Not so traditional peanut cookies
When I was a small kid, I love the peanut cookies that my aunts (maternal side) made. Every Chinese New Year, my brothers will look forward to their kuih kapit, but I am waiting for the peanut cookies instead.
The traditional recipe calls for lard, but thinking of my mother who has hypertension, better not. Changed the tasty unhealthy fat to corn oil. So, it's not-so traditional already. It's not as soft, but still it's soft enough to be scarred and chipped by fingernails. So better be careful when transfering them. Many scarred ones went into my mouth and my hubby's mouth... It still melts in the mouth.
Yummy yummy! This is my first attempt..hehe.
Peanut Cookies
Ingredients:
1 kg flour
1 kg peanuts (the raw weight, then roast it, deskin and ground til fine)
1 kg of fine sugar (not icing sugar, can use caster sugar or fine granulated sugar)
400 ml corn oil (might need more depending on oil level of peanuts used)
1 egg (beaten)
1/2 cup peanut halves for deco
Method:
1. Mix flour, sugar and peanuts until well blended together.
2. Pour in the oil and knead until the oil is well incorporated. Add more oil if dough is dry.*
3. Take a small amount of peanut dough onto palm and roll into a small ball the size of a marble.
4. Place the peanut ball onto a baking tray and place a peanut half onto it. Lightly press the peanut half.
*If you reduced the sugar, you will need more oil to bind the dough together
*If you used icing sugar, the effect will be SWEETER
5. By using a chinese calligraphy brush (mopit), glaze the peanut ball with a beaten egg.
6. Bake at 180C for 12 minutes or until the egg glaze turns golden.
Tada!!! Nice and golden. Hubby can't wait to pop one into his mouth!
I made about 550 pcs of peanut cookies with this amount of ingredients. Cost? Around RM11 only not inclusive of electricity of course.. Cheap hoh!! But darn lot of work, especially preparing the peanuts:- roasting, deskinning, airing and grinding!! One afternoon for the peanuts, one for the cookie. 2 afternoons to make 550 pcs of peanut cookies. Quite time consuming actually, but if one has the time, can save a lot of money instead of buying them at RM15-20 for 100 pcs.
I'm making this again next weekend... cos I don't think what I made today is enough to be shared among my relatives.
Note: (26/12/2011)
The dough will become dry if you do these 2 things
1. Reduce the sugar
2. Use store bought roasted peanut nibs.
So, roast your own peanuts (those with skin) and do not reduce the sugar. If you do reduce the sugar you need more oil to bind the dough. So choose, oil or sugar, up to you to keep the dough intact.
Note: 24/1/2012
If you prefer floury, fine peanut cookies, mill the peanuts together with the flour, this way your peanuts will be as fine as flour. Then use icing sugar, but reduce it to about 750gm (icing sugar taste sweeter), then you will need more oil, probably, 500ml or more. Gauge it as you form the dough.
If you want a really melty peanut cookie, that doesn't need any effort to eat, use LARD (pig fat), or GHEE.
This cookie is crumbly, but not really that fragile. If you prefer yours with some mouthfeel, not too fine, then just follow the recipe exactly, use caster/fine sugar and stick to the amount. Somehow I find too fine peanut cookies stick to my throat and I prefer this version is isn't too fine, tooooooo melty. Up to you :)
Wendy,
ReplyDeleteHow do you ground the peanut? Or use grinding
Thanks.
Grace
Grace,
ReplyDeleteGrind the peanuts with the mill that comes with your blender and you will have ground peanuts.
Sorry but to help with ur confusion (if u're not confused, then sorry :p) ground is the past tense of grind.
Hi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your sharing. I m really your fan. I have been looking for this recipe but have not tried. I have question your peanut cookies.
1) 1 kg of sugar will it be too sweet ?
2) I only have nite time to bake the roasting, deskinning, airing(what is this?) and grinding... can i do this in one nite ?
Jo
Jo,
ReplyDeleteOne night how many hours? Just for the peanut prep or the whole baking process?
1. Nope, becos u'd be working with 1kg of peanuts and 1kg of flour and 400ml oil. The amount is just nice. If you really want to reduce, then I advise you not go go lower than 800gm. The traditional recipe is 1catty (600gm) of each dry ingredient and 1 rice bowl of lard.
2. To remove the skin of the peanuts, rub the hot peanuts and the skin will come off, but to discard the "removed skins", you need to pour it from some height, say 2-3ft off the ground (with a basin to catch the peanuts below)and let the wind blow away the removed skins. That is airing. Do this process in the bathroom with the help of a table fan if you live in an apartment. I usually do it in my garden with the help of the wind or ask someone to fan the skins away.
Hi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteMy peanuts crack and have to press hard to form a ball.....anything wrong with it ? i reduce the sugar to 800gm, and no glaze with egg...please advice....it taste good but wasnt fluffy enough...
Jaymie,
ReplyDeleteDo not the reduce the sugar,it's a binding agent.
If it's too dry, add more oil as different peanuts contain different levels of oil.
Thanks for pointing this out, I'll add notes to the recipe
Jaymie,
ReplyDeleteOne mre thing,
Do not skip the egg glaze, it's a surface binder
LOL... I tried my first attempt yesterday.. HAHAHA i made peanut butter!!! HAHAHAHAAH..too soft, too much oil.
