Almond Cookies

Last week was the Chinese Mid Autumn Festival, the story/myth behind it, I can't really remember, but it's definitely a time to celebrate with the whole family. That usually means big feast and mooncake. Personally I'm not a big fan of mooncake, because I don't quite like the lotus paste, neither do I like egg yolk, and that's basically the entire ingredients in the mooncake! And the more modern style iced-skin mooncake is not my cup of tea either, I don't mind it - at least it doesn't have the two ingredients that I don't like in it!! But I reckon the outer skin has a funny texture, if the skin was a bit more chewier then it would be better.... hahaha... yes.. I'm fussy with my food! Overall... my conclusion is I prefer the Japanese mochi with ice-cream filling! =P

I remember when I was little, my grandma used to use the pomelo skin and turn it into a lantern for me! Very creative hey! She would lightly score the skin into 4 sections, and take the flesh out carefully without breaking the skin into pieces, and replace it with a candle inside. Then use some string and tie the top back together, and use a wooden chopstick to hang it up! The light of the candle would seep through the gaps in between the 4 pedals of skin. It was kind of like Kinder Surprise, 3 wishes in one - something to eat, something to play with and something to surprise me with. Pomelo is probably my favourite food in the Mid Autumn Festival menu!!!! Ashamed that you don't get it that often here in Syd, and it's quite expensive compared to Hong Kong!!!

Back to the almond cookies topic! For the last 3 years, my church has turned Mid-Autumn Festival into a evangelistic event. And we have been organising a celebration night with dinner/talk/games/hymn praising at our church worship center which holds approx. 140 people for a sit down dinner. Believe it or not, every year the tickets get sold out within 2 weeks! And all the food on the night were made by our fellow brother and sister with chicken, fish, prawns, veges, beef, pork and rice on the menu this year, plus dessert and fruit, all made by our masterchefs at church! On the night in the church kitchen, we had 3 masterchefs, 6 kitchen hands, and 6 waiters/waitress ready to serve!

On the night I was one of the kitchen hands, and I was also responsible to prepare one variety of the dessertssss for the night. Thanks to Christy who helped out with the other desserts!!! =)

I had to think of something that I can make in large quantity without too much fuss and can be made beforehand without going stale. I know that Christy was gonna make the Chinese red bean pudding, and chrysanthemum jelly, so I've decided to bake some Chinese Almond Cookies.

Makes 30

Ingredients:

250g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

150g butter

100g caster sugar

1 egg

1 tsp almond essence

20g almond flakes

30 whole natural almonds

1. Cream the butter together with sugar. Add in egg and almond essence and beat continuously.

2. Sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda into a bowl. Add in almond flakes. Combine the mixture into the creamed butter using a spatula.

3. The mixture should turn into a dough, then wrap it up with glad wrap and refrigerate for 30min - 1hr.

4. Divide the dough into 30 portions, and roll into a round ball. Push a almond into the top of each ball of mixture to flatten it slightly.

5. Arrange the dough on a lined baking tray (remember to leave room in between each dough to allow it to spread), and bake for 15 min in a pre-heated oven at 170C.

6. Let the cookies to cool on tray for about 10 min before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

I actually omitted the almond essence in my batches because I don't really like the fake almond taste. So feel free to omit it if you are like me, and add in more almond flakes if you wish!

These cookies have a real crunch to it with a buttery taste. But be careful while eating it because it crumbs as soon as you bite into it! If your mouth is large enough, I suggest that you eat it all in one go! hahaha...

The Mid-Autumn Evangelistic Night was a big success! We had 50+ new comers on the night, and everyone, including the 20+ helpers who worked endlessly with sweat throughout the night seemed to enjoy every bits of the night. Thank you God for everything! =)