Chinese · dessert
35m
Total time
36
Servings
—
kcal
easy
Difficulty
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FAQ · Things people ask
You can, but the result is a different cookie — firmer and crisper rather than crumbly and melt-in-the-mouth. Butter’s water content creates steam during baking, which develops more gluten structure than lard-based dough. If you need a pork-free version, shortening is actually the closest approximation to lard’s fat ratio and produces a more recognisable result than butter. If you do use butter, use European-style with at least 82% fat content.
Blanch them yourself: pour boiling water over raw almonds, let sit for 1 minute, drain, and slip the skins off while warm. Dry them thoroughly before use — any residual moisture will affect the dough surface where the almond presses in and can cause cracking or uneven baking.
Related but not identical. American Chinese restaurant almond cookies were typically made with shortening (not lard), often with more almond extract, and tend to be slightly larger and sweeter. Traditional hup toh soh are smaller, crumblier, less sweet, and have a more nuanced almond flavour from almond flour alongside the extract — not just extract alone.
In an airtight tin at room temperature, 2 weeks easily — they actually improve slightly after 24 hours as the texture settles. Do not refrigerate: condensation makes them sticky. Do not freeze: the crumb structure doesn’t survive well and they become damp and dense on thawing.
Yes, but the texture will be slightly coarser and the appearance slightly darker from skin flecks. For the cleanest pale colour and most delicate texture, use blanched almond flour (ground from skin-off almonds). Almond meal works fine if it’s what you have.
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Biang biang mian are the soul of Xi'an street food — thick, chewy belt noodles hand-pulled to order, piled with minced garlic and fiery dried chilies, then doused with smoking-hot oil that blooms everything in one glorious sizzle. The dish takes its name from the sound of dough slapping the counter during pulling, and its written character — a legendary 57-stroke behemoth so complex it does not appear in standard dictionaries — is perhaps the most famous character in the Chinese writing system. Xi'an Famous Foods brought biang biang mian to international fame in New York, but the real magic is that you can pull these noodles at home. This is a two-skill recipe: making an extensible dough and perfecting the you po (hot oil pour). Both are learnable, and both are worth it. The recipe offers a pure vegetarian path (the soy-vinegar-chili oil base stands alone) and an optional ground pork topper with doubanjiang for a heartier meal.