Mom's Best Almond Cookies

Total Time: 30 mins Preparation Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 3 cups shortening
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• 5 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• red food coloring (optional)

Recipe

• 1 preheat oven to 350°f.
• 2 sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
• 3 cream sugar and shortening until fluffy. beat eggs with almond extract, then add to sugar mixture. mix well.
• 4 gradually add dry ingredients to sugar mixture, mixing well after each addition.
• 5 roll into 1-inch balls and place on lightly greased cookie sheet. flatten slightly, as these don't spread very much.
• 6 if you want them to look like traditional chinese almond cookies, mix a few drops of red food coloring with a few drops of water. using the blunt end of a chopstick, dip into the red color, then stamp a dot into the center of each cookie. alternately, you can place a bleached almond in the center of each cookie.
• 7 bake 20 minutes or until just barely brown on the edges. transfer to rack to cool.