I have a bit of a confession to make: I’ve been restaurant-hopping, conference-crashing, and living out of the freezer since Easter. Most of this is due to the insane workload I’ve taken on (but hey, I have ten fingers, so I can totally put them into ten pies!), but short of cutting down on sleep (which I may or may not have done), I’ve not been playing in the kitchen as much as I would like—a real shame, since I’ve been sitting on a brilliant idea for what would come after my pound cake project. All I would need is an hour to whip up some baked goods… Fortunately, amidst all the craziness today, I decided to take five (times twelve) to make some super delicious cookies. And so, I’m proud to present the first recipe of Flour Hour: almond cookies (which happen to be vegan)!

Here’s the philosophy behind Flour Hour: due to a whole variety of circumstances (and basically to ensure I don’t eat all the noms), the best days for me to bake are Tuesday afternoons, Wednesday mornings, or Thursday mornings. For a while, I did my baking before work, which meant getting started at about 6:30am so I could finish and have everything ready to take with me by 8am. When the insanity piled up, I aimed to be done within an hour, and since I don’t have any fancy food processors and am severely lacking upper-arm strength, anything that called for creaming butter had to go. I’ve found quite a few very good recipes that fit the bill, but today, I decided to make some almond cookies which are super simple, super delicious, and, most importantly, didn’t require me to pick up anything from the shops—time is of the essence here! ;)

I first made these cookies at a Chinese New Year party, where they were a massive hit. Amongst my guests were a vegan and a lactose-intolerant, and I wanted to make something Chinese-y they could both eat. (I also made some yummy vegan dumpling fillings, but that’s for another day.) I found and baked these cookies to great success—we were all sat around my dining table, practically moaning while the crumbly bits of cookie heaven melted in our mouths, and, well, let’s just say they didn’t survive long at all.

Ingredients:
(1 cup = 250ml)

• 1 cup almond meal/ground almond
• 1 ¼ cup plain flour
• 2/3 cup sugar (I used caster, but granulated should be fine)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 150ml vegetable oil (or other plant-based oil—preferably one without a strong taste)
• 1 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
• A few handfuls of almonds, plus a few more for nibbling

 Method:

1. Preheat to 180C and line two baking sheets with parchment paper
2. Give the dry ingredients a bit of a mix
3. Add oil and mix until it’s all incorporated
4. Form cookies with your hands—the size is up to you, but I prefer them on the smaller side
5. Once cookies are sitting happily on the baking sheet, press an almond into the centre of each cookie
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes, cool, and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days (if they last they long)

My batch yielded 28.

Hope you get a chance to enjoy the deliciousness, and I’d love to hear from you if you decide to make these!