Old Time Cookies - Kuih Siput

This is for old times sake, not exactly a cookie, more of a snack that my family used to make for Chinese New Year.  And yes, it's been so long since we had this :(  Wonder how many of my Chinese friends out there had this for CNY?  Do you make them still?

If I am not wrong, this snack has a Malay origin, i only know it by its Malay name which is Kuih Siput translated it means Snail/Shell Cakes (i like to think of it as shell which it resembles).  It's crunchy, savoury and spicy which makes it something very nice to munch on especially with a nice can of cold beer, very addictive i warn you!  

My memories recall my Mum mixing the dough and frying it while Pa (plus my sister and I as the little helpers) did the shaping with a grooved board similar to making gnocchi.  My Pa was very skilled at it, he even made his own board for this!  Unfortunately Pa can't recalled where he kept them when i asked him the other day.

I look at a few recipes but was quite lost in terms of the best water/fat ratio.  I had a pretty good idea of the spices that were in it though, so i played around twice and i am going to put the second attempt down for my future reference.  The shaping takes quite a bit of effort, i am still wondering how was it possible that we made them by the tins back then, given that there were 4 of us but still, it's quite a job...

Recipe

Ingredients

• 150g all purpose flour
• 30g butter
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tbsp fennel seeds, pounded
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds, pounded
• 1 1/2 tbsp dried shrimps, washed, soaked for 10 minutes then pounded
• 50ml water
• 1/2 egg (lightly beaten)

Method 

1. Sift flour then mix with salt, chilli powder, fennel, cumin and dried shrimps.
2. Rub in butter.
3. Mix in egg and stir well.
4. Add in water gradually and mix until a soft and smooth dough is formed.
5. Take a pinch of the dough, press it on a grooved board to get the imprints then using the thumb push it away from you, the piece of dough will roll up forming the shape of a seashell.
6. Heat up oil in a wok or frying pan.
7. Fry the shells over medium heat until golden brown.
8. Ensure shells have cooled before storing in an air tight container.

Note:

1. These are meant to be tiny morsels, making them big will result in shells that are so crunchy.
2. Fry over medium heat, high heat will caused them to brown too easily. 

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A little Bit of Amos Pecan Cookies

So, i am still on my Chinese New Year cookie baking marathon although it will be here in 5 days! Actually i only have 3 more days, minus 1 from travelling time back to hub's hometown and another to help mil prepare the reunion dinner on the eve. But in hindsight i have done quite a fair bit, 5 type of cookies already with enough for some sharing.  What is left is to repeat the cycle so that i can have more to share with loved ones and friends :)

This one was made with the purpose of using the pecans that i have in stock.  Might as well make good use of them and turned them into something Amos like which is well loved by many.  A simple crispy and crunchy cookie with pecans and Andes mint chocolate chips in it, need i say more??  

Recipe
Source: My Sugar and Spice And All Things Nice

Ingredients

• 150g butter
• 1/4 cup soft brown sugar
• 1/4 cup castor sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 1/2 cup self raising flour
• 1/2 cup choc chips (i used Andes mint choc chips)
• 1/2 cup lightly toasted pecan nut halfs (you can replace it with white chocolate chip or any other nuts)

Method 

1. Heat up oven to 180C degrees.
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add yolk and vanilla essence and beat further.
4. Mix flour, chips and nuts into batter with wooden spoon.
5. Spoon batter onto baking sheet and bake for 10~15mins
6. Cool on wire rack.

Note: Handle the cookies with care, as they tend to crumble easily.

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Old Time Cookies - La Sam Pia aka Chinese Five Spice Pinwheel Cookie

I am on a roll, after making my first old time cookies for the coming lunar new year, i found myself reminiscing about cookies that we had back then.   

When i was young, making cookies was a family affair,  everyone had a role to play, grandparents, uncles, aunties, cousins and all. My mum would be in charge of baking the more modern ones (i.e. those using butter/margarine and mostly baked) while the more traditional ones like kuih kapit (love letters) which were made over a charcoal stove were done at my grandma's place where there was a bigger space to setup the stove, working area and all.

