Chinese Restaurant Almond Cookies

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I made these cookies to accompany a Chinese takeout dinner we had for Father’s Day. We had my in-laws over for dinner and my father-in-law made a comment about how he was surprised that the restaurant gave us such a large platter of cookies. Fooling someone into thinking your cookies are from a restaurant is a pretty nice compliment, am I right?

The story behind the cookie

I love the almond cookies that some Chinese restaurants serve. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen those cookies around in a long time. Is it just me? Twin Dragon Almond Cookies can still be purchased through Amazon. They are produced by JSL Foods Inc. in Los Angeles, California. I don’t think I have had an almond cookie at a restaurant since I moved out of California, so perhaps it’s a regional thing. Californians– are restaurants still serving these cookies?

My Grandma, a southern Californian herself, clipped this recipe from a newspaper. Which would have been one of her two papers, either the Los Angeles Times or the Daily Breeze. There’s no date on the recipe, but a dozen eggs were on sale for 80-cents the day this recipe was published.

How to make ’em

The dough is similar to a shortbread dough, meaning it will be dry. You will begin by the cutting shortening into the dry ingredients. Blend until you get a course crumb consistency (like a biscuit dough). Add beaten egg and almond extract to the mix. You will likely need to finish mixing by hand due to the dry consistency of the dough.

The original recipe directs you to form dough into small balls about the size of a quarter, and flatten them slightly by hand. The cookies won’t rise/spread much so what you shape now is pretty much what you will end up with. So if you follow the original directions, you’ll end up with about 60-70 bite-sized cookies. Let’s be frank. No one is eating just one quarter-sized cookie, so just save yourself some time and effort and make a normal sized cookie. I prefer to use a cookie scoop. You’ll get uniform results and consistent bake times.

Tips:

• Mixing: No electric mixer required. Combine ingredients as directed and use your hands to finish dough, it’ll have a dry, shortbread-like consistency and will be difficult to blend otherwise.
• Shaping: Use a cookie scoop or a spoon to shape into balls, and then flatten slightly by hand. The finished product won’t rise much, if any.
• Almonds: A blanched almond is an almond that has been boiled slightly to remove the skin. The original recipe calls for whole blanched almonds. I had to use slivered blanched almonds because I couldn’t find whole at my grocery store. Avoid using roasted or sliced almonds which may become overcooked.
• Storage: Store in an air-tight container at room temperature. These cookies will keep 3-5 days.