Walnut Cookies (核桃酥)

When I was a little girl, I love to go to grocery store with my mom. That's because at the end of those trips, I would usually get small treats like 3 pieces of Hacks sweets (for 10 cents only!), a pack of haw flakes or during some rare occasions, my mom would get a pack of biscuits for me. I remember peering over rows of biscuits tins, having a hard time deciding what I want but most of the time, I'd pick walnut cookies (核桃酥), a chinese cookie with a piece of walnut on the cracked top.

As I grow older and get attracted by some fanciful Japanese biscuits, I've forgotten about this childhood snack, until I chanced upon a recipe of the walnut cookies in my Chinese dimsum cookbook. After reading the recipe, I was pleasently surprised at how simple the process is.

I used pecan nuts and walnuts as toppings, and the whole process (minus the time taken for refrigeration) took less than 1 hour. After baking and cleaning up the kitchen, I sat down with a book, a few pieces of the cookies and a cup of tea. As I was munching away the cookies, I felt that I've found my long lost friend!

Walnut Cookies (核桃酥)

Ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar
8 oz shortening
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essense
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
30 walnuts (or pecan nuts)

Yield = 30 cookies

Method:
1) Separate 1 of the eggs, reserve the egg white for brushing. Place the egg yolk and the other whole egg in a mixing bowl.
2) Add brown sugar and shortening. Using a wooden spoon, stir the mixture until smooth.
3) Add salt, vanilla essense and sifted flour mixture (plain flour, baking soda and baking powder).
4) Cover the dough with cling film and refrigerate until harden.
5) Pre-heat the oven to 180 deg C.
6) Form the dough into small balls (about 15 g each), brush with egg white and place a piece of nut on the dough.
7) Bake in the pre-heated over for 15-20 mins.
8) Cool the cookies and serve.