Chinese Almond Cookies are simple, crisp, buttery, and full of almond flavor. This recipe is a perfect treat to make for Lunar New Year!
These Chinese Almond Cookies are one of the easiest cookie recipes I’ve tried. All you need is simply combine all the ingredients in a bowl, roll into small balls, and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. The cookies are crisp, buttery, and full of almond flavor!
Chinese Almond Cookies for the Lunar New Year!
In Japan, we celebrate the New Year on January 1st (read more). As I married a Taiwanese American husband, I started to celebrate Lunar New Year as well. Since the holiday is a regular day here in the U.S., we typically go out to eat at Chinese restaurants to celebrate with his family and friends instead of cooking up a storm like most families do in Asia.
One exception is I make these almond cookies. I learned from my Chinese blogger friends in Asia that these traditional Chinese almond cookies are enjoyed during the Lunar New Year. Almond cookies symbolize coins so people make or buy these cookies to bring good fortune.
Almond cookies have a crisp bite and sandy crumbly texture. When you bite, almond meal/flour and almonds on top give really nice almond flavor in your mouth. And these cookies are delightful with a cup of tea or coffee.
Almond Meal vs. Almond Flour
You can use either almond meal or almond flour in today’s recipe. But what is the difference?
Almond meal and almond flour both consist of ground almonds, but here is the difference.
- Almond meal is coarsely ground and made from almonds with their skins.
- Almond flour is finely ground and made from blanched almonds without skins. Other names for almond flour are powdered almonds and almond powder.
The obvious difference is in how they look. Almond meal is speckled with bits of almond skin while the blanched almond flour is creamy tan.
The almond meal that I use for today’s recipe is from Trader Joe’s (you see the bits of dark almond skin), but Bob’s Red Mill has both types (Natural Almond Meal vs Almond Meal/Flour).
If you’re wondering if you can skip the all-purpose flour and use 100% almond meal or almond flour for these Chinese almond cookies, I would not recommend so. You have to include the all-purpose flour to make these almond cookies. You could add a few drops of the almond extract for even more intense almond taste.
Serve these cookies for the upcoming Chinese New Year and if you celebrate this holiday. I hope you have a wonderful celebration with your family and friends.
新年快乐 (Xin Nian Kuai Le)!
Happy New Year!
恭喜發財 (Gong Xi Fa Cai)!
Wishing you a prosperous new year!
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Almond Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup almond meal/flour (if you use almond meal (ground almonds with skin), you may need to add more oil, so adjust the amount as you mix the dough)
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour (plain flour) (weigh your flour; for weights, click the Metric button; or use the “fluff and sprinkle“ method and level it off)
- 120 g sugar (½ cup + 2 Tbsp)
- ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ cup neutral oil (or more, as needed, to form the dough into balls)
- roasted unsalted almonds (optional; for decoration)
- 1 large egg yolk
Instructions
- Before You Start: I highly encourage you to weigh your ingredients using a kitchen scale for this recipe. For weights, click the Metric button above. If you‘re using a cup measure, please follow the “fluff and sprinkle“ method: Fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and level it off. Otherwise, you may scoop more than you need.
- Gather all the ingredients. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). For a convection oven, reduce the cooking temperature by 25ºF (15ºC).
To Make the Dough
- Combine all the dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer: 1 cup almond meal/flour, 1½ cups all-purpose flour (plain flour), 120 g sugar (½ cup + 2 Tbsp), ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, 1 tsp baking powder, and 1 tsp baking soda. Fit your mixer with a beater attachment and mix on low-medium speed.
- Slowly add ½ cup neutral oil and mix until a cohesive dough forms.
- The dough should be just moist enough to hold its shape when you roll it into a ball. If it looks too crumbly, add 2–3 tsp (10–15 ml) neutral oil at a time until it‘s the right consistency.
To Shape the Cookies
- Weigh and divide the dough into 0.4 oz, 10 g pieces for 1-inch (2.5-cm) cookies or 0.7 oz, 20 g pieces for 1½-inch (3.8-cm) cookies. After weighing the pieces, roll each into a ball with your palms. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and repeat until you‘ve rolled all the dough. Tip: You can make a 10-gram ball using a teaspoon measuring spoon.
- If you want to put roasted unsalted almonds on the cookies (optional), hold a cookie ball in your palm and gently press one almond into the dough.
- Beat 1 large egg yolk in a small bowl. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the top of the cookie balls with the egg yolk.
To Bake
- Bake at 350ºF (180ºC) for 15–20 minutes, or until the cookies become slightly golden. Let them cool on a wire rack before serving. Enjoy!
