Murukku Rosettes

Murukku in Malaysia is widely known as the mosquito-coil-looking savoury spiced fried treat during Deepavali. It is loved by all races here. It is not uncommon to see Murukku served during Chinese New Year and Eid in Malaysia, we are after all a multiracial country and food enhances this bond that we have.

In India, there are many types of murukku, but here in Malaysia, once Murukku is mentioned, the coil shaped one comes to mind.

Kuih Kapit @ Coconut Love Letters

Duck motif

When I was a kid, I didn't know how to pronounce this properly... Koi Kapek, Koi Kapiat or even Gugapek, hahahahaha!

Each year, I will look forward to the precious two cans my maternal aunts will pass to us when we visit them on Chinese New Year day 1. And when I was 9 (I think), my siblings and I pestered my mom to make our own. Two cans each year just wasn't enough!

Coffee Almond Cookies

Two years ago, my friend Shenny, gave me a few pieces of cookies that she got from Hong Kong. They were tasty. She asked me if I will be able to crack the recipe. Well.... It's not an easy feat, not if we want to use natural coffee (instant is better than emulco, I guess) and avoid certain ingredients.

Because it's a replication.... it's not easy compared to baking anything I like or think of. It has to be something like it, look almost like it, taste almost like it.

Kuih Bangkit ~ Gluten Free Coconut Cream Cookies 薯粉饼

Kuih Bangkit.... It is a local traditional cookie, one of the staples for Chinese New Year and Eid.
Some people will make this with tapioca starch, some swear by arrowroot flour for best melt in the mouth effect and some will use sago flour to replace that elusive arrowroot flour.

In the olden days, this cookie was baked over charcoal. And I have only seen that being done once in my life, at my kindergarten teacher's home. I'm glad that in recent years, I had the chance to eat charcoal baked kuih bangkit again, made by distant relatives, and they are soooo much better than oven baked. The base of the charcoal baked ones were brown and the cookie was so flavorful and fragrant.

Black Sesame Cookies

A simple black sesame cookie with only 4 ingredients, that is if you find toasting the sesame not difficult :)

Black may not look auspicious for Lunar New Year, but i think most of us, do wear black during the festival nowadays. We have modernized, right? Hehehe.

Cranberry Orange Cookies

Yummy! My hubby said these were so good. It was at Peabody's site that I first came to know of these cookies.

I like the refreshing taste of orange in this, with chewy cranberry bits that contrasts with the crisp cookie. The orange sugar coating adds some glitter to its outlook.

Pineapple Tart Cookies (Open Faced)

I sold these 19 years ago for Chinese New Year... when I just completed my SPM (something like high school exam) while waiting for my exam results. My clients were just friends. They asked for more the next Chinese New Year. But I was doing my Form 6 (Pre-U), so, I can't sell anymore. That was the only time I sold Chinese New Year cookies.

I found this recipe from The Star Newspaper somewhere from 1993-1995, I'm not sure as I had a habit of collecting recipe cuttings. In those days, I can't afford to buy recipe books and we subscribed The Star, and I only need some effort to cut and collect the free recipes.

Goiabinhas @ Brazilian Guava Cookies - Cookies #4

baked and lightly golden :)

Someone close to me went to Brazil on a business trip and asked me if I needed anything. The first thing that sprang to my mind was Goiabada, the pink guava paste that I once read about on Lena's Romeo and Juliet cake.

When  this person went there.... the hotel he was staying was just right beside a supermarket, and so he tried to find it  for me. He told me, "You are soooo lucky. These are the last 2 packs on the shelf".

Toffee Oatmeal Cookies - Cookies #3

I forgot where I took this recipe from! A thousand apologies, but it's not mine. I didn't realise I didn't note down the source when I was to blog  about it. All the conversions that I weighed from  measuring with cups earlier were written down...but the source was forgotten. So sorry!

