Almond Biscuits – 杏仁饼干

INTRODUCTION

I have to say that I am a bit disappointed with the appearance of these almond biscuits after baking…

The moulding imprint was still there but was not as sharp as I wanted it to be.. Well, I should have expected that most cookies will expand after cooking and imprints will be blurred..

Do not ask me what is my cookies cutter? It is just a simple snow flake pattern and when I want to dislodge it from the mould, I use a chopstick to push it out those created this petal pattern.

You can always used your creativity to get the pattern you want. As a word of advise, simpler pattern will create a more elegant cookie design.

I also did not do well in taking images for this batch of cookies or biscuits. The biscuit looked much better physically then what you seen in the picture. I found the angle of taking the photo is not very satisfactory and the complex patterns overlapped each other and become a stack of cookies with odd design… Sigh

Nothing much to write about this cookie. It is a simple cookie well liked by many especially during Chinese New Year or other festivals.. It is made of ground almond and some people do sprinkle almond nibs or almond flakes on top of the cookies. As for shape wise, it can be of any shape and feel free to choose your favourite cookies cutter.

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Recipe adapted from: Almond Biscuits

Servings: Depending on size of mould 60-80 cookies

200 grams of plain flour
150 grams of butter soften at room temperature
80 grams of castor sugar
80 grams of ground almond or almond meal
1 tablespoon of potatoes starches
1 tablespoon of mung bean flour (can be substitute with potatoes starches)
1 egg yolk

STEPS OF PREPARATION

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk, beat until well combined. Add the ground almond followed by sifted plain flour, potatoes starches and mung bean flour. Fold until well mixed. You can also use the standing mixer’s lowest speed to do the mixing.

Transfer to a lightly floured surface, put the dough on top of a clingy wrap. Cover the dough with another clingy wrap, roll the dough until it is about 2-3 mm thick. Take out the clingy wrap on the top, use your preferred cookie cutter to cut into your desired shape. Transfer to the baking tray, egg wash the cookies and bake in the preheated oven of 160 degree Celsius for 12-15 minutes. or until golden brown. For egg washing, crack one egg yolk and mixed with 2 drops of oil and 1 tablespoon of water, stir well, sift before applying the egg glazing.

After the cookies were baked, let it rest in the baking tray before transferring to a cooling rack for cooling. Cooled completely before store in an air tight container.

CONCLUSION

Quite a simple recipe to try out.. In fact there are many almond related cookies recipes and this is one of them. Rest be assured that this is a delicious light cookie and I especially like the buttery fragrance and crumbly texture of the biscuit..

This recipe was included in Page 28 and Page 29 of the following E-book.

For more Chinese New Year related cookies, snack and steamed cake recipes, you can have a copy of “Easy Chinese New Year Recipes – A step by step guide” that was packed with 30 recipes, 60 pages at a reasonable convenience fee of USD3.50. The recipes covered various recipes from auspicious radish cake to nian gao to traditional kuih bangkit to trendy London almond cookies. Of course not forgetting both type of pineapple tarts. You can purchase by clicking the link above. You can either pay using Pay Pal or Credit card account. Please ensure that you have an PDF reader like Acrobat or iBooks in your mobile phone or iPad if you intended to read it in your ipad or mobile phone. Should there be any problems of purchasing, feel free to contact me at kengls@singnet.com.sg and separate arrangement can be made.

Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.

For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX (updated as at 26 November 2014) here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit the blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE to keep abreast of my future posts.