Macau Almond Cookies

Macau almond cookies (xing ren bing) are one of the most recognisable food souvenirs from Macau and a standard purchase item among the dense souvenir-food culture of Cunha Street in Taipa Village, where specialist bakeries occupy a short stretch of pedestrianised lane and compete for attention with free samples pressed into the hands of passing visitors.

Despite the name, Macau almond cookies are not made primarily from almonds — the main flour base is mung bean (the same ingredient used in many Chinese moon cake fillings and desserts), combined with almond flour, sugar, and sometimes pork lard or vegetable shortening. The resulting dough is dense and dry. It is pressed firmly into small circular or shaped wooden moulds that imprint auspicious characters or patterns onto the surface — a technique common in Chinese festive pastry-making — then unmoulded and baked until set.

The texture is the distinguishing characteristic: the cookies are firm but crumble at once when bitten, dissolving into a sandy, slightly powdery consistency in the mouth. The flavour is mildly sweet and faintly nutty. They are not delicate in the way of a butter biscuit, nor chewy, nor crisp; they are in a category of their own that is particular to this Chinese pressed-pastry tradition.

Cunha Street bakeries sell the cookies by weight from open trays, often allowing customers to assemble their own mixed boxes from several flavours — plain almond, walnut, coconut, and others. The purchase of a box or two as gifts is routine for Macau day-trippers from Hong Kong and mainland Chinese tourists.

Koi Kei is the most commercially prominent brand, with its own shops in Macau and Hong Kong. Smaller operations such as Yeng Kee are preferred by those who find Koi Kei's version too standardised. Free sampling at the shop entrance is universal and expected.