This recipe was inspired by a recipe shared with me by a friend of mine who is from Chinese descent. When my friend made me taste her cookies years ago, I instantly loved them. I probably ate a good bunch of them within minutes. It was simply addictive, especially with a cup of tea. After years of eating them, I finally decided to try to make them myself. This recipe basically is a twisted version of my friend’s Chinese Almond Cookies. For example, my friend’s cookies didn’t have almond meal; however, since I wanted the almond flavor to be more present in the cookie dough, I added almond meal in my recipe. And I quite liked the result of it.

 

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Prep: 15 min                        Cook: 10-15 min                  18 cookies

 

 

INGREDIENTS

1 egg

1 and ½ cups of Flour (I sift my flour before using)

¼ cup of Almond meal

½ cup of softened unsalted butter

¾ cup of sugar

2 tablespoons of Milk powder

1 teaspoon of Baking soda

¼ teaspoon of Salt

1 teaspoon of Almond extract

1 Egg yolk (for the egg wash)

Sliced almonds (for decoration)

 

 

DIRECTIONS

1. In a small bowl, whisk the whole egg and set aside for later.

2. In a mixing bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together (flour, almond meal, milk powder, sugar, baking soda, salt).

3. Add the wet ingredients (beaten egg, almond extract and butter) to the flour mix. First, use a dough blender to incorporate all the ingredients together. Then knead with your hands until the mixture turns into a compact dough which doesn’t crumble.

4. Mold the dough in order to shape it to be about 1 inch thick (ref. picture) then wrap it with a plastic wrap before letting it chill in the fridge for at least an hour.

Disclaimer: It’s possible to skip the step 4, however I always prefer letting my dough chill in the fridge before starting to work with it.

6. Preheat the oven at 350 °F

7. After at least an hour, remove the dough from the fridge. On a lightly floured work surface, cut the dough into 18 pieces of equal size with a sharp knife. Roll each piece into a ball.

8. Place 6 balls per cookie sheet of 17,25 x 11,5 x 1 inch in dimension. Then gently press the balls with the tip of a fork to create cute patterns or use a cookie stamp if you have one (mine broke so I settled for the fork).

9. In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolk with 2 teaspoons of water to make an egg wash. Lightly brush the egg wash on each cookie. Then press one or two or more sliced almond(s) on top of each cookie because why not? Aren’t we making almond cookies after all?

10. Place the cookie sheet in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes until the cookies turn gold and brown. Let the cookies cool on a cooling rack before serving them and devouring them of course.

Tips:

Make sure to leave at least 4-5 inches of space between the cookies when placed on the cookie tray before baking them, otherwise the cookies will stick together during baking time. That’s why I place 6 cookies per cookie sheet.

Almond cookies go well with a cup of tea. It’s a very comforting way to chill and relax. And for those who don’t like tea, you can always combine them with a cup of coffee, glass of milk or another other beverage of your choice.

As for the baking soda, I have seen recipes where baking powder is preferred to baking soda. However, my friend used baking soda in her recipe so I chose to stay faithful to that part of her recipe.

As for the milk powder, I chose to use skim milk powder because it’s the only type of milk powder I could find in my area.