I also forgot how many pcs this recipe yield, maybe around 40 pieces. But then again, it depends on big you make them

Hamantaschen @ Haman's Hat with Apricot - Cookies #2

Hamantaschen means Haman's hat,  a traditional Jewish cookie that is eaten during Purim festival  to remember the defeat of their enemy named Haman. Read  story here.Haman wore a triangular hat, and so.. that was the reason for the shape of the cookie. In Israel, they are known as Oznei Haman, as in Haman's Ears.

Ghraybeh Fustok @ Pistachio Shortbread - Cookies #1

I made this cookie twice in a day.

First I tried the one that I think is more traditional, with ghee and rosewater. I wasn't too happy with it and I tried another version that is more  modern I think, as it uses butter, vanilla and has cornstarch in it.

Easy Makmur Cookies - Nutty Treats #2

I love kuih makmur. Melty and buttery on the outside, sugary peanutty on the inside! Heaven!

I was introduced to this cookie by my ex colleague Hashita. Once bitten, never shy! I was crazily in love with it and was searching around for one that will match Hashita's mom's. Sadly, none!
Most tasted rather firm, rather than melt in the mouth. Even though the bought cookies used ghee as well, but it's not really that melty, compared to the ones Hashita gave me.

When I first made these 10 years ago, I toasted the flour, even when nobody told me so. I don't remember why I did that, but I think it's because of an advice I heard from an old friend that sunning the flour makes cakes lighter, and so I chose the toast instead of sunning, LOL. It's much quicker!
But then recent years after reading blogs, I do read some recipes calling for the flour 'disangai', that means to be toasted. ah-ha, so that step of mine was actually correct!

Barazek - Nutty Treats #1

Phew! My first Baking Workshop was over!

Thanks for all the support, be it with your presence at the exhibition or mentally through the encouraging words you left for me. Thank you all!
It was a great success and although being jittery after a long break from 'public speaking', I'm glad I got it done properly. It made me feel I was once teaching in school again, LOL.

For those who couldn't make it to the live demo, and would want have the recipes, don't worry. This week I will share 3 of the recipes to you. Today will be the first one.

Tebaloi, Sago Cookies - Sarawak MFF #2

Lydia loved this, she said it taste like milk cookies. LOL.

Tebaloi is a traditional snack of the Melanau tribe of Sarawak. I first had a taste of this back in 2001 when I went to Sarawak for 11 day, on a fun trip with my uni mates. I fell in love with it at first bite. It was absolutely delicious and addictive. We bought these mostly at souvenir shops and they don’t come cheap for that few pieces of cookie. Now it’s even more expensive, 50% more of what I used to pay, if I didn’t remember wrongly. It used to be RM2 per box, but now it’s RM10 for 3.

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.

Coconut Currant Butter Cookies

I love Danish cookies. Do you?

Which is your favourite? The pretzel shaped one? The rectangular? The ribbon like ‘C’ or the plain round cookie?
Mine is the one with coconut and currants. The coconut is pretty light, but I knew it was there. It’s in the list of ingredients, but you won’t taste it in other shapes.

So, today I tried to make something similar, hahaha. I melted the butter (so that the cookie will fall flat and spread), and I whacked the eggs to create aeration since the butter is melted (Don’t want to use too much baking powder). Weird method, right? But I think I’ll skip the cornstarch next time, as it tasted too fine or I’ll just use all purpose flour.

This is the actual size of the cookie

But overall, quite nice, not there, but quite near. That one has a better crunch rather than tasting “fine”, texture wise. But you can give it a try, nothing wrong. Those that comes in the blue tin is sweet, and these cookie's sweetness is about that, sweet but not too sweet. The currants give the cookie a nice fruity tang and it complements the sweetness. But then again, the sugar is needed to make the cookie go flat and spread.

If you prefer your cookie to have better stature, rather than falling flat, just use creaming method, Do not melt the butter and whack the eggs.

