These gluten-free Chinese almond cookies are crisp, buttery, and delicious, and you don't have to be gluten-free to fall completely in love with them! Mildly sweet and full of almond flavor, you'll think they're "regular" cookies and it will be hard to stop at just one!

Several golden brown almond cookies on a sheet of foil, the words gluten-free Chinese almond cookies on the bottom.

JUMP TO THE VIDEO showing how to make these cookies!

Just the mere sight of these beautiful golden crackled cookies evokes such joy.

Part of it is because I love love LOVE beautifully baked goods!

But more relevant to this post is the fact that my mum used to bake almond cookies a lot!

It has been a very long time since I've had her almond cookies and unfortunately, her recollection of the recipe details isn't very accurate. But I've taken what she has said, cross-referenced with a few other almond cookie recipes, performed some baking tests, and have come up with, what I think, is mighty close to what she used to bake.

And as a bonus, my recipe is gluten-free!

As my taste-tester friends can attest to, though, these cookies are SO ridiculously good that you think they're actually "regular" cookies! What better endorsement can there be?! Let's get baking!

The Dry Ingredients

I have never been a fan of using prepackaged gluten-free flour blends because they often contain ingredients I do not want. So I prefer to create my own blend from scratch, but I keep it REALLY SIMPLE.

The flour blend for these cookies is simply brown rice flour and tapioca starch. THAT'S IT. The brown rice flour gives the cookies their structure or "foundation", so to speak, and the tapioca starch adds tenderness so it's not completely dry.

A metal whisk resting in a black bowl containing white flour ingredients.

Add to that the almond flour, baking soda, and salt and you are done. Sift these dry ingredients together and set the bowl aside while you get working on the wet ingredient mixture.

The Wet Ingredients

The wet ingredients start with butter and the almond paste, and it doesn't matter if your almond paste comes from a tube, container, or block. I like to cut the butter and almond paste cold and let them come to room temperature in the mixing bowl because it is far easier to measure those items when they're cold.

Once they're room temperature, it's time to start beating them together, and this can be done with a hand mixer, stand mixer, or even by hand with a wire whisk.

Metal mixer beaters mixing together butter with white sugar and yellow eggs.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula (so you don't miss mixing in any bits) and add the sugar. Beat that in until you get a nice fluffy texture and then it's time to add in the egg and almond extract and beat again. Wet ingredients done!

Is Almond Paste the Same as Marzipan?

No, almond paste and marzipan are not the same. While they are both contain ground almonds, the other ingredients they contain are different and they are used for different applications. They are not interchangeable. Read a more detailed description of their differences from The Kitchn.

Making the Cookie Dough

Remember that bowl containing your gluten-free dry ingredients? It's time to mix it all into the creamed butter mixture.

I do this mixing by hand using a wooden spoon, but you can do this step using your mixer, too. Just make sure that the flours and butter mixture are all well incorporated until you have a cohesive cookie dough.

White dry flour ingredients being mixed into a butter mixture to create dough. A dough ball in a hand.

Measuring Out the Cookie Dough

I use a #70 sized cookie scoop (affiliate link), which is just less than a full tablespoon. You don't have to use a cookie scoop...a simple spoon will also work.

However, I find that this cookie scoop does a really good job scooping out about the right amount that I want...which is 20 grams...and it helps speed up the process.

Do you have you weigh out each cookie ball?

No. But weighing them out so that they are all about the same weight means you are going to get the most consistent batch of cookies you've ever seen.

Take each 20 gram scoop of dough and roll it between your hands and shape it into a ball. I do this step all at once for the entire batch of dough and place them aside on a plate or cutting board and cover them so they don't dry out while another batch is baking.

Shaping and Baking the Cookies

Roll the cookie dough into balls and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Flatten them slightly with the flat bottom of a measuring cup, drinking glass, or even your fingers will work just fine!

Then comes the final almond touch to these cookies...the sliced almond! It isn't necessary, but it's a small thing that makes the cookie look that much cuter and more complete!

Flattening a round dough ball, placing a sliced almond on top, and brushing it with yellow egg wash.

Last step is to beat an egg with about 1 teaspoon of water to create an egg wash to brush over every cookie. The egg wash will help the cookies brown to that lovely golden color we're so accustomed to.

Bake the cookies in a 325F/160C oven for 20 minutes. The oven temperature is lower than typical cookie recipes since we don't want these to bake too fast or brown too much before they're done. So a bit lower temperature for a slightly longer time works perfectly.

To achieve the nice crisp texture, let the cookies cool on the baking pan for another 5 minutes after you take them out of the oven. Then transfer them to a cooling rack to finish and stand back and admire your handiwork!

Several golden brown almond cookies on a sheet of foil.

Can I Make Them without Butter?

My mum used margarine which is made from vegetable oils and something that probably isn't used very often any more. However, it is still an option to replace the butter if you want to avoid dairy (just make sure the margarine clearly states that it is dairy-free if you are lactose intolerant).

Some almond cookies also call for lard instead of butter, so you can try substituting the butter 1:1. The lard will make a slightly crisper cookie, but I find that it doesn't give as much flavor as the butter.

Can I use a Prepackaged Gluten-Free Flour Blend?

You can try using a pre-packaged gluten-free flour blend in place of the brown rice flour and tapioca starch in my recipe, but I cannot guarantee how the cookies will turn out.

Four cookies stacked on a brown wooden cutting board, a blue cup in the background.

How Many Cookies Does This Recipe Make?

This recipe makes 45 cookies (if you follow the step of weighing out each ball of cookie dough to 20 grams). But if 45 is too many, make half!

But how do you halve an egg, you ask?

I've got you covered with my post on How to Halve An Egg for Baking Recipes! I've actually made A QUARTER of this cookie recipe using the technique described to "divide" an egg and the cookies came out great!

If You Are Looking for More Gluten-Free Cookie Recipes...

Here are some other gluten-free cookie recipes you might like!

Close-up of the inside of a cookie broken in two, resting on a brown wooden cutting board.

My mum used to make almond cookies in large batches and give them away, often at Christmas. She would fill a 4-litre (1 gallon) ice cream bucket full of them and give them to my husband's parents and they would happily devour them...just the two of them!

I didn't appreciate them as much back then when she made them all the time. However, I got inspired recently and am thrilled to have created ones that remind me of hers.

AND I'm very psyched that they are gluten-free so anyone and everyone can enjoy these delicious jewels!

~ Lisa.

Gluten-Free Chinese Almond Cookies