We made cookies by the tins back then, recycle aluminium tins which were diligently collected, cleaned and stored away months ahead. No where were the plastic jars with red covers that we use nowadays in sight.

Since mum was in charged of the modern ones, we would make them at night in my home during the weekdays and if we were not too tired by the weekend we will join the gang at my grandma's place during the weekends.  Sessions at grandma's were especially fun although making those love letters over a charcoal stove at an average temperature of 32C was no laughing matter.  There were so many of us, chatting, sweating and laughing while carrying out our roles :) Somehow, traditions got lost, probably because there were no longer enough helping hands around after the younger ones grew up and left our hometown.  Reminiscing old times can be emotional at times...

This cookie that i have here is one that my mum used to make. Unique as there's an oriental touch to it.  A combination of sweet, savory and spicy.  I don't remember coming across it elsewhere. It's a little like the another chinese cookie called 'cow ear' biscuit but it's not, taste wise it's not as complex as those.   For ease of reference, i named it Chinese Five Spice cookie although we nicknamed it 'La Sam Pia' which translates to Dirty biscuit in Hokkien within the family! I know, i know, food and dirt are not suppose to go together, lol! If I remember correctly it was  because Big Uncle commented that they look like they had dirt on them because of the brownish wheel in between and the name stuck!  Btw, it's one of Big Uncle's favorite.

Mum has stopped baking cookies for a long time and she couldn't remember the recipe that she had used for it.  I tried making it last year but it didn't turn out quite right, the texture wasn't there.  It's not the buttery, melt in your mouth type of cookie, more like the crunchy and snap type.  I am pretty happy that it turned out quite like the way i remembered it this time.  I can't wait to surprise her with it and bring some for Big Uncle too :)

After comparing a few recipes, i decided to adapt from a checkerboard cookie recipe to recreate this cookie.  The original recipe used cake flour which i substituted to normal All Purpose flour to get the crunch.

Recipe
Adapted from: Do What I Like

Ingredients 

• 100g butter (room temperature)
• 70g castor sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 egg

Plain dough 

• 130g all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder

Spice dough 

• 125g all purpose flour
• 5g Chinese 5 spice powder
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp baking powder

Method

1. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Then add in vanilla essence and egg and cream till smooth and well combined.
2. Divide butter mixture into 2 equal portions.
3. Sift in plain dough into 1 portion of the butter mixture and spice dough into the other portion.
4. Blend each dough in its mixing bowl till a dough can be formed. 
5. Cover the dough with cling wrap then roll out each dough into a rectangular shape of 30cm x 20cm. .
6. Place the 2 doughs on top of the another and roll it up like a swiss roll. Roll tightly to make sure the 2 pieces of dough stick together.  The dough will become a long cylindrical shape of around 5cm in diameter. If the dough is too soft, refrigerate it for 5-10 minutes.
7. Cut dough into pieces of around 5mm wide.
8. Bake at 180C for 18 minutes or till the golden brown in colou

I'm submitting this post to the Bake Along event hosted by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce of Kitchen Flavours and Lena of Frozen Wings and the theme is 'Chinese New Year Cookies'.

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Old Time Cookies - Hup Tou Sou

Of late I find myself more fascinated with the traditional type of Chinese New Year cookies (the likes of kuih bangkit, pineapple tarts etc) than the modern ones.  Festive seasons have a nostalgic effect on me :)

This one here is the Walnut Cookie also known as Hup Tou Sou (核桃酥) in Cantonese.  It's a Cantonese baby hence the Cantonese name.  I only realised that traditionally these cookies did not have any walnuts in them although they are named such when i started looking for a suitable recipe! Which was surprising, the way i remembered them was they had a very nice nutty aroma in them.   No walnuts, can it be?

So i had to decide whether to go traditional full fletched, with or without walnuts? I decided to go with the walnuts, i figured it could only taste better and not otherwise.

