Chinese Almond Cookies

I'm back!!  After a long break.  I wanted to spend more time with the kids during the summer holidays.  And when the holidays were over, we bought a house in Langenhagen, Germany.  So I had spent a lot of time packing and unpacking.  Though this time we just moved from an apartment to a house which is 1 km away, this was our 6th move for the last 11 years!  Now that the kids' rooms are nicely done.  99% of the boxes were unpacked, I finally have time for blogging. :-)

This Chinese almond cookies had been in my draft for quite a while.  It's the right time to post this as Chinese New Year (CNY) is only a month away.

I remember these cookies were sold in the shops in a plastic container with a red cap.  This cookie and pineapple tart are my favourite.

The first photo shown is the traditional shape of the cookies.  But you can make them into different shapes as well.



Ingredients:

250g all purpose flour

90g icing sugar

50g ground almond

165ml vegetable oil

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp almond essence

some almond for topping

1 egg yolk mix with 1/2 egg white for egg wash

Method:

1.  Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and icing sugar onto the worktop.  Add in ground almond.  Make a well at the center and add salt, oil and almond essence.  Mix well to form a dough. 

2.  Knead into small balls.  Place baking paper on a baking pan.  Place balls on the pan.  Egg wash and then press an almond on each ball.  

3.  Bake in the oven at 150 degree C for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Note:  To make into different shape, refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours.  Roll the dough between two sheets of baking paper into 1 cm thickness.  Cut with cookies cutter and bake in the oven.