Coconut currant cookies
Recipe Source: Wendyywy

125gm butter
125m cake flour
25gm corn starch
25gm dessicated coconut
40gm icing sugar
½ tsp baking powder
40gm currants
1 egg
60gm sugar

Fall flat method (LOL : )
1. Preheat oven to 160(fan)/180C
2. Melt butter and let it cool down.
3. Mix cake flour, corn starch, coconut, icing sugar, and baking powder together. Then mix in currants.
4. Beat egg with sugar on high speed for 5 minutes.
5. Mix flour mixture with melted butter.
6. Pour in 1/3 of beaten egg into (5) and combine well.
7. Pour in another 1/3 and combine and lastly repeat with balance of eggs.
8. With 2 small spoon, take 1 tsp of the dough and form balls and put onto baking tray.
9. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden.
10. Cool on wire rack and keep air tight.

The typical cookie pose

Somehow I feel sick of taking cookie pictures, so I threw my temper at them and made them tumble over

*evil look*

Muahahahaha!!!

That's it! No more cookie posts from me for an indefinate period of time.

"6 days of Cookies" is officially over!

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #3: My Favorite CNY Cookie (Jan 2011)

The Best Melt in the Mouth Pineapple Tarts (enclosed version)

This is not a recipe for someone who is weight conscious. Fattening cookie ahead!! Warning!!! Do not proceed if you are on a diet.

I haven't been baking pineapple tarts for 5 years. This year I came out from pineapple tart hibernation. It's not because I was sick of it, but I don't like making the same cookies each year. Last year, I didn't make any cookies at all, besides frying arrowhead chips. And this year I didn't fry any, and won't be planning to fry any. There're lots of other things to eat besides cookies and how much can one's stomach take in. Kekekeke. I'd save the space for good stuff, like prawns, abalone, bla bla bla bla bla......

I’ve seen this recipe many many years ago, during my early years of blogging. I saw it on many blogs then, but not now. Never seen it since 2006. Many of those blogs who tried this recipe are no longer active. And those who tried this recipe all found it lip smacking delicious, one even wanted to spank the recipe source, Josh. Hahaha. I've been KIVing this recipe for so so long, and I finally tried it out this year.

When I looked at the recipe, gosh: Butter, Cream Cheese, Whipping cream, egg yolks. How can this recipe not be soft and melty? And I read through the forum where this recipe was posted. I anticipated a soft sticky dough that will be hard to manage. I’ve never made enclosed versions before, so this is my maiden attempt.

When I mixed the dough, it was indeed very very soft. Looks like a cake batter, but a thicker one. So I quickly turned on all the airconds in my living room. With a lower room temperature, the dough will be easier to shape. That was my assumption.

See, it’s like cake batter, but it’s not sticky. Tested before the air-cond was on.

After I prepared the dough, I let the dough sit. It helps to make it more manageable rather than shaping it straightaway. During this time, I rolled my homemade pineapple jam. They are rolled into tiny balls, as big as a 10 sen, about 1cm diameter only. The amount of jam I made was slightly more for this amount of dough. The extra can be used for spreading on bread or other bakes. Keep them chilled while you prepare the dough balls. Cold jam helps with the wrapping process. They are more "solid" when cold.

Then I made balls of dough, double the size of the jam.

And I wrapped them up. Quite slow in the beginning, but picked up pace as I got the hang of it.

See my wrapped up tarts? Roll them round and nice.

After that I preheated the oven at 160(fan)/180C and made marks on my cookies. Brushed with egg yolk and baked them for 20 minutes. The recipe says 15 minutes, but I find they look nicer with 20 minutes. If I baked them at 180C in my convection oven, it takes 15 mins, yeah, but the colour is not that even, top is browner. So, I prefer to go lower and longer for a nicer finish.

These were baked at 160(fan) C for 20mins, whereas those in first pic were baked at 180C for 15 mins.

Notes to take note:

1. Wrap with clean hands. If your hands touch the jam too much, it’ll cause ur fingers to be sticky, and the wrapping process will be sticky. Wash it from time to time, or just try to keep one hand dirty with jam, not both hands.