ReplyDeleteI shall do it again..seeing yours make me drool so much!!!
actually to avoid further fails... i shall 1/4 the recipe. one question, did you use a machine to mix dry and wet ingredients together? Or you kneaded by hand?
ReplyDeletemott,
ReplyDeleteI manually mixed everything. But I ground my peanuts in the mill while it's still very warm to avoid it turning oily.
Others were complaining it was too dry, and you complained it's to oily, hahaha!!! I guess peanuts in Oz are different, is it? LOL.
Anyway, you can try again and if you prefer milling the peanuts when it's cold, mill it together with the flour. It's drier this way.
Your peanut cookies look very tempting..Any advice on how you roast your raw peanuts? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteFor best flavour, do it on the wok, medium low heat, tossing all the time, until it smells good and the nut under the skin looks lightly golden.
It can take up to one hour.
You can roast it in the oven, on 160C, maybe for 15 minutes, check it from time to time to avoid over roasting. Flavour wise, inferior compared to wok roasted.
Thanks for sharing. Can I prepare the peanuts, and grind them first, and bake the cookies another day?
ReplyDeleteanonymous,
ReplyDeleteYes, that is what I do too!
Hi wendy,
ReplyDeleteWhat type of flour do you used ?. Thk. Sori new in baking :)
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteIf no specific type is stated, it is always plain flour. Information about flours is in my "About"
For the peanut halves for deco, do you use the roasted or raw ones? Thanks!!
ReplyDeletelyn,
ReplyDeleteroasted. you can pick some out from the 1kg. No problem about that.
Hi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteI've tried baking the cookies....They do 'melt in the mouth' when they just came out from the oven/warm..but once they cool down, they harden. What could have possible gone wrong? Is it because of the overworked dough? Mine crumbles easily, so I tried to add more oil....Hope to hear from you soon...
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteWhen they are fresh from the oven, they are really fragile, but as they cool down, the surface firms up, but yet, I do feel they are melt in the mouth when eaten. Do not add too much pressure when rolling and just work the dough until a dough forms.
What's the texture of your dough? It wouldn't be like tarts dough right? When I said they became harden, I mean, need to chew more....I didn't reduce the sugars, follow exactly to your recipe, but I'm taking a lot of time, even just to roll them into balls...:(
ReplyDeleteanonymous,
ReplyDeleteNo, not as soft and oily as tart dough definitely. But then again, there are many versions of tart dough, some 2:3 butter flour some 1:2, depends on recipe.
hmm.. like what... hmm.. dunno how to describe, but just add just enough oil so that it doesn't crack when you roll. Oh yes, any cookie that needs rolling take up a lot of time, looks simple but dead tiring.
Nowadays I just use a mini cookie scoop. I shaped 1/3 of this recipe in just 10 mins with a mini cookie scoop.
Hi Wendy , notice u use sugar, my recipe use icing sugar, just wondering what is the different in outcome.
ReplyDeleteAngel,
ReplyDeletesomehow I find if this recipe is subtituted with icing sugar it is sweeter, maybe due to more surface contact with the tongue.
When sugar is used, the effect is not that... fine, like bangkit type. It is melty, but sandy, not floury. Somehow I prefer it this way, got more mouthfeel and doesn't stick all around the mouth. Floury ones can stick halfway down my throat.
Hi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing. I had tried this recipe and it was fabulous! My family and friends love them so much. It is very easy to bake it, just need more patience. My hubby even volunteer to help when he wants me to bake more of them. :)
Hi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteIf i skip just use ground peanut sold in the shops, do i still use 1kg or should i use lesser?
Thanks.
Angie
Wendy, I followed exactly as per the ingredients stated in your recipe . All is fine except that after baking the cookies got stuck onto the baking tray. I did greasted the baking tray but somehow some of the cookies got stuck and breaks up when i used a butter knife to remove them.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteThe dripped egg wash must have made it stuck.
BTW, I line my pans with baking paper.
hello! can i just check if i could substitute corn oil with melted butter? and if i do i'll have to melt the butter to oil state right? and if i use grounded peanuts sold in stores i'll lose the fragrance? thanks! (:
ReplyDeleteJaime,
ReplyDeleteboil the butter, not just melt it.
less fragrant for sure if use store bought nuts.
Hi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteThese cookies look so scrumptious! My son is allergic to peanuts, do you think it's possible to substitute peanuts with other nuts, say cashrew? Thanks!
Priscilla,
ReplyDeleteAlmonds and Cashew will work great
Hi Wendy, if I'm using butter, why do I have to boil it? What will happen if I just melt it? Thanks for your advice.
ReplyDeleteRain,
ReplyDeleteButter is only 81-82% fat. The rest are milk solids and water. Oil is pure fat.
You need to boil away the water, so that the cookies will have a more 'melty' texture. Water will harden the cookie
hi wendy,
ReplyDeleteIs it alright to cubstitute oil with shortening? Will it turn out to be really melty cookie?
Chin Wern,
ReplyDeleteI never tried it with shortening, but what I know is, generally shortening is used for crispy cookies.