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Monday, January 9, 2012

Sesame Honeycomb Cookies - CNY Crispies # 1


Last year, I did a cookie week for CNY, this year and Fried-Up week. Hopefully next year when CNY lands on end of February, I'll be doing a Dried Up week for CNY, because the sky is blue and air is dry when January begins.. right up until end of February.

To start the ball, rolling... It's honeycomb cookies. Actually, this is not a Chinese thingy, you won't find this made by our China counterparts. In India these are called called Achappam. Or why it's called kuih Ros, it's because in English, it's called rosettes. European countries make these too, Swedish, Polish, Italian (Crispelle). Iranian (nan panjara), Turks (Demir talisi) and Mexicans (Bunuelos) also make these! And these cookies are actually Scandinavian in origin. You can read more about this in Wikipedia with the part about it being called in Malaysia being absolutely incorrect.

Now, I am aiming to get some moulds made in other forms, snowflakey, daisy or even butterfly. Haha.. collection!



I have a confession to make. I used to think of these cookies are overpriced. Well, of course some are of good quality, and some are just so so. I used to think that these are just dipped in a low cost batter and fried, how hard can these be to fetch such a price?

This first attempt in making these truly changed my opinion on this. It's not really that easy!!!
Long story cut short, my first attempt almost made me cried buckets. I couldn't sleep that night. It was that bad. Used a copper mould and the batter will either not stick or got burnt. I couldn't handle the temperature well.


The next day, I got myself some more coconut milk and tried again with the same recipe. And Reese (the traditional tid-bits queen, LOL, she'll kill me for writing this) adviced me to use medium heat. Still it wasn't that good. I could get it done, but not as well as I hoped it is, let's say 30% decent, and not even pretty at all. I'm just not satisfied. I must make at least 90% decent ones. I'm not asking for perfect, at least decent.


I told my husband, I really needed to go out and he took care of the 3 kids for me. I went to the crockery shop and got myself 2 brass moulds instead. Heavier and thicker! And surely these will retain heat better, thus make the batter stick the mould. (Reese's mom used brass too! She told me) Indeed! They worked like a charm. Even on medium low heat, I could fry these beautifully. The batter stuck to the brass mould like how my kids will cling to me.. tight and all around. Beautiful. And the cookies are fairer, oil is still light coloured, unlike the oil with the copper ones. The oil of that batch turned brown after frying. Weird.


I tried Amy Beh's recipe featured in Kuali.com.
The cookies are not as "brittle" as I hoped they will be. Still a bit hard for my liking, but generally nice. But it's very user friendly, provided, you use a brass mould. I hope to try more recipes and find my golden ratio, but time does not permit.


Honeycomb Cookies / Rosettes
Recipe referred from Kuali.com with personal adaptations

Batter
125gm rice flour
125gm all purpose flour
125gm sugar
1/2 tsp salt
180gm coconut milk (pure)
220gm water
1 egg

1 cup sesame seeds
Oil for frying

1. Combine all batter ingredients and leave it for 30 minutes.
2. Heat a wok and put in cooking oil.
3. Put in 2 brass rosette moulds and heat up together with the oil. (medium heat)
4. Pour some of the batter into a separate cup/bowl and stir in some sesame seeds. (You might need to top up the sesame seeds from time to time because each dipping will decrease the amount of sesame seeds in batter)
5. Remove one mould from the hot oil and dip it into the batter for 2 seconds, You will hear a light sizzle. (Take care not to fully dip. Make sure the top doesn't touch the batter, if not the cookie will not release itself from the mould)
6. Place mould back into the hot oil and try to push the mould as far into the oil as possible, w/o touching the base so that the heat will push the "sides" up and it won't fall down (do it and u will know what I mean)
7. Fry the mould for about 15-20 seconds, the only start to jiggle the mould to release the cookie. (jiggle too soon and you have a cookie with no structure, all flat or spread apart)
8. Flip cookie to have even frying on both sides. Lift cookie up to drain off the oil.
9. Let the mould go back into the oil and use the other mould to do step 5-8. Alternate the moulds so that each will be properly heated through.
10. When cookies have cooled,  store in air tight container.


See the difference? Same batter, but different looks and colour. I could never get the ones made with copper to look like the ones made with the brass mould. Can anyone gimme an explanation??? Please. Chemistry experts out there????? Anyone?



