Dear Friends
does anyone know of a light, flaky, crumbly recipe for chinese almond cookies that doesn’t use lard or shortening?
Thanks
Shokat

This recipe http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chinese-Restaurant-Almond-Cookies/Detail.aspx says that butter can be substituted for the lard. Let us know if you make them and how they turn out.

Do not know if the outcome of this will be the “flaky, crumbly” texture you’re after, but these melt in the mouth and my family loves them.  They’re a Chinese New Year staple for us.  And they’re easy.

Almond cookies

120g ground almonds
180g all purpose flour
100g superfine sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
120ml unflavoured oil (corn, canola, sunflower, etc.)

Glaze:  1 egg yolk

Combine all the ingredients.  They will form a crumbly dough.  Use a deep round teaspoon measure, or a teaspoon-sized cookie scoop, and press out little “hemispheres” of the dough.  Alternatively, form evenly-sized little balls with your hands - but because the dough is crumbly, this is not as easy.  Glaze with the egg yolk.  Bake in a preheated oven at 350 deg F or 180 deg C, for 15-20 minutes or until very lightly brown.  Cool completely before storing in airtight containers.

Hope you’ll keep me updated if you try these and like them

Dear Little Island
thank you! This was just what I was looking for.
I’ll post online to report when I have made them.
Shokat

You’re most welcome.  I just made a quadruple batch this evening… lots for giving away and of course for ourselves!  You can get a more melting texture from the cookies by subbing cake flour for about 1/4 of the all-purpose.  They do get quite delicate if you do that though, so handle with care.

Beat egg and lard, add sugars and extract. Gradually mix in dry ingredients. Roll 1 tablespoon to make ball, place on ungreased sheet and press almond in center. Brush with beaten egg yolk and bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.