Chinese Almond Cookies

Woke up one day early in the morning. Craved for these little Chinese almond cookies. They are always found during Chinese New Year. The only "special" ingredients you need is ground (powder) almond, you will probably have all the other ingredients at home to make these!

Recipes adopted from breadetbutter

Yield: 18 cookies 

Ingredients

1 cup ground almonds

1 cup AP flour

3/8 cup icing sugar 

110 g lard (or substitute by 1/4 cup of vegetable oil)

pinch of salt

1 egg, beaten

Directions:

1. Dry fry the ground almonds in a wide non-stick pan (over medium heat), until they start to become fragrant and lightly browned.

2. Place the ground almonds, flour, sugar and salt in a bowl, and mix with a spatula until well combined.

3. Using a pastry blender, incorporate the lard into the almond/flour mix, until you form a cohesive dough. You may need more or less oil/lard depending on the weather.

4. Heat the oven to 180 C.

5. Form the dough into 2cm balls, and place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Press down lightly with a chopstick (or a straw or a clean pen cover), this forms the indentation you see in the cookie.

6. Glaze lightly with the beaten egg. Decorate the top of the cookie with a piece of silvered almond.

7. Bake for 13-15 minutes, until they turn a lovely shade of golden brown.

Note:

1) I used vegetable oil instead of lard, but I highly suggest everyone here to use lard. It will make the texture flakier and taste better.

2) I baked my cookies for 16 minutes and the bottoms are burnt. I suggested to bake for 13-15 minutes.