Chinese Almond Cookies

When deciding what to do for our Mulan day, I wanted to set up an obstacle course for the dragons to do. However, this was a task easier said than done (especially at nine months pregnant), so I opted for another recipe instead.

These cookies were inspired by House of Annie, who shared that they are a traditional Chinese cookie. I was so very excited to make a little change and make them myself- and I was not disappointed. Nor was anyone else in the house who ate/devoured them.

Almond Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 C (1 stick) salted butter, softened
• 1 C oil (I used canola)
• 1 egg
• 1.5 C Sugar
• 1 TBSP Almond Extract
• 3 C unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 and line your baking sheet with parchment paper
• Mix together your butter, oil, sugar, almond extract. Add in your dry ingredients and mix until well combined, forming a compact dough.

• Use a cookie scooper to measure your cookies, then rolling into a ball (about 2 TBSP of dough).
  * Optional: Use your pinky or 1/8 tsp to push a crater into the center of each dough ball. Use a toothpick to add red food dye to said indent, or add red sprinkles. This makes the cookies look festive! You can also put an almond sliver on top rather than an indent of some kind.

• Bake the cookies for 12-16 minutes, until the edges look slightly golden. Let sit on the cookie sheet for a further five minutes or so.

Enjoy! These go absolutely wonderfully with tea.

Don’t forget to check out the Beef & Broccoli recipe, which pairs nicely with this dessert!