X for XIAODIANXIN – Chinese Almond Cookies – Day 24

This was one tough letter. There are only a few dishes that begin with the letter X and even fewer that are baked and native to a particular country. I had only two choices - Xiaodianxin which means Cookie in Chinese or any X-mas Cake. I chose to do the cookie and made Chinese Almond Cookies.

X for XIAODIANXIN – CHINA

Chinese Almond cookies are eaten during the Lunar New Year. They are shaped liked coins and symbolize good luck, hence people make or buy these coin-shaped cookies. Made with almond meal/flour these are crumbly rich cookies.

I made my own Almond flour with blanched almonds. I weighed the quantity of blanched almonds needed and then pulsed it with the quantity of sugar in the recipe. If you pulse almonds without the sugar it will turn to butter! So always pulse it with sugar/powdered sugar. You can use Almond meal too which is made with raw almonds and the meal is coarse with specks of brown in it.

The original recipe has egg yolk in it, I decided to leave it out and make these eggless instead. I stuck to the recipe with no other changes and these turned out absolutely melt-in-the-mouth.

You will need:

Makes: 24-26 cookies (half recipe as stated below)

Recipe adapted from here

60 gms blanched almonds (to make the almond flour)

90 gms All-purpose flour

60 gms Granulated sugar

1/8 tsp salt

½ tsp Baking powder

½ tsp Baking soda

75 ml Vegetable oil

Unsalted almonds (to top the cookies)

Preheat oven to 350F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine all the dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on low. Add the vegetable oil and continue to beat on low until the mixture forms a dough. If the mixture looks crumbly, add a teaspoon of oil at a time until it comes together.

Pinch small pieces of dough and roll into a bowl. Press an almond in the center of the ball, place this on the lined baking sheet. Continue with remaining dough. Bake cookies for 15-18 minutes. 

Cool for 10 minutes on baking sheet and then transfer to a rack carefully and cool completely. Store in air-tight container for up to a week.

BAKES FROM AROUND THE WORLD: 

A for ANZAC BISCUITS - AUSTRALIA

B for BASBOUSA - EGYPT

C for CHOCOLATE ECLAIRS - FRANCE

D for DAMPER BREAD - AUSTRALIA

E for EMPANADAS - MEXICO

F for FLAN MEXICANO - MEXICO

G for GRISSINI BREADSTICKS - ITALY

H for HOT MILK SPONGE CAKE - USA

I for INDIAN LADI PAV - INDIA 

J for JOULUTORTTU - FINLAND

K for KORVAPUUSTI - FINLAND

L for LEMON SPRITZ SANDWICH COOKIES - GERMANY

M for MACARONS - FRANCE
N for NANKHATAI - INDIA
O for ORANGE OGURA CAKE - MALAYSIA
P for PINCA - CROATIA
Q for QUICK BREAD - STRAWBERRY PECAN BREAD - USA

R for RIGÓ JANCSI - HUNGARY
S for SCONES - UK
T for TOTTENHAM CAKE - ENGLAND
U for UGNSPANNKAKA - SWEDEN 

V for VIENNESE FINGERS - AUSTRIA

W for WHOLE WHEAT HERB BREAD - ITALY

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 75

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