Chances are if you go to a Chinese Restaurant, you will be given your choice of a fortune or an almond cookie for dessert. In China, Almond Cookies symbolize coins and are believed to bring good fortune. They are often served at Chinese New Year Celebrations. When you find out how delicious and how easy it is to make Chinese Almond Cookies, using our Chinese Almond Cookies Recipe, you won’t want to wait until the Chinese New Year to make them at home!
Chinese Almond Cookies Recipe Ingredients – Makes 54 cookies
- 2 sticks of cold butter (1/2 pound)
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg, slightly beaten (optional – an additional egg for egg wash)
- 2 – 3 teaspoons almond extract
- 54 whole almonds, blanched
- 2 level teaspoons or 2 teaspoon cookie scoop
- cookie sheet
Chinese Almond Cookies Recipe Directions
You can purchased whole almonds already blanched, but it is so much fun to blanch your own almonds, I highly recommend it! Begin by bringing a small saucepan of water to a rolling boil. Add the almonds to the water. Boil the almonds for 1 minute. Do not over boil or the almonds will become soft.
Drain the almonds in a colander and run cold water over them to stop the almonds from cooking.
You will notice the almonds are “wrinkled”, this is because the skin has pulled away from the nut. To remove the skins, simply squeeze the nuts between your thumb and first finger. The nut will slide out. Note: The skinned almonds will shoot across the room if you do not direct them into a bowl or your other hand. Children will love removing the skins so you might want to make a few extra to replace the almonds that go air bound!
Remove the almonds from the colander onto a towel of paper towel and pat dry.
To make the cookie dough, mix the flour, soda, salt and sugar together. Mix or whisk for a full minute so the dry ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
Cut the 2 sticks of cold butter into small pieces.
Mix the chopped butter into the dry ingredients. Make sure all of the pieces of butter are coated with the flour mixture. Use a mixer or a food processor to further break up the pieces of butter. The dough will be crumbly and dry.
Lightly mix 1 egg. Add this to the dough, along with the 2 – 3 teaspoons of almond extract, and mix or process until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl.
Scoop out 1 level tablespoon of cookie dough. This will make 1 inch balls.
Using your hands, roll into 1 inch balls and place on cookie sheet.
With your fingers, push down on cookie balls to slightly flatten.
Press a whole blanched almond in the center of each cookie. Optional: If you would like, beat one egg. Mix 1 tablespoon of egg liquid with 1 tablespoon of water. Brush on cookies before baking. This gives a sheen to the cookies.
Bake in a preheated 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 12 – 15 minutes. The tops should be pale and the bottoms lightly golden. Remove from cookie sheet and place on a wire rack. Allow to cool completely.
Variation: If you want to make the cookies more decorative, after you have rolled the cookies into balls, roll them in colored sugar before you slightly flatten them. They would make lovely Christmas or Easter cookies!
