Chinese Almond Cookies
Crunchy textured almond cookies with a lot of almond flavor.
Servings 36
Cost 5
Ingredients
- 1 cup lard, Crisco or unsalted butter (190 grams shortening or 214 grams butter)
- ½ cup dark brown sugar (110 grams)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (50 grams)
- 2 large eggs, cracked in a separate bowl**
- 1 tablespoon almond extract
- ½ cup finely chopped toasted almonds
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour (340 grams)
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- almonds and coarse sugar for garnish
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, using a wooden spoon or electric mixer, beat lard or whichever fat your are using until creamy. Beat in both sugars.
- Whisk together the eggs in a separate bowl and measure out 2 tablespoons. Set aside to be used for an egg wash. Stir remaining eggs. almonds and almond extract into the sugar mixture.
- Stir together flour, baking powder and salt, then mix into batter to form a soft dough.
- Divide dough in half and press each half into a slab about ⅓ of an inch thick. Chill the slabs while you preheat the oven or until you are ready to bake.
- Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.
- When ready to bake, punch out rounds with a 1 ½ to 2 inch cookie cutter. Brush tops of cookie dough rounds lightly with the reserved 2 tablespoons of egg, and place an almond in the center. For a little extra crunch, you can sprinkle the cookies with coarse sugar.
- Bake time for the cookies should be about 35 minutes.
Notes
The cookies only have a total of 1 ½ or about 75 grams of egg in the batter and the other 25 grams of egg is used to brush on top. Be careful not to accidentally add both eggs directly to the batter or the cookies will be too soft.