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These Chinese almond cookies are a traditional cookie said to bring good fortune in the New Year. They’re also fragrant and buttery, with the most irresistible almond flavor!
Chinese New Year is coming up, so I thought I’d share a traditional Chinese cookie with you. These little almond cookies symbolize coins, so they’re often enjoyed during the New Year to bring good fortune. But they’re eaten year-round too!
Growing up, we would have these almond cookies when they were gifted to us or whenever my parents just happened to buy them at the grocery store. They have a distinct almond flavor and a satisfying crunch, which made them one of my favorite Asian snacks as a child.
If you’ve never had these cookies before, they remind me of shortbread. They’re more crunchy and less crumbly than shortbread cookies, though, and of course, they have loads of almond flavor because they’re made with almond extract, flour, and sliced almonds. (All of these almond ingredients also make these cookies smell amazing!)
This Chinese New Year, I’m planning on making a batch of these cookies, along with some of my other traditional Chinese favorites like scallion pancakes [葱油饼] and mantou 饅頭 [Chinese steamed buns].
What You’ll Need
As you can see from the ingredient list below, almonds are the star of the show here, but butter is definitely a supporting player! It makes these almond cookies rich and, well, buttery!
- Almond flour – Be sure to buy almond flour, not almond meal. Almond meal is not as finely ground.
- Unsalted butter
- Kosher salt
- Eggs
- Almond extract – Almond extract is magic. Don’t skip it and don’t substitute it with vanilla! It’s key to the flavor in these almond cookies.
- All-purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Baking soda
- Sliced almonds
How to Make Chinese Almond Cookies
This recipe doesn’t require all that much active time, but you will need to include 2 hours of inactive time for the dough to chill.
Combine the dry ingredients. Whisk the flour, sugar, and baking soda in a medium bowl.
Make the dough. Combine the almond flour, butter, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on low for 3 minutes, then beat in one of the eggs and the almond extract. Add the dry ingredients and beat until just combined.
Chill the dough. Turn the dough out onto plastic wrap and pat it into a disc. Wrap well and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
Prepare. Preheat your oven to 325ºF and line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Beat the reserved egg in a small bowl.
Form the cookies. Take pieces of dough and roll them into one-inch wide balls. Place these balls on the prepared baking sheet and gently press them down with your palm to flatten them into coin shapes. Brush the tops with egg wash, then press a sliced almond into the center.
Bake. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until the almond cookies are golden. Cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then finish cooling on wire racks before storing or serving.
Tips for Success
Here are some tips and tricks for making Chinese almond cookies.
- Getting a head start. You can keep the dough in the fridge for a day or two before you bake these cookies. The dough can also be frozen for up to 2 months.
- Don’t make a lot of tweaks. Normally, I encourage you to change things up to your tastes, but this is a recipe that depends on these specific ingredients. If you swap the almonds for pecans or the almond extract for vanilla, it’s not going to taste like almond cookies!
- About the almonds. You can use either blanched almonds, which have the skin removed before slicing, or natural sliced almonds, which still have the skin on. I don’t recommend using whole almonds because they kind of dominate and distract, rather than complementing the other ingredients.
How to Store Chinese Almond Cookies
Store these cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
Can This Recipe Be Frozen?
Yes, you can place almond cookies in a freezer bag or airtight container and freeze them for up to 3 months. Let them thaw at room temperature before you eat them.
Chinese Almond Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cup (149 g) almond flour, lightly packed
- 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes
- Pinch of kosher salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 ¾ cup (219 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (200 g) + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- Sliced almonds
Instructions
- Place the almond flour, butter, and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Beat on low speed for 3 minutes. The mixture will be coarse and chunky looking.1 1/3 cup (149 g) almond flour, 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter, Pinch of kosher salt
- Add one of the eggs, reserving one for later, and the almond extract. Beat together until just incorporated.2 eggs, 1 teaspoon almond extract
- Whisk together flour, sugar, and baking soda in a medium bowl and add to the stand mixer. Mix until just combined.1 3/4 cup (219 g) all-purpose flour, 1 cup (200 g) + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- Pour mixture out onto saran wrap and form into a disc. Wrap it up and chill in the fridge for 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 325 °F (163 °C) and line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Beat the egg you saved in a small bowl and have a pastry brush ready.
- Take pieces of dough and roll them into balls, about 1 inch wide. Place on the prepared baking sheet and gently press them down with your palms to flatten into coin shapes.
- Take your pastry brush and brush the tops of the cookies generously with the egg wash then place a sliced almond on top, pressing gently to keep it in place.Sliced almonds
- Bake for 15-17 minutes or until the cookies start to turn a dark golden color on top.