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store on the countertop for 4–5 days or in the freezer for a month.
Notes
- Fluff up the flour several times with a spoon.
- Using the spoon, sprinkle the flour into your dry-cup measure.
- Scrape off the excess with a knife.
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on February 10, 2013. The content has been updated with more information in January 2017.
Hi’Nami! Can the dough be freezed and stored for months?
Hi Jenny! Hmmm I haven’t tried that before so I can’t tell… sorry!
Hi Nami:
Just need a clarification regarding the amount of granulated sugar. The recipe calls for 2/3 cup – 1 Tbsp. Does that mean 2/3 cup + 1 tbsp? Can’t wait to make it. Thanks.
Hi Christina! 120 grams of sugar is 2/3 cup minus 1 Tbsp. In other words, scant 2/3 cup sugar. 🙂 Hope you enjoy this recipe!
Ah that makes sense. I don’t know why I thought it was a hyphen instead of reading it as “minus”. Thank you Nami. Now that’s cleared up, I’ll be making them soon.
Hi Christina! I’m sorry, probably not the best way to write it… I try to make it simple, but I’m glad you asked the question. 🙂 Hope you enjoy!
No worries it’s my careless reading. Just baked them today and the kitchen smelled so wonderful. My dough wasn’t crumbling but more on the overly oily side. Also my finished almond cookies so fragile that they get “damaged” -flaky when you try to move them. They look decent but with many cracks. Basically look but don’t touch. Can you give suggestions on where I went wrong?
Hi Christina! I assume you used cup measurements (from our previous conversation).
I found one mistake in my recipe. AP flour I wrote 1 1/4 cup. 1 cup is 120 grams if you measure it correctly, so 180 grams will be 1 1/2 cup.
You probably know how to measure the flour correctly, but in case someone reads this, I will leave the method here so your 1 1/2 cup is not over 180 g.
***
A properly measured cup of all purpose flour weighs 4.25 oz (120 g). The weight for 1 cup of all-purpose flour varies depends on how you measure it. When you measure flour by volume, please follow the methods below. I’ve tested this method many times, and if you do it properly, 1 cup is VERY close to 120 g each time.
Fluff up the flour several times with a spoon.
Using the spoon, sprinkle the flour into your dry-cup measure (the one that measures exactly a cup at the top).
Scrape off the excess with a knife.
___
I apologize for my typo. I hope if the flour is increased a little bit it might help? A cup measurement varies depends on how you measure it, so it’s a bit tricky…
I’m so glad that you figured out it was the flour issue.
I was being lazy so didn’t weigh the ingredients. (One thing less to put away after washing & cleaning up.) I think I’ll use the scale in the future.
Btw, by morning the cookies were more solid to the touch and still very tasty. Hurray for delicious JOC almond cookies!
Glad to hear that. Thanks for letting me know! 🙂
Hi Nami,
You cannot imagine that as a Chinese living in Australia, how excited I was when biting into the cute almond cookie which was made from your recipe. The base is really versatile and it is a traditional cookie dough in China, and I finally know how to make it. I devided the dough into two parts and added some chopped peanuts in one part of the cookie dough which turned out so great too. Huge thanks for your recipes and watching your videos has become my weekly routine(depending on how often you uploaded videos????). Hope you could make more recipes for hungry Asian people like me????????
Hi Mengxi! I’m sorry for my late response. Thank you for your kind feedback and I’m so happy to hear you liked the recipe! I’ll try to keep up uploading videos. I’m traveling in Japan/Taiwan now so it’ll be slow a little bit this summer. Thank you again! 🙂
Love the flavor of these cookies, they are so rich and nutty. However, I used avocado oil instead of vegetable oil; the mix was lumpy and hard to roll into ball shapes; and the cookies just fall apart when picked up. Is it because avocado oil does not bind the ingredient well?
Hi Grace! I have never used avocado oil before (it looks like it’s getting more popular!) so it’s very hard for me to say…
Hi Nami, I simply love all your recipes!!! these cookies look delicious! 🙂
Hi Valentina! Thank you so much for your kind words! 🙂
Hi Nami,
I have been baking these cookies for a few months now and they are awesome! Thankyou so much, I am gluten free so I use all purpose gluten free flour and they are still fantastic. Cheers, Toni
Hi Toni! I’m so happy to hear that. Thank you so much for trying this recipe. Good to know all-purpose GF flour works with this recipe. Thank you for your kind feedback! 🙂
I just made these, but changed the oil for the same amount of unsweetened applesauce, the flour for a nutri-blend by robin hood and changed the sugar out for 4 and a half tbsp of Truvia sweetner.