2. Do not handle the dough too long. Wrap it as quick as u can.
3. You can push the dough to wrap around the jam, no need to roll it big and huge before you wrap. It’s soft enough to be pushed around the jam. More trapped air means high chances of cracked tarts.

4. Turn the air conditioning on. It helps. I just put it at 25C. Just make sure the room is not too hot, as in above 30C. I didn't even put the dough into the fridge halfway shaping.

Oh yeah, the ingredients, kekeke. Here’s the list of it and method to prepare the dough.

Melt in the Mouth Pineapple Tarts

Source: Gan55/Josh

Makes 125 pieces of tarts the size of Penang's dragon ball biscuit

250gm butter (salted), please don't use Buttercup, Butterblend or Farmcows, it's not real butter

75gm caster sugar

170gm cream (I used whipping cream, dairy of course!)

50gm cream cheese
3 egg yolks
400gm cake flour
30gm corn starch

One more yolk for glazing
Homemade pineapple jam from 2 large Morris pineapples

1. Cream butter, sugar and cream cheese together.
2. When it comes together, pour in cream and whip on medium speed (I used speed 2 on my hand mixer) for 10 minutes. Scrape the sides from time to time. It may look lumpy, don’t worry, later it’ll turn all creamy.
3. Beat in egg yolks for 1 minute.
4. Sift both flours and pour half of it into buttery mixture. Mix on low speed until it comes together and pour in the remaining flour and beat until it comes together. Do not over mix.
5. Let dough sit for 10 minutes minimum before you start wrapping your jam with it. Method, please scroll up :p

Verdict:
Gosh, this got to be the best enclosed tart ever. This is my maiden attempt in making enclosed tarts, but I've eaten lots of enclosed tarts and handled lots of different doughs before. Compared to cornstarch laden enclosed tarts, this is a clear winner. It’s not very fragile. It doesn’t crumble in your hands that easily compared to cornstarch or custard powder ones, but the way it melts in your mouth and not in your hands is truly delicious. I’ve eaten tarts fresh from the oven, and usually they are slightly crispy, and one needs to wait one or 2 days for it to turn soft and crumbly. Not this one. It’s melty the moment it’s out from the oven, melty but not fragile. I could just easily arrange them in the containers. It's due to the liquid cream added, the "fat" emulsion helped the dough to be more sturdy but yet remain soft and flaky. Better in terms of handling (very slightly elastic when raw, this helps with the wrapping and sturdy when baked) compared to recipes that uses loads and loads of butter. And the cream cheese added a beautiful dimension to the taste and texture. Lyanne even shook one container but they stayed complete, not broken nor shattered. Just bits of crumbs stuck to the side of the container, but remained whole and no one will notice if you clean the container later. My mom after tasting one piece demanded that I make more of this. Hahahaha. That is a command from Mommy dearest, my biggest fan.

This will the recipe that I will stick to the rest of my life, if I'm making enclosed tarts. There's no need to search for another when I've already found the best.

The real size is about 30% smaller than those in these 2 pictures

Lyanne shook these, see they're still whole!! But the egg glaze was "traumatized" by her shaking.

Yummy! Will be making a double batch in few days time.

I just cooked 4 large Morrises, by Mommy's demand.

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #3: My Favorite CNY Cookie (Jan 2011)

This post cannot display anymore comments, due to my template's restriction.
May I suggest that you read through all the comments as I might have answered the same questions before.

FAQ:
1. How long will the cookie last: I kept it few weeks before.
2. How come the base is flattened or distorted : Jam too moist
3. Dairy whipping cream can be found at the same aisle with fresh milk and cheese and it's not the spray type. Fat content 35%. Non dairy cream is not recommended
4. Sometimes our weighing equipment could be a bit off, or the weather is too humid and the dough turns a little stickier than seen in the picture. You can add a bit extra flour, but it should not exceed 2 Tbsp. Just add until you can touch it with a clean finger and comes off clean.

More questions can be asked here on my FB. Thank you :)

Chestnut Cookies

When I saw this cookie on Jennifurla's , I was totally smitten. Chestnut!!! How creative this is.
And with 2 packs of chestnuts that I have, I just can’t give this recipe a miss.

