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Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Almond Cookies



This has been an all time classic cookie to make for The Chinese New Year. It is nutty, full of almond flavor.





Ingredients:

2 cups self rising flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-7 oz box Odense Almond Paste
6 ozs (1 1/2 sticks/12 tablespoons) butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar, divided
2 large egg whites, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
egg yolk + 1 tbsp water for glazing
Blanched Slivered Almonds

Method:

Preheat oven to 325° F with rack in center.
Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil or Silpat.

Sift flour and salt into a small bowl. Set aside.

Grate almond paste on large hole side of grater.

Combine almond paste, butter and 1/2 cup of the sugar in the food processor. Pulse until soft and fluffy.

Add egg whites and vanilla. Pulse until well mixed.

Mix in flour mixture and pulse until just incorporated.

With a tablespoon or small ice cream scoop, scoop enough dough to form a 1-inch ball.
Roll dough between palms to make balls. (i like my cookies small so i half this 1 inch ball)
Roll balls in remaining 1/2 cup of sugar.

Place balls on prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between for spreading.
Glaze with egg yolk and firmly press an almond sliver on top of each cookie.

Bake for 12 - 15 minutes (15 - 17 minutes for the 1 inch ball) until bottoms are light golden.
Remove from pans and cool on wire racks.


Serves

16 comments:

  1. Dear Aunt Lily,

    I love your blog like many others. Really glad to discover such a wonderful blog. I tried ur cocoa brownies recipe a few weeks ago and my friends loved them. Recommended your blog to my friends who want to learn to bake and cook as I find the steps fairly easy to follow through. Can't wait to try your almond cookies this weekend.

    Corine

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  2. Hi Lily

    Happy New Year! Would love to try these cookie...may I substitute the Almond paste with Almond powder instead? Thank you.

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  3. nina of brittany

    i suppose you could but you would have to add more sugar. according to the ingredients in the package - 46% is almond, the rest is sugar. the pack is 7 ozs, so it would around 3 - 4 ozs of almond powder and 3 - 4 ozs sugar. Adjust with more egg white if too dry.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What an awesome blog. Thank you soooooo much for all the recipes. I live in Orem, Utah ...not many asian store here. I tried your Chee Cheong Fun last week without the borax and it was a failure. Can I get it here in US , is there a subsitute for borax?

    ReplyDelete
  5. hi lily:
    I'm glad to find your blog, very informative. I'll spend some time to read your blog and digg out some to try. Thanks for your sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Lily

    may i know where to get Odense Almond Paste & hw much is that?


    Thank you
    Jun

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  7. Hi Lily,

    The cookie looks great! can I check where do you get odense almond paste pls?

    Thanks,
    cookie

    ReplyDelete
  8. suetwan

    you can get borax from the asian stores but it can also be omitted and you can still make some decent chee cheong fun. Make it as thin as possible.

    ReplyDelete
  9. jun and cookie

    odense almond paste is available in all the supermarkets here and they are costly - about 6 - 7 usd for this 7 oz box.

    would try this recipe using blanched almonds but it has to be after the chinese new year.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Lily,

    I tried the Almond cookies of your recipe but turn out not not good. I changed the Almond paste to Almond powder & sugar as you mentioned. When ate it, it bit soft inside and not hard like cookies. Is it because of the flour(SRF)?

    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  11. joseph

    if you like cookies to be crunchy, then you should bake them longer. I too like crunchy cookies but the family likes chewy, so i have to underbake them

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Lily,

    Oic... Thanks for the advice.

    Joseph

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  13. Hi Lily,

    What is your tray paper made of?
    It looks like a rack sack

    Regards
    Bann Dih

    ReplyDelete
  14. Bann Dih

    it is a baking tray liner and the brands are Silpat or World Cuisine.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi Lily,

    I came across this Almond cookie receipe in your blog, and I would like to try it for the coming new year. May I know if I can use electric mixer to beat the almond paste, butter and sugar till soft and fluffy, instead of food Processor? I'm not sure if the results will turn our differently in using electric mixer vs food processor in this step.

    Appreciate your advice.

    Thanks,
    Sharon

    ReplyDelete
  16. sharon

    you can certainly use the electric mixer, it will not alter the taste of texture of the cookie
    happy chinese new year

    ReplyDelete