Healthy vegan almond cookies (Gung Hay Fat Choy)

Gung Hay Fat Choy, friends! Or, Xi Nian Kwai Le if you prefer. Today heralds the Year of the Ox, known for strength, reliability, honesty, steadfastness, and conscientiousness. Here’s hoping, right? Whatever the new lunar year may bring, we’re welcoming it with open hearts…and in our house, happy tummies.

Growing up, my sisters and I loved almond cookies. Sweet, crunchy, and loaded with sugar, plus a fair scoop or so of hygrogenated oils, I think. This year, feeling nostalgic I wanted to share some almond cookie love with Chef F, but without the junk. As with every holiday cookie tradition, we turned to my favorite Grain-Free Sugar Cookie recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie and came up with this simple and delightful riff. Maybe all the time passed has dulled my memory, but I do love this quick concoction even more than the original, and it’s so much more wholesome. As a bonus, you get to blanch almonds.

Cooking with kids is always a joyful jaunt in chemistry, but blanching almonds together for these cookies was a first. Something about the nuts’ speedy transformation, the softening and popping out of skins under the light pressure of a pinch… it was delightfully satisfying and giggle-worthy. All you do is lightly boil water, toss in raw almonds for roughly a minute, spoon them out and run them under cold water, then—pop! Squeeze them out and admire the ivory nakedness of them.

This simple dough comes together in minutes, requiring same or less to roll into balls, pressing a blanched almond on top while lightly flattening. Then, there’s the typically short baking time, plus a little extra to cool, enough to play a game. Creating, baking, game playing—we’re all smiles for you, Ox. Come play.

xo

Vegan, Gluten-free Almond Cookies
Yield: 12-14 cookies

• 1 1/2 Cups almond flour

• 1/4+ Cup gluten-free flour (I like Bob’s Red Mill 1-2 Blend best, but quinoa and rice flours work well, too)

• 1/2 Teaspoon baking powder

• 1 Tablespoon psyllium husk powder

• 1/4 Cup maple syrup

• 1/4 Cup olive oil

• a few drops almond extract

• blanched almonds

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Mix all ingredients through extract in a bowl to form a dough.
Sprinkle a little extra flour as needed if sticky, and roll into approximately 12 equal balls. Flatten slightly with your palm and press a blanched almond into the center of each. Bake 12-15 minutes or until cookies are becoming golden brown. Let cool before eating. Enjoy!