This is a lovely recipe for a delightful cookie that always reminds me of the walks my girlfriend (relax, she’s now my wife) and I would take through the streets of Chinatown! I’ve mentioned before that she has a sweet tooth so inevitably, we would enter more bakeries to see, smell (and eventually) taste the delights before us. But only when we got to the right shop with the right assortment would she pick up her (our) treats. These cookies were always part of our haul. In celebration of the Lunar New Year these are my Almond Cookies.

Of course I never baked back then. I don’t think my love of baking actually began until much later. Buying seemed so much easier and quite honestly I wouldn’t even have known where to start. We have always been a “food” family and it didn’t always include a homemade dessert. This recipe is a treat. Almond flour, almond extract, butter and eggs – oh and almonds on top – nutty or what eh?!  To get the two tone on top of the cookie, I tinted the yolk with store bought browning caramel sauce – Grace brand (no affiliations, just what the store had).  You could also make your own by caramelizing sugar until almost black then thinning it down and using it.  But I only needed 1/4 tsp so it didn’t make sense to do this.  It’s sold in small bottles and I just happened to have some left over from my Christmas Treat baking. 

Celebrate by making these cookies today, get the dough together now and bake later. What a great way to usher in the New Year. From my family to yours – Happy Lunar New Year! Get the booster (please), wear a good mask or two, wash your hands and socialize responsibly. As always – enjoy!

Ingredients
1 cup (114g) almond flour (ground almonds)
¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
½ cup (1 stick/113g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 whole egg, plus 1 egg yolk – divided
1 tablespoon almond extract
1 ¼ cups (156g) all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp Browning caramel 
Almond slices for decoration

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350f, line 2 baking trays with parchment – set aside
2. In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt – set aside
3. In a dry heavy bottom frying pan – toast the almond flour until it is fragrant and takes on a bit of color – remove to a small bowl and set aside to cool
4. In a medium bowl, using a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft and creamy
5. Gradually add the remaining sugar and beat until well blended, about 2 minutes
6. Add the whole egg and almond extract and beat until smooth
7. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix with a rubber spatula until smooth
8. Add the ground almonds and mix well until a soft dough forms – cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes to firm up the dough
9. Use a teaspoon to scoop and shape the dough (really any size spoon will do – it’s your cookie) into round balls – set on the baking sheets, 2” apart
10. Use your thumb and press down on the dough to make an indentation in the middle of each ball, reducing it to about half of its original thickness
11. Make the glaze by adding the browning to the egg yolk and stir
12. Brush a little of the glaze onto the cookie and place some almond pieces in the indentation
13. Bake, rotating the pans half way through, for 11 – 13 minutes or until they have spread out, cracked on top, and the glaze is golden brown
14. Remove from the oven and let cool on the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack

Well Why Not! (Tips and suggestions)
Rather than pinch the dough, use a 1” diameter cookie scoop
Roll the dough into a log using parchment or plastic wrap, refrigerate then slice into even size discs before glazing
Use whole almonds – the traditional thing to do, instead of slices