- Remove and let cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
I work in a care home and we are doing this around the world cruise theme..this week we are in China. I really would like to make these because they sound great and I think the residents would like them. the recipe has the options of 1x or 2x or 3x. However if you click on the 3x the ingredients change but the method is still stuck on 1x..
How many eggs do I use if I wanted to do the recipe 3x?
yes, only the ingredients change, and as you can see, if you click 3X, it changes the egg amount to 6 eggs. i would add in 5 eggs where the recipe says to add the egg then reserve one egg for later for the brushing!
@Zippy, thank you for asking this I was curious about it too!
Amazing recipe, I did need 4tbl spoons more of butter but everything else worked exact and the results were delicious and consistent with the flavor of the ones from the buffet. ❤️❤️❤️❤️
These cookies were awesome for Chinese New Year’s. My husband loved them! I ran out of almonds to add on top and added some chopped cashews. He LOVED those too. I did follow others advice to let it bake for 20 minutes and that was perfect. Simple, easy recipe. Definitely adding to my pinterest account ☺️
A few notes from someone who used to bake professionally:
—Butter that is colder than room temp fine. No need to have rock-cold cubes.
—Use a spring-form COOKIE SCOOP to ball out the dough BEFORE CHILLING. Line the balls together on whatever sheet tray or plate that will fit in your fridge. I’m sure that will save a lot of novice bakers some stress. You can do this (rather should do this :) for all your drop cookie dough. I do! :) Very efficient pro tip.
—One hour of chilling time is more than fine. Longer is totally fine. Yes you can freeze the dough balls and de-frost for later baking.
—Since I made it easy on myself and portioned the dough already, just place the cold dough balls on your parchment’d baking sheet while the oven reaches temp.
—I used three slices of almond on top pointed in the center like a star-ish shape. that’s just preference of course.
—painting the egg wash on the sides is also important.
—to get some semblance of golden brown edges, I had to bake for a minimum of 20 minutes (it might have been a couple minutes longer, too). But that’s just me; everyone’s ovens are different. Keep it at 325°F; it aids in the development of gradual chewiness and crackly top as it bakes. Chewy yet crumbly yet shortbread like; perfect.
OTHERWISE, heh, these are so simple to make and so pleasing to eat and look at. The full tsp of almond extract is KEY for that nostalgic flavor. I’m glad I found this recipe. Thank you!
Can I use all Almond Flour instead of Almond Flour and All Purpose Flour? Thank you.
no, unfortunately you cannot
Fine recipe with two exceptions. Forget the egg wash. No Chinese restaurant almond cookie you ever had had an egg wash coating. It’s not only inauthentic, it browns before the cookie and you have to take out the cookie before it’s thoroughly done. It should be crisp all the way through without being brown. Without the egg you can cook the cookie through for three more minutes. 20 minutes.
The next thing is the kosher salt. Where that idea came from is a mystery. Salt in a sweet recipe Is merely to round out the flavor and should not be detectable. Kosher salt has large grains. You can actually taste the salt if the grains wind up on your tongue because the grain is so large. NEVER use kosher salt in sweet recipes where the salt will not be dissolved. And even then don’t use it. It’s just a stupid fad. Save it for a steak. Other than these two things it’s a great recipe.
@Robert Lee, Diamond Crystal brand kosher salt are fine flakes. If you don’t have that, just double up on regular table salt. Not a stupid fad; most professional cooks and bakers actually solely use kosher salt.
And at 325°F no cookie with an egg wash will burn. The temperature is simply not high enough.
@Susan, I don’t know why others struggle with it but I followed this recipe to the T with almond flour numerous times and they always turned out perfect! So, so light and airy. The egg wash has never been a problem. It adds another level to the appearance and a mild toasty flavor. It’s pretty boring without it.
I couldn’t find almond flour. Is it possible to only use all purpose flour?
no, unfortunately not
This was such a great recipe. And tasted just like the ones I ate as kid. Follows the recipe basically to a T. Just before chilling I formed a rectangle of sorts, that ways later i can just evenly divide into squares cut out and form into ball (I hope that made sense). I love to bake but I have a disability, and making cookies tend to be a lot of work for me. But this was so simple, and come out perfectly.
What can I substitute for butter? Thanks
It’s the main ingredient of this recipe and I haven’t tested it with any other fat so unfortunately, nothing.
@Hazel, you can try lard. A lot of classic Chinese baked goods use lard. The Nom Wah cookbook uses lard in their Chinese almond cookies and the Chinese language cookbooks I’ve seen also usually use lard. (Nom Wah is in NYC and is Chinatown’s oldest restaurant.)
Brilliant.