I decided on Lily's recipe, one that she has fine-tuned a couple of times, pretty sure it will be good.  The recipe calls for peanut oil which i didn't have on hand, i went with sunflower instead.  I tweaked the recipe a little, instead of all oil, i rubbed in a little butter and reduce a slight amount of the oil used.  My thoughts were a little butter will make it more fragrant and some melt in your mouth effect.   Verdict? Love it!

As I was preparing this post, it came to my mind that this cookie tasted like one that i used to eat when i was a little girl.  The one that i used to take from a big glass jar with a plastic red cover (i wish i had a photo to show) that was placed atop the cashier counter at my grandmother's kopitiam!   Those cookies were meant for selling but they were not made by grandmother though.   So, i searched further to find out if they are the same cookies.  The moment i saw this post, i knew i was right, they were shaped exactly like the ones that i used to eat except those were much bigger, 3-4 bigger than the ones on the post.   I made another batch shaped exactly like the ones i used to eat as a child just for old times sake...

I am glad i picked this cookie to try.  It brought me back to the times when i had lots of fun with my sister and cousins in my grandma's kopitiam, among them climbing up the cashier counter to get these cookies :)

Recipe

Source: Lily's Wai Sek Hong

Ingredients 

• 90 g all-purpose flour 
• 1/2 tsp baking soda 
• 1/2 tsp baking powder 
• a pinch of salt 
• 40 g confectioners' sugar (reduced to 35g icing sugar)
• 1/2 cup roasted and ground walnuts 
• 75 - 80 ml peanut oil (reduced to 50-60ml if butter is used)
• 15g unsalted butter

 Egg Wash

• 1 egg yolk plus 1 tbsp water  (milk)

Method 

1. Sieve flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and confectioners' sugar. 
2. Add in the ground walnuts and mix well.
3. Rub in butter.
4. Add in peanut oil and knead into a soft dough. 
5. Divide dough into small portions (I use a melon ball scoop as a gauge but you can just eye ball the size you desire) and roll into a ball.  Flatten ball slightly and arrange them onto lined baking sheets.  (I used about 1 tbsp of dough and shaped it into a ball.  To get one with more edges, use something round and flat to press on the dough)
6. Glaze cookies with egg wash 
7. Put to bake in preheated oven 350F for 12 - 15 minutes until golden brown. Baking time defers according to the size of the cookies (Baked at 180C for 18minutes)

I'm submitting this post to the Bake Along event hosted by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce of Kitchen Flavours and Lena of Frozen Wings and the theme is 'Chinese New Year Cookies'.

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Eat and Thy Shall Prosper!

My first post for this year, if you have dropped by and noticed the absence, my apologies on that.  No excuse, plain laziness it was :)  I am becoming an awful blogger with my inconsistencies in updates and inability to keep abreast with updates from blogger friends.  I truly appreciate blogger friends who still drop by and leave a word or two, girls you are the best!

Chinese New Year is around the corner, 2 weeks to be precise.  Seeing lots of CNY goodies being served in the blogsphere gets one into the mood and drooling to say the least!

You would have most probably than not come across these 2 at some other places, but don't go away yet...according to Chinese believe these 2 are suppose to bring one fortunes.  So technically the more you eat (oops see it is actually) them, the more fortunes will come by, i hope!

What better way to welcome prosperity than to eat some pineapple rolls.   I must have them without fail, not so much for prosperity bit, it's just that they taste too good to miss them out.  For non Chinese, the believe stems from the the Chinese word for Pineapple (aka Ong Lai) which sounds like arrival of prosperity.  This is the second year I am using this recipe and I shall stick to it as I find myself loving it more this year! Last year I used the Nastar pump and I found it was no easy task, so this year I decided to hand roll it and draw some lines with the back of a fork.  Much easier and voila I have some truly handmade tarts on the pretext of laziness :)  I love how they turned out, like little gold bars??  Chinese, i am!

