Cooking Through CHINA - Almond Cookies! (And More!)

When I was in elementary school, we studied China - and ended the unit with a "China party." I remember only two things about our study of China back in fifth grade - the fact that the ancient Chinese had boats called junks (or some such term), and the wonderful taste of the almond cookies that my mom and I bought for me to take to the party. They may have been store-bought, but boy, were they good!

Thus, in our ongoing study of China, I was thrilled to see the recipe for almond cookies come up in our recipe list! Bring 'em on!

These were easy to make, and absolute heaven to eat. And the dough was, if possible, even more delicious than the cookies themselves - I think the kids ate at least a third of the dough before it ever hit the oven.

Some people actually use these as Christmas cookies (like this beautiful and delicious-looking recipe here), and I think that's a great idea! I think I may have found next year's neighbor-gift cookies!!

Give these a try - even if you're not studying China!

(These rated a 5.0 out of 5.0 on our family's recipe rating system, bringing it into a tie for first place with Panda Express Orange Chicken in our "Cooking through CHINA" adventures.)

~ Chinese Almond Cookies ~  We used this recipe from Taste of Home. No modifications - this recipe is perfect as-is! (I did choose to squash them with a wet glass instead of a fork - just a personal preference on appearance.)

Before baking (the 7yo did the cookie-squishing and almond-sprinkling):

After baking (I overdid them just a wee bit):

And (part of) my kitchen, afterward! What a mess!

Last night I really overdid things - two cooking projects, a craft, and a science experiment. Let's say that we were playing catch-up for this week! All in all, the dishes took till after 11:00 p.m., and I was exhausted. Next week I'm doing a better job of spreading our extras out in a more even fashion!

Here are just a couple of the other things that went on here last night:

Pork Fried Rice (Scored 4.8 out of 5.0 on our family rating system) - this is an awesome dish for a quick, economical, everybody-likes-it family meal!

Homemade Paper: Yes, really - it's not raw hamburger. Try this tutorial (I can't find the one we used, but this is similar). We, like that blogger, used kitchen oil screens for forms instead of going to the insanity of making homemade forms from window screen and frames from the hardware store. (If you've got that kind of talent, my hat is off to you. Seriously.)

And... our science experiment for the week, Newton's Bottle. Having DH and DS do their science activity together every week has been a huge success, and we plan to continue this.

Why yes, those ARE our Christmas decorations in the background, still waiting to be put away.
Why do you ask? 

Have a wonderful night and a great Sabbath, everyone!