I have been on a quest for some time for the perfect Chinese-style almond cookie. I had one once, given me by a woman here in the office. When I asked her where the cookie came from, she said her landlord gave her a jar of them, and she had no idea where he'd gotten them. She never did get him to tell her. Dead end.

They were a dream: very crisp, just the right degree of sweetness and almond flavor, kind of free-form and rough-textured, not smooth, but they literally melted in your mouth.

I've tried quite a number of recipes and gotten kind of close but never hit it.

A co-worker here makes a different kind of almond cookie, very light-textured, puffy, even-shaped, that I enjoyed.

But, darn it, I want that other almond cookie.

Recently, Dawn Nabeshima wrote me with the exciting news that she's chairing a committee that is compiling a Punahou Carnival Cookbook to be published in 2010, a fundraiser for the Punahou Scholarship Program. She had taken my "How To Write a Cookbook" class and e-mailed to give me a progress report and ask my advice on a copyright question.

When I answered, she asked what she could do for me in return for the advice, and having heard I was on an almond cookie quest, she offered to share her recipe.

I haven't had a chance to try it — I'm going nuts doing our annual Best Restaurants guide right now. But I thought I'd share it and see if it would tease out any tips or other recipes that resemble the cookie I've fallen in love with. If you got 'em, send 'em along.

One question I have is whether it's important to use shortening to get the right crispy texture. Got any other secrets of the almond cookie trade to share with us?

Here's Dawn's recipe:

ALMOND COOKIES

• 2 1/4 cups flour

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 cup butter or shortening (i.e., Crisco)

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

• 2 to 3 teaspoons almond extract

• Red food coloring

Preheat oven to 350 to 375 degrees.

In a bowl, combine dry ingredients. In a separate, larger bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Stirring and alternating between wet and dry, add oil and almond extract and dry ingredients to the butter and sugar mixture.

Shape dough into walnut-size balls.

Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Gently use your thumb to make an indentation in the center of each cookie. Using the end of a chopstick, or your finger, decorate with a dot of red food coloring in the center of the indentation.

Bake 8-10 minutes until lightly browned.

Makes about 24 cookies.

• Per cookie: 140 calories, 9 g fat, 2.5 g saturated fat, 10 mg cholesterol, 50 mg sodium, 13 g carbohydrate, 0 g fiber, 4 g sugar, 1 g protein

Send recipe requests, and answers to queries, to Wanda Adams, Food Editor, The Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802; fax, 525-8055; e-mail wadams@honoluluadvertiser.com.