I have recently discovered Chinese Five Spice. What is that you ask? It is a blend of cinnamon, cloves, fennel, star anise, and szechuan pepper. Whoa. Where have you been all my life? I used it in a savory chicken dish last week, and knew immediately that I had to try it in something sweet. My fabulous sister is surprise visiting this weekend, and we decided that with our powers combined, we could totally come up with something fabulous. And oh did we ever. These cookies are so wonderful. They are warm and nutty, and the five spice gives them a complexity that leaves you wondering "what spice, exactly, did I just eat?". Amazing. If you don't like almonds, use pecans or hazelnuts...whatever you like. Not a fan of raspberry? Same goes for you...make it lemon or strawberry, choose your favorite!
Five-Spice Raspberry Almond Nests
1/4 C Packed Brown Sugar
1/4 C Shortening
1/4 C Butter, softened
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1 Egg, separated
1 C All-Purpose Flour
1/4 tsp Salt
1 tsp Chinese 5-Spice
1 C Finely Chopped Almonds
About 6 T Jelly or Jam (any flavor, but we used raspberry)
1. Heat oven to 350 F. In a medium bowl, beat brown sugar, shortening, butter, vanilla and egg yolk with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. Stir in flour and salt.
2. Shape dough into 2-inch balls. In small bowl, beat egg white slightly with fork. Place nuts in small bowl. Dip each ball into egg white; roll in nuts. On ungreased or parchment linied cookie sheets, place balls about 1 inch apart. Press thumb into center of each cookie to make indentation, but do not press all the way to cookie sheet.
3. Bake 12-14 minutes or until light brown. Quickly remake indentations with end of wooden spoon if necessary. Immediately remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Fill each with about 1 tbsp jelly. Makes about 1 dozen.
Enjoy and Malzheit! -Cardamommy and Coriaunty
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