It’s almost Chinese New Year. 2019 is the year of the pig. Growing up in New York, I love going to Chinatown in Manhattan during Chinese New Year. The streets are filled with red and gold decorations, firecrackers, and lion dancers. The restaurants are packed with families and friends connecting over good food. I usually try to avoid crowds whenever possible, but Chinese New Year in Chinatown is one of those days when I make an exception. My family always made a togetherness dinner for the entire family the evening before Chinese New Year. My immediate family would gather over the dinner table to share in eating longevity noodles, prosperous steamed fish, and some sweet soup dumplings. Besides the absolutely delightful food, we would eat other lucky treats and collect red envelopes from our close relatives. All of those traditions and memories are forever etched in my mind. After moving to the Midwest, I miss a lot of the familiar foods made by my family. I do, however, try to recreate my favorite foods and treats whenever I can. One of the treats I attempted to recreate were almond cookies. My family always had a package of almond cookies sitting in the dining room table of their home in Brooklyn. Instead of the traditional almond cookies, I made a version of almond cookies which is closer to sugar cookies. My version of almond cookies has all of the flavors of traditional almond cookies, but the texture of my favorite sugar cookies. When I made my batch of cookie dough, I divided the dough in half and made two versions of almond cookies. I made a plain version and a version with orange zest. The almond cookies were absolutely scrumptious.
Almond Cookies:
· 1½ cups all-purpose flour
· ½ teaspoon baking soda
· ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
· ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
· ½ cup granulated sugar
· 1 large egg, room temperature
· ½ teaspoon almond extract
· ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
· Roasted whole almonds (about 24)
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
2) In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and kosher salt.
3) In a large bowl, mix the butter and sugar together. Add the large egg. Stir to incorporate the egg into the butter and sugar. Add the almond extract and vanilla extract. Gently fold in the flour mixture until a dough forms.
4) Use your hands to roll out about ½ inch balls of cookies. Press to flatten the cookies. Press a roasted whole almond into the center of each cookie.
5) Bake the cookies in the oven for 13-15 minutes. Let cookies cool for 5 minutes before serving.
Takeaways: As an optional step, you can divide the dough in half to make half a batch of orange almond cookies and save the other half a batch for plain almond cookies. You can skip this step if you plan on making just plain almond cookies. When I made my almond cookies today, I reserved half of the dough for orange almond cookies and the other half for plain almond cookies. The orange almond cookies added a freshness and brightness and complements the plain almond cookies very well.