Almond cookies bring joy to holiday table
Family favourite based on recipe with origins in 16th-century China
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/12/2020 (2077 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
When family rivalries take over the kitchen, sometimes a different recipe can help keep the peace.
For Sandra Hirschfeldt, the recipe that sets her apart is for Chinese Almond Cookies, which help provide a bit of variety on the dessert platter at family Christmas gatherings.
“My family does a lot of shortbread and I thought, ‘This is something different,’” says Hirschfeldt, who lives in Fort Richmond with Bob, her husband of 35 years. “I just like trying different things and it looked easy.”
The recipe Hirschfeldt shares for Day 9 of the Free Press’s 12 Days of Christmas Cookies comes from her well-thumbed copy of Company’s Coming Cookies, which was published in 1988.
Company’s Coming’s founder Jean Paré began the popular series back in 1981 by self-publishing her recipes and selling the plastic-coil-bound cookbooks in grocery stores, gas stations and country fairs near her home in Edmonton.
The business has since published more than 200 titles and has sold more than 30 million cookbooks, making Paré’s original venture one of Canada’s greatest entrepreneurial stories.
The cookbook offers no details as to what’s Chinese about the cookies and Hirschfeldt isn’t sure either, except that the almond flavouring and the almond in the centre sets the cookie apart from others.
According to the website Biscuit People, Chinese Almond Cookies go back to 16th-century China, when they were first created in the emperor’s palace as a gift. Commoners also loved them, and the recipe came to North America along with Chinese immigrants in the 1800s.
The almond in the centre represents good luck, the website says.
Bakers can add to their luck by taking some advice from Hirschfeldt, who has made the cookies countless times.
“When you make it up, make sure your dough is not too dry, because you have to form them into balls. If (the dough) gets crumbly, it’s hard to work with. Sometimes you have to add some moisture,” she says. “Sometimes it depends on the size of the egg or if you overmeasured the amount of flour.”
alan.small@freepress.mb.ca
Twitter:@AlanDSmall
Alan Small has been a journalist at the Free Press for more than 22 years in a variety of roles, the latest being a reporter in the Arts and Life section.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Chinese Almond Cookies
For the cookies:
250 ml (1 cup) lard, room temperature
250 ml (1 cup) granulated sugar
1 large egg
10 ml (2 tsp) almond flavouring
625 ml (2 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour
5 ml (1 tsp) baking powder
5 ml (1 tsp) salt
For the topping:
48 blanched almonds
1 egg
15 ml (1 tbsp) water
Cream the lard and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat in 1 egg and the almond flavouring.
Stir the flour, baking powder and salt together and add them to the wet ingredients. Mix the batter together. Roll into 48 balls and arrange them on lightly greased baking sheets.
Place a whole almond in the centre of each ball and press to partially flatten the ball.
Beat 1 egg with water and brush the egg-and-water mixture over the cookies.
Bake in 180 C (350 F) oven for 8 to 12 minutes until the cookies are lightly browned.
The recipe makes 48 cookies.
Alan Small has been a journalist at the Free Press for more than 22 years in a variety of roles, the latest being a reporter in the Arts and Life section.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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