  

This other one is the Cashew Nut cookies.  They say it's the cashew that looks like the gold ingot from the olden days that puts the prosperity into this cookie :)  I remember being attracted to the ones that I saw at Small Small Baker's last year and so here's mine a year later! I like her idea of dainty shaped ones with the cashew on top covering the entire cookie, well almost if not.  And I had this little  crescent shaped cookie cutter that fits the bill.  Cute little morsels, aren't they?  And yellow bowl and flowers for more gold?

Hopefully there will be enough time for me to make (and post) another prosperity themed cookie, this time a savoury one :)

The recipe here is more for my own reference.  If you need a more detail explanation and minus the variations that I made please hop over to the source of the recipe.

Pineapple Rolls
Source : Food 4 Tots and reference to Life is Great-Pickyin

Ingredients

• 250g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
• 50g icing sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 360g plain flour mixed with 2 tbsp corn flour (sifted)
• ¼ tsp salt
• Pineapple filing (Take 6g or ½ tsp heapful of filling and shape into a small elongated roll).
• Egg wash – 1 egg yolk + 1 tbsp milk

Method

1. Cream butter and icing sugar until light.
2. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time.
3. Add in salt and beat until fluffy.
4. Fold in sifted ingredients (divided into 2-3 times) and mix into a firm dough.
5. Leave aside for 30 minutes.
6. Take around 8g of pastry and roll it into a long strip (length should be just enough to cover the filling by rolling up pastry around filling) on your palm. Then flatten the strip into a rectangular shape (width should be around width of filling).
7. Place pineapple filing at one end of pastry and roll up to cover filling leaving the ends exposed. Do not overlap the pastry. 
8. Press each roll with the back of a fork.
9. Brush with egg wash.
10. Bake in preheated oven at 170C for 15 minutes and turn the baking tray and continue baking for 2 minutes (for an even color) or until golden brown.
11. Leave to cool before storing.

Note:

1. I set my oven to 170C instead of the 160C recommended, it really depends on your oven temperature.
2. Please hop over to source of recipe if you would like to know how to use a pump to make the rolls.
3. I only weighed the first few fillings and pastries, it was more of gauging from the size of the weighed ones from then on.

Pineapple Jam

Ingredients

•  2 half-ripe pineapples, grated
• 200g granulated sugar (adjust according to preference)
• 4 cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick (5 cm long)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Method

1. Grate the skinned pineapple using the special pineapple grater until it reaches the core (the tough centre). Discard the core.
2. Drain the grated pineapples using a large sieve. Use a ladle to press the juice out until it is 90% dried up. Retain the pineapple juice for cooking later.
3. Use a wooden spoon, cook the grated and drained pineapples, putting in half portion of the sugar, cloves, cinnamon sticks and lemon juice in a large pot under moderate heat until it begins to boil.
4. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook, stirring occasionally.
5. From time to time, add the pineapple juice bit by bit when the juice in the mixture is almost evaporated. Repeat this step until all the juice is completely used up.
6. Add the remaining sugar bit by bit until the desired sweetness is achieved. This step can be done close to the end of the cooking.
7. When all the juices are used up and the mixture has started to look dry and caramelized, reduce the heat to low. Keep stirring until the mixture is almost dry and sticky with a golden-hue. It will take about 1-1½ hours.
8. Remove cloves and cinnamon stick. Set aside to cool and store in an air-tight container.

Cashew Nut Cookies
Source : Small Small Baker

Ingredients

• 110g butter
• 70g castor sugar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 egg (about 25g)
• 40g grounded cashew nuts* 
• 180g plain flour
• 20g cornflour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

* Bake cashew nuts lightly at 150 deg C for around 10-15 minutes till fragrance is released before grinding

Topping:
1 egg, separated
136 halved cashew nuts

Method

1. Cream butter and sugar till pale and creamy. 
2. Add in pure vanilla extract. Add in egg slowly, Beat until well-mixed.
3. Fold in grounded cashew nuts. Fold in sifted flours and baking powder gradually. Knead to form dough. 
4. Roll the dough to 4 cm thickness. Cut the dough using your favorite cookie cutter and place them on the baking tray. Brush a layer of egg white on the cookies and top each cookie with one halved cashew nut. (Brushing egg white helps the cashew nut to stick to the cookie well.) Brush a layer of egg yolk on top of the cashew nuts for a nice golden brown colour.
5. Bake at 180C for about 15 minutes till light golden brown.