They turned out fabulous and a lot less bad for you!
Thanks for the great recipe!
Hi Aldina! I’m glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe and made it into healthier version! 🙂 Thanks so much for your feedback and sharing your tip! 🙂
Surprisingly mine didnt crumble once they were cold. I did not have my glasses and instead of putting 1 teaspoon of baking powder – I added 1 tablespoon of baking powder – I took out tiny bit but left it as it. Maybe thats the reason they dont crumble :). Thank you
I made it yesterday. I had pre-soaked almonds in skin. It was divine. You are right you have to wait till it cools down. I have many cook books / recipes in my cupboard but your recipe (cooked 4 so far) have all come out so good and I can share them. I am so happy and it has given me motivation to try something new. Thank you so much for writing in details and sharing. May you always have happiness. I wish I could post the photos of what I cooked after learning from you 🙂 Maya
Hi Maya! I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed my recipes including these cookies. Thank you for your kind feedback. If you take pictures of food using my recipes, please upload to my facebook fan page. I usually share fan’s food photos (of my recipes) there and readers love seeing how others cook. Hope to see your creation! 🙂
Hey, just wanted to thank you for this recipe! I just got done with baking and cookies are super yummy! I like that the recipe was so easy to read and follow and that cookies aren’t too sweet, just perfect! 🙂
Yuli
Hi Yuli! I’m so happy you liked it. Asian cookies are not too sweet, which is always my favorite. 🙂 Thank you so much for your feedback!
After making your coconut macaroons (amazing) I came to this recipe to use up the egg white. The batter is sooooo good that it’s almost a shame to bake them. In the oven now and I can’t imagine these lasting for very long. I am really loving all of the recipes that I have tried from your blog. Thank you again for your generosity! 🙂
Hi Brenda! I’m so happy to hear you liked the coconut macaroons (I made pineapple cakes and now got 3 egg whites, so coconut macaroons I guess? :D).
Did you like these Chinese cookies? It’s salty and little sweet. Kind of unique flavor. I’m now used to more Chinese food/dessert so I enjoy the taste, but it’s a bit different from Western style cookies I suppose.
Thank you so much for your feedback and I am happy to hear you like my recipes. Your kind comment made my day. Thank you!
I made these last night for my little brothers, to put in their lunch-boxes today. They’re still at school, so I don’t know what they think of them yet 🙂 I had one this morning and it was so tasty! But is the sugar supposed to be crunchy in these cookies? If not, I might try using a finer grain of sugar (the one I used was really coarse white sugar).
Hi Noora! Wow you are so fast! 🙂 I didn’t expect my children would enjoy these but they surprised me. They ate quite a bit but I finished most of them while they were in school… 😀
Sugar shouldn’t be crunchy. It’s more like sand texture (fine texture). I’m afraid your sugar was a bit coarse one (I have that kind too). Thank you so much for your feedback!
I use to have an “amaretto di Sassello” (wich is a soft almond cookie in this case, not a shot of liqueur…) every day after lunch with a cup of expresso. I love it! Now I’ll try your recipe too.
Happy Lunar new year to you and your family Nami!
Thank you Serena! Happy Lunar New Year to you and your family too! Oh I bet your Amaretto di Sassello was delicious with a cup of good espresso… hmm nice! I hope you will like this recipe as much as my family did! 🙂
These look yummy! Thanks for posting, Nami ! Where can I find almond meal? I don’t have a Traders Joe close where I live. & what kind of almonds do you use for decorating the cookies? Thanks!!
Hi Grace! You can find it at a regular grocery store. My closest store carries Bob’s Red Mill Almond Meal/Flour. Hope you can find something like this brand.
http://www.bobsredmill.com/almond-meal-flour.html
For almonds, I used roasted unsalted almonds. I’ll update in my recipe. Thank you for asking!
Thanks these look delicious. I’m going to try making them with gluten free flour and minus the egg-yolk glaze. My partner has allergies.
Will let you know how they turn out.
Hello Fiona! I hope you and your partner will enjoy this recipe. 🙂 Thank you for writing!
Oh my god I think I finally found an authentic recipe that uses neutral tasting oils instead of those foul smelling “lard, not butter” recipes. Furthermore this one uses real almond flour and not gross weird imitation almond flavoring, THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Hi JustAnotherVisitor, Thank you very much for your kind feedback! We are glad to hear you like this recipe!