The Recipe: Chinese Almond Cookies from Betty Crocker's The Cooky Book
The Substitutions: Butter for shortening.
The Verdict: If you're trying to watch your figure, these guys should be avoided at all costs. There is A LOT of butter in this recipe (or shortening if you're going with the recipe as written). A lot. And I'm usually not one to balk at excessive amounts of butter, but in the case of these bland little cookies, the impending heart attack just isn't worth it. I had high hopes for these guys because of the relatively large amount of almond extract added in, but they just aren't almond-y enough. In fact, you can barely taste the extract at all.
So you're left with a boring, greasy cookie with a tease of almond taste. Naturally, my kids love them, but I'm handing them out stingily, because even a kid doesn't need that much butter.
