Aspiring Bakers #3: My Favorite CNY Cookie (Jan 2011) Chinese almond cookies

 I love to bake and well, everything about baking can make me excited, so when I saw a post about  Aspiring Bakers #3: My Favorite CNY Cookie (Jan 2011) in Jess' blog (j3sskitch3n), I really want to join this event. For this year the Chinese New Year is on the 3 of February and having a lot of recipes to choose from is a good idea ^^.



Actually I'd never bake CNY cookie before and I don't know what kind of cookie is CNY cookie, haha I just want to try. Even my family cerebrate the Chinese New Year, but we didn't have a traditional cookie recipe, for us Chinese New Year is about a lot of fooooood.

So, I started by searching on the internet and I'm still confused, there are many kinds of cookies which have been used and called CNY cookies, ^^", but what I think they have in common is the golden color. (And if anyone who read my blog can answer this question please, please teach me how to understand the rule of CNY cookies^^).

After being confused I think that I have to choose the safe way, hehe, so I choose the traditional cookie to bake, and I'm sure it's can be called CNY cookies.

There are a lot of almond cookies recipe to choose from, the requirement for each recipe is not equal, and many of them called for lard, it's not a common ingredient in my pantry, some of the book has included the instruction for rendering it, well, I'm just want to make something simple and easy  ^^". 

Finally I got the recipe, it came from the book name:The Food of China (look like I use a lot of my old books lately, I feel good, haha). The recipe is so simple and straightforward, but I have to admit that only simple and straightforward couldn't produce the great results. Because when I baked the cookie as the instruction in the book, the cookie is too soft, but the taste is very good. It's not hard to give this cookie a little help, just let the cookie cool completely and bake it again in 150°C oven. After baking you will get a lovely golden cookie,very nutty and delicious, it's very good to have it with a cup of Chinese tea.

And most of all I think it's great for giving as a gift for Chinese New Year and I hope it can be called CNY cookie, haha.

Ps. Thank you so much Jess for  helping me with my blog and hosting this delicious event, ^^ I will join your Aspiring Bakers event again if I can manage my self, haha.

Adaptation from : The Food of China 





125g ................................ Unsalted  butter, soften

170g ................................ Granulated sugar

1 ....................................... Egg

200g ................................ Plain flour (all purpose flour)

½tsp ............................... Baking powder

½tsp ............................... Salt

½tsp ............................... Almond extract

150g ................................ Almond powder

1 ....................................... Egg, lightly beaten for brushing the cookies

25-27 .............................. Whole blanched almonds





Preheat the oven to 180°C

Line the baking sheets with baking paper or silicone baking mat.

Sift the flour and baking powder together, set aside.





 Beat together, butter, sugar and salt until light (about 2-3 minutes), add the almond extract, egg beating well after each addition.

Slowly add flour and almond powder into the butter stir to combine.

 Using your hand press all the ingredient together until you get a smooth dough.

Scoop the dough with scoop #50 and roll into a ball.

Press the ball with the measuring spoon, and place the blanched almond in the center.

Brush the cookies with beaten egg, and bake for 12-14 minutes or until the cookies are light golden, take out off the oven and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

Meanwhile reduce the oven to 150°C

Brush the egg with the beaten egg again and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until the cookies turn golden brown.

Let them cool completely and keep in the airtight container, you will happy to have them around ^^.