Lunar New Year Almond Cookies #Recipe by @LibbyKlein #Gluten-Free #LunarNewYear

  Libby Klein Today is Lunar New Year. A sixteen day celebration which you know I can really get behind another holiday right after Christmas. I'm willing to celebrate just about anything. In the Chinese culture, 2025 is the year of the snake. 😐 Apparently the snake represents wisdom and transformation, and an opportunity to grow and change. That last part tracks because the last time I saw a snake in my yard I thought we'd have to change addresses. 

One thing you'll see  in many a celebration of Lunar New Year is Chinese Almond Cookies. Almond cookies represent good fortune as they're supposed to look like coins. We used to get these wonderful almond cookies at the Dragon House in Wildwood, NJ when I was growing up. I had no idea they were for a special holiday. I played around with a couple recipes to make my own Chinese Almond Cookies, and this shortbread version was my favorite and tasted the closest to what I remembered.

Chinese Almond Cookies
Yield 15 cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup gluten free flour (or All Purpose flour)

½ cup almond meal

¼ teaspoon salt

1 stick unsalted butter, softened 

½ cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 egg yolk

15-20 whole blanched almonds

Directions:

You don't need to preheat your oven yet.
In a small bowl, combine flour, almond meal, and salt. Set aside

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the almond extract and mix well. Add the egg yolk.

Add the dry ingredients until just combined. 

Roll into 15 balls (a little smaller than a cake pop or golf ball) and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Flatten each ball with the palm of your hand and add a blanched almond to the center. I said 15-20 blanched almonds just in case you got to this point and had extras.

Set the cookie sheet in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Chilling will keep the cookies from spreading too thin. 

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

NOW take the cookie sheet out and place it in the preheated oven. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the edges are browning.
Let cool on the pan for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Once cool, the cookies get nice and crispy and the almond meal makes them a little crumbly which I like.

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Libby Klein grew up in Cape May, NJ where she attended high school in the '80s. Her 
classes revolved mostly around the Culinary sciences and Drama, with one brilliant semester in Poly-Sci that may have been an accident. She loves to drink coffee, bake gluten-free goodies, collect fluffy cats, and translate sarcasm for people who are too serious. She writes from her Northern Virginia office where she serves a very naughty black smoke Persian named Sir Figaro Newton. You can keep up with her shenanigans by signing up for her Mischief and Mayhem Newsletter on her website. www.LibbyKleinBooks.com/Newsletter/