Eggless Chinese Almond Cookies

For the Baking Partners Group Challenge, Swathi shared with us four cookies recipes from around the world. The Chinese Almond Cookies were suggested by Suja of Kitchen Corner Try It. As usual I made it into an eggless recipe and it turned out wonderful. Though it didn't seem like the original cookies, they were so delicious. The addition of almond paste gives it a rich texture and I also added some blanched chopped almonds to give some crunch in the cookies. I rolled out the cookies in cinnamon sugar and it gave a nice flavour to the cookies. I did some alterations in the cookie recipe.

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour-2 1/2 cups

Baking Powder-1 1/2 tsp

Butter-3/4 cup + 1 tbs

Sugar-3/4 cup

Almond Paste-1/2 cup

Salt-1/4 tsp

Almond Extract-1/2 tsp

Curd-1/3 cup

Almonds-1/2 cup

Procedure:

1. Mix flour, baking powder, salt and blanched and chopped almonds.

2. Mix well.

3. Add chilled butter and mix together to for bread crumb like flour.

4. Add sugar, almond paste and mix.

5. Add curd and almond essence and make a sticky dough.

6. Refrigerate for atleast 1 hour.

7. Pinch small portions of the dough, roll into a ball, slightly flatten it and dip it in cinnamon sugar. The cinnamon sugar must coat only one side of the cookie.

8. Place the sugar side up on a baking tray and place some chopped almonds in the centre. Leave 2" in between each cookie.

9. Preheat oven to 175C.

10. Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes or until the base is golden.

11. Remove and cool on wire rack.

12. Store in airtight jar. Enjoy!!