Portuguese Cookies That Taste Chinese – from the Gourmet Cookie Book

The hardest part of making these cookies is not eating the cookie dough.   It’s right up there with chocolate chip cookie dough.

When I bought the ingredients, the check-out clerk commented – You are making Asian style cookies? But The Gourmet Cookie Book has them listed as Portuguese – “Almond Bolas” from the 1970s.  They taste like macaroons to me (raw or cooked), but no coconut in this recipe.

So easy…

With my new Christmas present-to-me Cuisinart mini-food processor, I ground 3 cups of blanched almonds, combining with 1 1/2 cups Japanese Panko bread crumbs and 1 1/2 cups superfine sugar.  After whipping up 3 egg whites until stiff peaks formed ( with my other present-to-me 7-speed hand mixer),   I gently folded in egg whites and 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract.

That’s it – no butter, no flour.

Form tablespoons of dough into balls; place balls on buttered baking sheet.  Make a dent in the middle (shaping the cookie around your thumbprint).

In a separate bowl, beat the 3 egg yolks with an additional egg.  Fill the cookie hollows with the 1/2 teaspoon beaten egg, topped with almond slivers (or whole almond).  Top one cookie at a time to catch the yolk mixture before it seeps into the dough.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 12-15 minutes, or until cookies are golden.    Cool on wire rack.

The Chinese year 4709 – Year of the Rabbit –  begins on Feb. 3, 2011.  These cookies will not last until then – too good.