Almond London

So our Eid open house has come and gone... and surprise, surprise, I have a surplus of cake and cookies around me. Believe it or not, I wanted to make more but I made so much that the hubby revoked my oven access. I tried to get around it by suggesting I make agar-agar (jellies) instead but I was banned from sweet-making of any kind. BOO. 

So despite my apparent makcik-inclination to think that there is never enough food, I am actually quite proud that I managed to bake everything that I did. I made a few family traditions and some noveau-traditional cookies too.

Noveau-traditional?

  
When you think of Hari Raya, the first few cookies/cakes that people will mention are pineapple tarts, kuih makmur, kuih bangkit and kuih lapis. Traditional sweeties which hail from the time of the kampungs. 

However, over the last 10 (or dare I even say, 20) years, there have been some cookies that were introduced to the Hari Raya repertoire and have decided to become mainstays.

One of these creations is the Almond London. I'm not sure what the origins of these cookies are and I honestly can't tell you why they're even called Almond Londons. What I can tell you that it is absolutely delicious. Painstaking to make but oh so yummy... and addictive.

To be honest though, as time consuming as the process was... it's nowhere near as painstaking as the more traditional cookies. Which hopefully, I'll be brave enough to attempt next year. In the meantime, I have this recipe to fall back on :)

Almond London cookies
(recipe from this blog)

125g unsalted butter, softened
75g icing sugar
1 egg yolk
200g plain flour
25g rice flour
300g toasted whole almonds (toasting is optional but I toasted it anyway)
100g chopped nuts
400g dark/milk chocolate (I used normal dark chocolate, about 30% cocoa)

Method:

1. Sift the plain flour and rice flour into a medium sized bowl. Set aside.
2. Cream the butter and sugar until it turns pale and fluffy.
3. Add the egg yolk and mix until just combined.
4. Add the sifted flour mixture in two parts, mixing well after each addition. You should now have a cohesive dough.
5. Take a small piece of dough (approximately the size of a marble (~1.5cm diameter)) and flatten it slightly. Wrap the dough around the almond, then form it into a cylinder. 
6. Place the wrapped almond on a lined baking tray.
7. Repeat with the remaining dough and almonds, until all the dough is used up. 
8. Bake in a 175 degrees celsius (I used 120 in my fan-forced oven) preheated oven for 20 minutes, until slightly golden. 
9. Cool the baked cookies on a wire rack.
10. Once cooled, place each cookie in a small paper case.
11. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler.
12. Using a teaspoon, spoon the melted chocolate over each cookie. You basically want to not just encase, but flood the almond with melted chocolate. It makes for a really pretty starburst-shaped cookie when you're peeling back the paper :)
13. Sprinkle the tops of each cookie with chopped nuts
14. Let the chocolate set (either in the fridge or if it's cool enough, on the counter)
15. Pop one in your mouth... then another... and another... and another... 

Extra notes:

• Be very careful when working with chocolate. Make sure your utensils, cooking area and hands are bone dry. Any drop of water can cause the chocolate to seize and create weird powdery looking swirls.