The recipe is adapted from a Russian tea cake/Mexican wedding cake recipe, something similar to our local Kuih Makmur, a popular Raya cookie. So, if you love chestnuts and those said cookies, you shouldn’t not try this.It's not difficult to make, provided if don't need to peel ur own chestnuts.
It dense (not fluffy) due to the moist finely milled chestnuts, but melts in the mouth, plus, it’s wonderfully fragrant with chestnuts.

But one confession to make, Lyanne’s saliva is present in this cookie. When I went to Jusco few days back to do my weekly grocery shopping, Anchor butter was on sale, so I took 6 blocks. While queuing to pay money, Lyanne grabbed a block of butter, unwrapped it and started licking the butter. Lydia screamed ,"Mommy, SEEEEE!!" Lyanne was happily savouring that unfortunate block of butter. I quickly removed it from her, placed the wrapper back on and proceeded to queue. Lyanne screamed at me, asking for that butter back. LOL. It was a funny and ugly sight. Kid screaming for butter at the supermarket, I'm still laughing now.

My kids love butter as much as I do. It’s in the genes. So, when I wanted to make this cookie, I used up the contaminated block first. Anyway, that’s kid’s saliva and it’s baked, so, whatever that might be in there, is already killed. It’s safe! LOL.

All that I got from the recipe, 130 pieces of cookies in raw form

Chestnut Cookies
Loosely adapted  from Smitten Kitchen
Yields: 130pcs smallish cookies the size of a small fishball.

225gm butter, softened
50gm icing sugar
225gm roasted chestnuts (I used packaged roasted chestnuts, pics seen at the bottom of this post, I ate a few, which was why I was left with 225gm)
250gm +50gm cake flour
Icing sugar for coating (won’t need much, but it depends on your coating technique :p)

1. Mill package chestnuts until fine. Mix with 250gm cake flour.
2. Mix butter and icing sugar with a large spoon. No need to beat til fluffy, just mix to combine.
3. Pour half of the chestnut flour into butter mixture and mix. Add in the balance.
4. If dough is too wet and soft, adjust with the 50gm of flour, you may not add all. Some chestnuts are drier and some are wetter.
5. Form small balls of dough, as big as a small fishball, or the size of a small lime.
6. Preheat oven to 180(fan)/200C
7. Arrange on baking pan (1 inch space is enough) and bake for 12 minutes. If your cookies are larger, please extend the time.
8. Place ½ cup icing sugar in a small basin, if icing sugar is clumpy, run it in the mill for a few seconds.
9. When cookies are done, remove from oven. While they are still hot, coat with icing sugar by putting a few of the hot cookies into the icing sugar(8) and move the basin with a sifiting motion to coat. Place sugared cookies back on to tray and let it cool and coat the rest of the cookies in the same way.

in its baked form and the difference of being bare and made up with "powder"

that's the size of my cookie by comparison

I hated the wind when I took these pictures. Blew away all the nice "make up"

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #3: My Favorite CNY Cookie (Jan 2011)

Apricot Sesame Cookies

When I was a teen, I’ve always wanted to bake cookies with jam fillings. And they always, always bubble and overflow and get burnt even before the cookie is done. I never knew why and always have been skeptical when it comes to baking with jam.

Then I made my first jam. Then I found that real jam will not bubble that much, because when I cooked it, the setting stage has already gotten past all the bubbling and bubbling. Most of our jams, especially the more affordable ones are made with pectin and flavouring, rather than real fruit. They consist of very little real fruit, and the preparation process is different from real fruit jam, which explains why it bubbles so much. And when I came across the recipe, I know, with my homemade real fruit jam, it will work perfectly.


If you all remembered, I bought a lot of sugar apricots and I also commented that my jam made with sugar apricot lacked tartness, which is usually found with apricots. Then for my balance of apricots(that I didn’t know what to do with earlier and after I baked the apricot yogurt cake, there was still 1 punnet left), I threw in the zest of one whole lemon and juice from the lemon as well. It worked perfectly and my sugar apricot finally had some tartness in it, to offset the super sweetness of the fruit. The lemony apricot jam really worked wonders with the flavor here.

