Most crisp Chinese style almond cookie.

Chinese almond cookie is one of the yummy and crunchy Chinese style pastries, usually made for festivals (Chinese New Year). It has been the most popular snack for children in my family for years. Similar cookies include Chinese walnut cookie and butter cookie.

New Year Almond Cookie|ChinaSichuanFood.com

The original recipe is published 4 years ago but I changed the recipe a lot in this year’s new version. In order to make the cookies much crispier, I use almond flour in the dough. Please note, since we add almond flour and relatively a smaller amount of liquid in the dough, there will be cracks on the surface. Cracks indicate the successfully produced crisp texture. If you want to eliminate the cracks on the surface, use less flour and make the dough softer.

New Year Almond Cookie| chinasichuanfood.com

Almond flour not only brings the cookie a aroma of almond, but also changes the texture.

New Year Almond Cookie|ChinaSichuanFood.com

Cream butter with egg yolk, sugar and almond extract  in a large mixing bowl and then sift salt, cake flour, almond flour and baking soda. Combine all the ingredients together and then knead into a dough. Cover with plastic wrapper and refrigerate for 1 hour (optional in winter).

New Year Almond Cookie|ChinaSichuanFood.com

New Year Almond Cookie|ChinaSichuanFood.com

Preheat the oven to 170 degree C. Divide the dough into 16 similar pieces and then shape each one into a round ball. Slightly flat with fingers (or if you prefer a cuter pattern, you can use forks). Then decorate whole almond in the center. Optionally, brush the egg wash.

New Year Almond Cookie|ChinaSichuanFood.com

New Year Almond Cookie|ChinaSichuanFood.com

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes and then let the cookies stay in the oven for another 10 minutes.

New Year Almond Cookie| chinasichuanfood.com

Transfer to cooling rack until completely cooled. Then package with air-tight container.

New Year Almond Cookie|ChinaSichuanFood.com

New Year Almond Cookie|ChinaSichuanFood.com

Chinese Almond Cookie

Chinese Almond Cookie with almond flour
5 from 13 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Chinese
Keyword: Almond, Cookie
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings: 16 Making 16 cookies
Calories: 120kcal
Author: Elaine

Ingredients

  • 115 g butter ,softened in room temperature
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1/4 tsp. almond extract
  • 120 g cake flour
  • 60 g almond flour
  • 1 small pinch of salt
  • 35 g to 40g sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 16 whole almonds for decoration

egg wash

  • 1 tbsp. egg liquid + 1 tbsp. water

Instructions

  • Cream butter with egg yolk, sugar and almond extract  in a large mixing bowl and then sift salt, cake flour, almond flour and baking soda.
  • Combine all the ingredients together and then knead into a dough. Cover with plastic wrapper and refrigerate for 1 hour (optional in winter).
  • Pre-heat oven to 170 degree C.
  • Divide the dough into 16 similar pieces and then shape each one into a round ball. Slightly flat with fingers (or if you prefer a cuter pattern, you can use forks). Then decorate whole almond in the center. Optionally, brush the egg wash.
  • Bake for 18 to 20 minutes and then let the cookies stay in the oven for another 10 minutes. Transfer to cooling rack until completely cooled. Then package with air-tight container.

Notes

The recipe is firstly published in 2014 and re-publish with new recipe and photo in 2018.
 
The Nutrition Facts is based on each single cookie.

Nutrition

Calories: 120kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 31mg | Sodium: 95mg | Potassium: 15mg | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 200IU | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 0.3mg

New Year Almond Cookie|ChinaSichuanFood.com

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76 Comments

  1. Hi Elaine,
    I thought of making this recipe today. Could you please confirm if it requires only one egg yolk or one whole egg for the dough. Thanks!

  2. Elaine
    I forgot to mention that I couldn’t see where in your recipe to add the egg yolk for making the dough. So I beat in the egg yolk after creaming the butter and sugar.
    And the remaining egg white was used to glaze the cookies later before baking.☺️

  3. Thank you, Elaine! I lived in Vancouver’s Chinatown after I left school and there was a little Chinese bakery where I bought crispy almond cookies. They were totally unlike North American almonds cookies. I loved them! Your cookies look very much like those I bought.

    Friends are having a large farewell get-together and I was asked if I’d bring some finger foods, preferably Chinese since friends know I cook a lot of Asian food. I’m very hopeful these will taste like my beloved almond cookies (that I haven’t had in many decades as sadly, the tiny bakery is long gone).

    1. Although in winter time, I still recommend refrigerating it because it becomes quite soft after kneading.

      1. According to Google and my math,
        115g butter = 1/2 cup
        120g cake flour = 1 cup
        60g almond flour = 0.6 cup which would be a little less than 2/3
        35 to 40g of sugar would be 3 tablespoons

        Have you tried making these with 1/2 butter and 1/2 lard?

        It’s a bit confusing reading the questions that I presume are about the old recipe.
        e.g. No longer using powdered sugar but regular cane sugar?

        1. Thanks Miranda for your kindness of proving me the measurement. I will update this as a reference.

          Yes, I have updated the recipe and there are some differences between the two versions.
          By the way, I have not tried with lard version yet. Batter seems to be more aromatic.

  4. 5 stars
    Thank you for this lovely recipe. I would appreciate clarification regarding the baking time. The directions state “bake for 18-20 minutes and then let the cookies stay in the oven….”.
    Is it safe to assume that after 20 minutes of baking the oven is then turned off and the cookies remain in the oven for another10 minutes?
    Thank you for your response.

  5. 5 stars
    I was wondering if there was a recipe using Tbs. instead of grams. Also F instead of 170 c. Thanks very much If not then I’ll google the conversions. Sincerely Pam Nowell.

    1. Pam,
      I will try to provide both measurement in further recipes. Thanks so much for your suggestion.

  6. The white powder in question was probably baking soda – 1/2 teaspoon would work, contributes to crispiness. also maybe a pinch of salt. Thanx for this recipe – can’t wait to try it. Also, using 100% almond flour would not work at all