Macau Almond Cookies- Gluten Free for Camp Blogaway!

This weekend, B w/ Corque Blog and I went to Camp Blogaway for a meeting of the minds with about 60 fellow food bloggers in LA!  It was the first event of it's kind that I had gone to, so it was really exciting for me to participate and meet like minded foodies from all around LA, and to listen to advice from some seasoned bloggers.

Anyway, we were asked to bring a Potluck dish for a Competition at the event.  Betty and thought long and hard about the possibilities.  We wanted to do something "different" and gluten free (of course).  We thought that it would be great to bring something that would showcase our Chinese culture... something that others may never have tried before.  So, we decided to bring Macanese Almond Cookies 杏仁餅 (xing ren bing)!  Our favorite ones growing up were from Pastelaria Koi Kei in Macau.  In fact, when our parents go to Hong Kong and Macau each year, this is still our most often requested gift. 

Photo Credit Pastelaria Koi Kei

Without further ado, here is the recipe we used for the cookies.  We found a great recipe online at Feeding the Dragon, and used it for the potluck food competition:

At Camp Blogaway!

Macanese Almond Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups mung bean flour (from Asian Specialty Market)
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup ground almonds, or almond meal from the store
2/3 cup shortening
1 tsp almond extract
2 tbs water
1/4 cups almonds roughly chopped
1 small paper cup (base of the paper cup should be about a 2" diameter), or Cookie mold

Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees.  
2. Use a sharp knife or a pair of scissors to cut the top portion of the paper cup off, leaving only a 1/2" deep cookie mould. Discard the paper scraps.  
3. In a large mixing bowl mix together the flour, sugar, and ground almonds. Using your hands, mix in the shortening until the dough looks like sand.  Add the water and almond extract and continue mixing with your hands until thoroughly mixed. 
4. Place about 5 chopped almond pieces into the paper cup mould.  Over the mixing bowl, press a handful of the dough into mould and use your fingers to pack the dough into the mould and then level it off.   
5. Place the mould upside-down on an ungreased cookie sheet and slowly remove the mould.  Repeat this process with the remaining dough. 
6.  Bake the cookies for 25 mins and then let them cool for 30 minutes before eating.

This recipe is not only gluten free, it's dairy free, egg free and DELICIOUS!  They taste EXACTLY like how we remembered them.  We didn't win the competition, but we did get some positive feedback from folks at Camp Blogaway!