Hello everyone!
Sorry I had been missing for about 2 months. One of my dog passed away in November and I really couldn’t bring myself to do anything. Emotionally I was very tired and I just needed some rest before I make a big drastic change in my career, (plus, my computer wasn’t working well). Hence, I wasn’t blogging. Anyways, 2015 is here and I’d like to wish you (sorry, a little late, but better late than never) a Happy New Year!
2014 has been good for me in terms of travelling, and I had also some good job opportunities. It ended on a sad note unfortunately but I look forward to 2015. This year, I will put focus on learning. So yes, more skills, more knowledge. (and also more travels of course, always)
Let’s start the year with a recipe. The much anticipated festive is just 5 weeks away and I’m not kidding, Chinese New Year songs are singing ablast in shopping malls, red and gold decorations are abundance and cookies are EVERYWHERE! Yup. it’s 5 weeks away and there are already tubs and tubs of cookies available for purchase. For me, I always try to bake some because I can be sure to use good ingredients and not skimp on quality ;). So now, I’m trying out some new recipes to add into the Chinese New Year Cookie repertoire.
German Crunch Cookies. I wish I can tell you why it is named so. Upon googling, I believed its origin is from this part of Asia, Malaysia or Singapore and not actually from Germany as most of the recipes are from local bloggers. It could maybe be similar to Uppåkra (A Swedish Butter Potato Cookie) that uses potato starch as well. But I can’t be sure if it is so as I have not taste or seen Uppåkra before. At first glance, it’s whitish appearance may trick you to believe it’s a modern version of kuih bangkit, but it is NOT. It’s more of a spinoff butter cookie that melts in your mouth. Maybe similar to a melting moment + shortbread.
This cookie uses potato starch and it is primarily the factor that gave it a very light texture and melts the moment you eat it. Don’t even bother substituting it with anything else if you wish to achieve the same texture and mouth-feel. The ingredients are simple and very easy to make. BUT I must say that the dough can be quite soft to handle. It’s soft, but it doesn’t stick onto your fingers. Also, as the butter content is quite high, you may not want to fiddle with the dough as much. Recipe is adapted here.
- 125g salted butter
- 40g icing sugar, sifted
- 125g potato starch
- 80g all-purpose flour
- Preheat oven to 165 C.
- Cream butter and icing sugar till light and fluffy.
- Sift in potato starch and flour into the butter. Cream to form a soft dough. If it is too soft to handle, add a little flour to it.
- Roll into small balls of 5-10g each. Arrange on a lined baking tray about 2 cm apart. Dip fork in water then press lightly on the ball to create a pattern. Continue till all dough is finished.
- Bake in preheated oven at 165 C (with fan) in the middle rack for 15 minutes.
- Once cooked, remove from oven and place on a cooling rack. Keep in an air-tight container.
Enjoy!