These were made yesterday, with another recipe. Mouthfeel yes very delicious, looks very pretty. BUT........it is very temperamental. This recipe's batter cooks too easily and will just drop off a hot mould. Needs a not too hot mould to make. And needs a lower heat to cook. So, not all recipes work the same way.... I won't be posting this recipe because I actually dropped 30% of my uncooked cookies off the mould back into the batter just because the mould was too hot. After the first one dropped, immediately I put the mould back into the batter and it stuck nicely when it was actually cooler. It only needed a very faint sizzling sound unlike the recipe above that needs to hear a proper sizzle to get it adhered. So, not all recipes work the same, not the same experience applies to all recipes. Work with the one you are most familiar with.

49 comments:

  1. This is my fav CNY snack beside the fried seaweed! Yummy!

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  2. i also have the same problem every year i make honeycomb cookies.can you give me the last recipe you make?i also want to try.

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  3. WyYv,
    yummy hoh!



    Hody,
    Hmmm... no la. It's not very user friendly. I wasted 1/3 of the batter because it kept on dropping off. Let me tweak it first, then I will share. I fry until almost wanted to cry too, cos drop drop drop. But at least those that didn't drop was pretty, and that was consolation. If I could tweak until it's user friendly and delicious, then I will post it.

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  4. Hody,
    If it's the looks u're going for, try the recipe above w/o sesame seeds, it will still look like this. But texture wise, not as brittle only. Maybe add another 50ml water, cos this 2nd recipe's flour/liquid's ratio is almost like that too.

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  5. Hi Wendy

    Just sent you a message for Honey comb recipe in your FB. Its my mom's recipe. Hope it helps.

    Regards

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  6. Super Mum, I like your enthusiasm and vigour!
    As far as I can recollect, my mum used brass mould for her kueh kueh and other fried stuffs!
    Copper tend to conduct heat faster than brass, so that could be the reason why your cookie turned darker faster. My two-cents worth!

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  7. i know that felling.i thought this year i dont want to make honeycomb already but my family love it.

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  8. I have a brass mould somewhere in my store room and made it quite long ago before blogging. Indeed not an easy recipe to handle but it's a matter of trial and error with good recipe with good temp control. Nowadays just plain lazy to do fried cookies, hahaha!

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  9. Anon,
    thanks for the recipe, i'll try that next year :)


    busygran,
    The weirdest part is the copper mould made the oil brown too!


    Hody,
    It's hard to say no when family loves it.. die die do right!


    Bee,
    Oh yes, not easy... truly not!

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  10. 我一直没有勇气做这个,感觉会很难,呵呵:)

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  11. 这蜜蜂斗脆饼,我超喜欢,每年都吃很多哟!
    若您有很多,不妨请我来吃呀!哈哈!

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  12. i like the last picture, the shape is so beautiful and smooth, golden brown color just look so perfect...

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  13. I agreed with you. No easy making this traditional cookies. The last time I made these I also wanted to cry ha ha.. I threw out half the batter because I can cope doing all on my own. Too bad this year I don't have the time to make anything so no CNY for us :(

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  14. Yay!! Fried treats! One word....WOW...they look amazing and i 'tabik' you for having the patience to try and try again. :)

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  15. i will get these every year..think they are selling around RM18-RM20 per container..i dont mind paying for that..cos i know i will never able to make those. Now i know the possible outcome of using copper compared to brass ones.

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  16. It really needs a lot of patient and sweat to make this one, so I don't even dare to try, hehe. I love those with sesame :)

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  17. Ha....there you are!! I actually not a fan of this cookies but they were nice to look at...;p Love the patterns...hehe! Nice and good experiments you had Wendy...bravo!!

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  18. This is a one CNY cookie that i want to learn and make, but i have yet to get a mould, now i know i need to get a brass mould..Thanks for sharing your experiences, much appreciate.

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  19. I bought this last year from pasar malam,can tasted like they used the cheap oil.

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  20. 鲸鱼蓝蓝蓝,
    Not really la..if u used the right recipe and right mould, it's not hard to make. And the right recipe is the hard part.



    “追食富迪”,,
    come come come!



    Sherleen,
    I wished every piece is like that, ahaha



    Gert,
    oh, is it? i also did this on my own. But then, it's the initial frustration that will tempt us to give up.



    Sharon,
    If I dun try, I tak boleh tahan, cannot sleep, right until I get something decent.



    lena,
    I sell to u la! hahahaha



    Min,
    with sesame taste nice, but dun look that nice.



    Reese,
    Thank you for the support and advice given, really appreciate it.



    Sonia,
    make make make and yes, brass mould!!



    Jes,
    oh, they must have made it long ago, chou yau yik right?

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  21. I really admired your determination.

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  22. I just made these today using my mom's brass mold according to Billy Law's recipe, except I subbed half the flour with cornstarch and they turned out well. My leftover oil was quite dark.

    http://www.atablefortwo.com.au/2010/02/08/kuih-loyang-kuih-rose-honeycomb-cookies/

    Su

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  23. Everyday have a look at your blog , waiting for your cny cookies ,at last can see it...coz dunno what to make.Thanks for your sharing .Hope to see more so can get idea from u.