Note:

These are the changes I will make for my next batch.

1. Add 1/2 tsp of  salt because I used unsalted butter most of the time.
2. Double the amount of grounded cashew nuts for a more nutty taste. 
3. Add 5g of sugar.

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Missing Christmas?

Happy New Year! May the year be filled with blessings for all of us.  6 days down, another 360 (yes, we have an extra day this year) to go, so I guess it's still not too late to wish for a blissful 360 days!

With Christmas behind us and Chinese New Year around the corner, I know something christmasy sounds way late, something auspicious to usher in dragon luck would be more timely instead.   But hey,  don't they say better late than never, moreover this is a Christmas after-effect, made possible by a Christmas present from afar.   So, join me as I take you on a little time travel...back to Christmas :)  

These are 2 bakes made some christmasy ingredients i received for christmas, chocolate mint and butterscotch morsels from  NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE.  I also found out that they have quite a bit of products with recommended recipes at their site that looks mouth-watering.  (Hint, hint, if you are reading)  I have never come across locally.  


First up, the Butterscotch Raisin Loaf. All I can say is this was really yummy! The morsels gave the bread a sweet, nice smelling buttery taste.  After getting the bread dough ready, just roll it flat, sprinkle with butterscotch morsels and raisins and roll it up again.  I followed a new tangzhong recipe for the bread dough but I found it wet making it quite a challenge to handle, I will stick to the recipe used for Fruity Braided Bread the next time around.

These chocolate mint cookies were good too, if you are the type who loves the minty flavour.  Little one doesn't, its like eating toothpaste to him :)  But I love them though, i like the refreshing and the slight burning effect.  I merely followed the recipe at the back of the pack, really easy.

Thank you for the nice gift, it was a new experience for me and i enjoyed learning how to use them.

Ok, time to go back in time, I promise it will be something that will bring the dragon roaring in the next time around! 

Have a great year ahead, everyone!

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Gong Xi! Gong Xi!

Chinese New Year is exactly a week away! Gong Xi, Gong Xi to everyone! May the rabbit come hopping in with lots of goodies for everyone!

Chinese New Year used to be all fun and play, it is still something to look forward to but nowadays it comes with a lot of chores and burns some pockets too (side effects of growing up :)). At the end of the day, I think it's all about getting together. The opportunity for family and friends to meet again. Hence, the need for food, food and food since there is nothing better that one can do during these get-togethers than to eat, eat, eat and eat!

This year I attempted to make some cookies. Actually, quite embarrassing to say that this is the first time I am making my own. Better late than never, I am glad that I made the effort this time!

I chose to make 2 traditional ones and 1 not so traditional one but has been around for awhile.



1. Peanut Cookies
This one is for Pa, he loves them. Keeping my fingers crossed that he will love mine too. I used Amy Beh of The Star's Kuali for recipe.


2.Pineapple Tarts
This is my favourite cookie. I just love that buttery, melt in your mouth pastry when it comes with a dollop of nice, not too sweet, sourish and fibery pineapple jam. They are so sinfully delicious. Since, I am on this mission to bake my own cookies, I had to try baking my favourite too. It sure was hard work, I never imagined that it was this much work! One had to grate the pineapples and then cook it over a slow fire for hours before it turns into jam! Apparently I read that one will regret if one uses the blender because of the difference in the texture between grating and blending. Since this is my first time, I obeyed every single advice to ensure no room for regrets, especially when it's so much work! No risk taking! Verdict? It was worth the hardwork. Recipe? Amy Beh again!

3. Cornflake Cookies
This modern day cookie is nothing compared to the other two. Very simple. It is nice but somehow not so authentic...or maybe it's all in the mind only. It's funny that when one starts to grow older, every other thing that is old turns into gold! One thing that I now know for sure is our foremothers(or fathers??) are sure tough cookies to follow :)

Happy Chinese New Year!

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