Apricot Sesame Cookies Recipe
Source: Taste of Home

115gm butter
50gm caster sugar
170gm all purpose flour
Sesame seeds for rolling (mine is very very fine)
Homemade Apricot jam for filling (or buy the one that offers the highest fruit content)

1. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Sift flour and mix until incorporated.
3. Form small balls of dough about the size of a calamansi lime and roll them round and coat the balls with sesame seed. Place on baking tray (I didn’t line or butter the tray)
4. Preheat oven to 180/200C
5. With a wooden spoon or the handle of any other apparatus that seems suitable, make an indentation in the ball.
6. Fill indentations with some jam.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 12 minutes or until lightly golden.

8. Cool on a wire rack. Keep in air tight container.

Verdict: These are super yummy!! For a person who loves any bakes with fruits (or maybe anything with apricots, LOL), I'm super sold by this. I'd say, it depends on the jam. Maybe you can use homemade pineapple jam with this, as the cookie itself is soft and fluffy. Or maybe just make your own apricot jam for this. There are apricots in the supermarkets now, and if they are super sweet, just throw in lots of lemon zest and juice to add some nice tartness to it. With or without sesame? Personally, I find the sesame seeds nothing much on this cookie. Maybe they weren't toasted before hand. So, they weren't all that fragrant. It just makes it look better with not much taste. The next time I make this, I'll skip the sesame seeds. Save money and save time.

Maybe you'd ask, I don't want to make jam. Can I use any jam off the shelf? The answer, is maybe not. It might bubble and spill and get burnt even before the cookies are done. But there is onething called baking jam. I'm not sure about baking jam, though. I have never used it before, but I've seen it at bakery supply shops. it specifically states "baking jam", so it could be the type of jam you could substitute with if you don't have home made jam. Anyone can help with this?

I am thinking of experimenting with a jam that uses dried apricots so that readers from anywhere in Malaysia can make some, but wait, give me 3 more months. I am trying to clear my pantry as I am going to move end of February, and this time, it's for sure!!! I don't care and I want to move.

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #3: My Favorite CNY Cookie (Jan 2011)

Lemon Cloud Tea Cookies

Love these cookies!!! They are soft and fluffy, like clouds, but not like kuih bangkit that is dry and floury in the mouth. Very light and not cloying at all. One can easily down half a jar in one go. Hahaha.

My girls devoured them so quickly that I had to hide them. Hide them away so that I can have some too, hahahaha!!! Wicked Mother!!

Lemon cloud tea cookies
Adapted from : Technicolor Kitchen who adapted from Joy

105gm all purpose flour
55gm cornstarch
2 teaspoons baking powder
60g salted butter, softened
50g confectioners’ sugar
1 large eggs
1 teaspoon lemon juice (didn't half this)
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (didn't half this too)

1. Preheat oven to 160°C/180C. Line baking sheets with baking paper.
2. Sift the flour, cornstarch, and baking powder in a bowl. Set aside.
3. Combine the butter and confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on low speed with the paddle until well mixed. Increase the speed to medium and continue beating until light, about 2 minutes.
4. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Batter may look broken and curdled. Beat in the juice and zest.
5. Decrease the speed to low and beat in the flour mixture. Remove the bowl from the mixer and give the dough a few good turns with your spatula to bring it all together.
6. Arrange rounded teaspoons of the dough on prepared pans. Space the balls about 5cm (2in) apart. After all the cookies have been placed on the pan, flour a fork and press a crisscross design into the top of each mound of dough.
7. Bake the cookies until they spread and become golden, about 20 minutes. Slide the parchment paper off the pan to cool completely.

If your baking powder is fresh, I think the biscuits will be even puffier. But still, these are very good.

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #3: My Favorite CNY Cookie (Jan 2011)