Chinese Macau-Style Mung Bean Almond Cookies

Chinese Macau-Style Mung Bean Almond Cookies

A classic Chinese New Year cookie, Macau Mung Bean Almond Cookies are crumbly, lightly sweet, and full of almond flavor. 

Ingredients

• 180 g mung bean flour
• 80 g rice flour
• 60 g almond flour
• 60 g icing sugar (powdered sugar)
• 50 g butter, room temp
• 50 g coconut oil, room temp
• ¼ tsp almond extract

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 200F.
• Add mung bean flour, rice flour, and almond flour to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place in the preheated oven to lightly toast the flours, stirring intermittently, for about 20 mins.
• Remove the flours from oven and let cool. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, sift together the cooled mung bean flour, rice flour, almond flour, with the icing sugar.
• In a separate bowl, cream together the softened butter and coconut oil with a fork. Add in the almond extract.
• Add the butter mixture into the flour mixture, and gently mix until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Spritz the mixture with some water.
• Gather a small bit of the flour mixture in your hands and clump it together -- if it holds together, then it’s ready. If it’s too crumbly, add a little spritz of water to it until the mixture can be formed into a shape.
• Preheat your oven to 300F.
• Use a heaping tablespoon to fill the mixture into a (plastic) mooncake mold. Use your fingers to gently pat the mixture in to a depth of 1 cm. Then, invert the mooncake mold, press down firmly on the mooncake plunger to imprint the shape and release onto a lined baking sheet. (If using a wooden mooncake mold, place the mixture firmly into the mold, invert it and bang it out onto the baking sheet.) Repeat with the remaining dough.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes at 300F until slightly browned and aromatic.
• Let cool completely and store in an airtight container for up to 1 month.