Ingredients

For the Filling: (make this first so it can sit in the freezer longer)
1/2 Cup Whole Almonds
2 1/2 Cup Coconut
1/2 Can (about 7 ounces) Sweetened Condensed Milk

For the Cookie Dough:
1 Cup Butter (cold)
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder
2 1/2 Cup Flour
1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
3/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Milk Chocolate Chips

Instructions

Filling: Get a large frying pan and put the whole almonds in. Cook on medium heat until the almonds have browned a little more and smell good (3 or 4 minutes). Stir them frequently. Put those in a bowl just big enough to fit them and set aside. Now put 1 1/2 cups of the coconut in the same frying pan you just used for the almonds. Cook on stove on medium heat, constantly stirring until the coconut is nicely toasted and browned (note: it won’t all brown, it will still have some white coconut in there too. Don’t try to get it all brown, or lots of it will burn). Put the toasted coconut and the other cup of non-toasted coconut in a food processor and process until the coconut strands are about the same length as their width (just get the coconut smaller so it’s easier to take a bite of the filling without pulling a bunch out). If you don’t have a food processor, just put the coconut on a cutting board and chop it into smaller pieces. Put the coconut in a bowl and then pour the sweetened condensed milk over it. Stir until combined, then put in the freezer (covered if you are going to leave it longer than an hour).

Cookie Dough: Cut butter into cubes and mix with brown sugar and sugar until there are just small chunks of butter. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until incorporated and there are only a few little chunks of butter that can be seen. Add cocoa, flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Mix for 30 seconds, then add the chocolate chips. Mix until it’s loosely coming together, stop the mixer and press the dough all the way together with your hands, making sure no chunks of butter remain. Or, just mix it with the mixer until almost all the butter chunks are gone and don’t mix any longer than that. Refrigerate the dough for 15 minutes.

Assembly: Before you start assembling, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Pull out the cookie dough, filling, and almonds. Start by getting two blobs of cookie dough that are about 3 TBS of dough each. Smoosh each one flat between your hands and lay softly on the table. Now get about 2 TBS of filling (packed) and smoosh it into a little rectangle (the top should be big enough to place 4 almonds side by side). Place filling rectangle in the middle of one of your smooshed doughs. Now place 4 almonds on top of your filling rectangle. Take the other smooshed dough and lay it on top with the filling/nuts in the center (careful not to knock the nuts off). Now press the two halfs of smooshed dough together around the filling, sealing off the filling center. Throw any bits of dough that aren’t needed back in the bowl with the dough. Try to compact your cookie into a nice ball and place on your cookie sheet. Repeat until all your dough is gone. Place the cookies a couple inches apart and bake for 9 minutes.

Yield: about a dozen big cookies