’s helpful.
I’m glad youre starting to feel better!! The flu-flu is THEE WORST!! And these cookies look totally killer!!!
Thanks Jocelyn! No arguments from me– flu-flu is gross! Thanks for stopping by!
I hope you’re feeling better now darling! Flu-flu really sucks :–(
These cookies look fabulous! Almond paste + raspberries?? I’m in. And melty chocolate pockets are the best thing ever yeah. I’m so drooling for these ;–) x