    Yvonne Yeo

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  24. Hi, Wendy!
    Actually u want the best result with beautiful shape, all depend on your mould. U have to buy copper mould which is made from Thailand and have the CERTIFICATE one. That is the perfect mould. If the mould u bought is without certificate, then that is the "PALSU" one!!!

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  25. anonymous,
    oh, got cert one ah. Actually this copper one that I bought very cheap only RM6, where got certificate, hahaha!
    but thanks for this info. If I ever go to Thailand, I'll get some from there

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  26. Wendy,
    No need to go Thailand, we can also get it in Malaysia.

    LLS

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  27. LLS,
    oh, then I have no idea where to get the real stuff in Malaysia. I places I go to, seems to offer all the fake ones only.

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  28. Northern state i.e Kedah is easier to get this stuff. If not mistaken, my aunt bought this at around RM20++

    LLS

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  29. My girl ( she's a science nut ) said it's probably a physics issue, not chemistry. The thickness of the brass mold in this case here retains heat better and cooks evenly.

    Untinned copper device causes oil to break down and that's probably the reason for the dark colored oil. Then again, that's her theory.

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  30. LLS,
    Kedah got a lot of Thai stuff to buy, for eg: Changloon. Here, tarak la.


    Experimental Cook,
    Oooo.. thanks for the explanation.
    The thickness part and heat retention part, I do understand. Those made with brass ones actually cook slower than the ones (even after release) made with copper mould. That's the part I can't get it, even after release. If it's still stuck there, then I know it's due the transmission of heat thingy.
    oh, copper devices should be tinned? But then again, the one i bought is kinda inferior, it dents easily compared to the one that belongs to my hubby grandmother. It's "harder".
    Really appreciate this. Thanks!

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  31. Very beautiful 'bee hives' !! I love this cookies very very much. Thanks is much for sharing!

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  32. I've always wanted to make these but I'm too afraid of deep frying. Yours look absolutely delicious!

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  33. thanks for sharing. you have a wonderful blog and i love the way you explain things step by step with photos :)

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  34. These are my favourite CNY snacks! Very addictive! I love to break off each "petal" and eat them slowly one by one ...:)

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  35. why my honeycomb only half the thickness? why why why! do until quiet frustrated and it looks oily too . please help

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  36. Anonymous,
    Are you using a brass mould or a copper one?
    If it's copper, as in a cheap copper one that cost less than RM10, then this is what happened to me too.
    If it's a brass mould then it's definitely due to your oil. It's not hot enough. When oil is not hot enough it makes food look oily. And because it's not hot enough, it doesn't stick well to the mould.

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  37. I rem when I was still a little girl, my mom used to make this. She has the brass ones and they looked so easy to make. But when I tried my hands on it, I know it's not easy. I've never tried making them again, just sit back and enjoy my mom's cookies. But she has not made these for more than a decade, I wonder if she still have the mould with her..

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  38. Hi Wendy, may I know where I could get the brass mould from KL? Im visiting KL soon would like to bring it home and make some :) dont like the ready-made ones it smell oil ;) thanks, Michelle

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  39. Michelle,
    Which part of KL will u be visiting? Most crockery shops will have it

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  40. Hi Wendy, Im planning to stay around the Chinatown area, am grateful if you could provide address :) my email is michelle.mynet@hotmail.com dont mind taking taxi or lrt ;)thanks, Michelle

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  41. Michelle,
    I'm sorry that I can't provide you with the exact address, but I do know that there are a few shops in that area that sells kitchen stuff, not fancy shops, but those with old world charm :)
    It shouldn't be far from the LRT station, I heard.

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  42. Michelle,
    Got this one for you, it's the one near to the LRT station. I heard they do wholesale too, so prices could be attractive. The shop's name is Yoong Seng
    http://www.yellowpages.com.my/company/yoong-seng-tembikar-sdn-bhd-75559,wp.html

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  43. If you keep the batter cold and heat up the mold before dipping, it will turn out beautifully. I've never had any problems.

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  44. My family usually adds corn flour instead of all purpose flour. :)

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  45. may i know what can replace if dont use coconut milk. need to use coconut milk?

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  46. Karen Lim,
    Regional way of doing it uses coconut milk. Scandinavian way will use milk and no sesame seeds. Up to you to choose.

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  47. Hello: is it possible to make flower shaped cookies with copper mould with only the mixture of maida, sugar and littel bit of baking powder? please suggest me

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  48. I was wondering where you got the mold to make the cookies.

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