Updated post on 6-1-2017

Upload a new recipes for vegetarian that is egg free and butter free. The cookies are much crispier than the non-vegan version. Please refer to the recipe in red.

INTRODUCTION

Hari Raya Aidilfitri is approaching and our Muslim brothers and sisters are busy preparing the cookies. When the owner of a Facebook Group posted a link to recipe of Biskuit Semperit or Biskuit Dahlia, I studied with great interest as it is one of the most common cookies served during the 1970’s and 1980’s.

In fact, until today, it is still very common during the festivals like Chinese New Year and Hari Raya.

The cookies is easy to prepare but it capture the hearts of many elders because it is beautiful and delicious. It is made using simple ingredient of butter, flour, sugar and eggs. Occasionally, custard powder was used to enhance the cohesiveness, the texture, the flavour and the colour of the cookies.

It is supposed to be shaped like a daisy flower, however, with the availability of new piping tips, more and more flower shape were created. I have piped my batter using Wilton 1M tip, cater for the creation of big swirl of rosette in cake decoration.

There are many names and the most common colloquial name is “melt in the mouth “ cookies. At time, they called it “cherry cookies” since there is a small pieces of cherry sitting on top of the biscuit. However, in Mandarin, it is called 挤花饼干 or literally translated as “piping biscuits”. In Malay, it is called Biskuit Semperit (piping biscuit) or biskuit custard (custard biscuit) or biskuit dahlia (Dahlia biscuit).

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Recipe adapted from: Biskut Semperit / Daisy Biscuits 擠花餅乾

Servings: Prepared about 50 biscuits depending on sizes of your biscuits

• 170 grams of butter, softened
• 170 grams of cake flour, sifted
• 85 grams of custard powder, sifted
• 100 grams of castor sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence
• 1 –2 tablespoons of diced cherry bits

VEGETARIAN RECIPE (素食谱）

• 250 grams of margarine (人造奶油或植物奶油）
• 425 grams of all purpose flour (中筋面粉）
• 25 grams of plain water (清水）
• 125 grams of icing sugar (糖粉）

Method of preparation is the same as non vegetarian recipe below.

STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Pre-heat the oven to 170 degree Celsius and get ready some baking tray lined with parchment paper.

• Cream the butter and sugar using a standing mixer until light and fluffy. Add in egg yolks and vanilla essence. Beat until well combined. Gradually add in the custard powder and cake flour in 3 phases, use the machine’s lowest speed to “stir” until well mixed. Note you can hand fold the flour if you wish.

• Transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with desired tip (in this illustration, I have used Wilton tip 1M and other suggested nozzle as per original recipe is star 2cm nozzle). Pipe the batter into a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Put a small diced cherry on top of each cookie. Bake in the pre-heated oven at 170 degree Celsius for about 15 minutes.

• Once taken out, let it rest in the baking tray before transfer them to a cooling rack for cooling. Cool completely before store in an air tight containers.

CONCLUSION

If you have never try this cookies, chances are you are much younger than I do. If that is the case, do give it a try and you will understand why this cookie is so popular among the elderly that bring lots of fond memories to them.

This recipe was included in Page 14 and Page 15 of the following E-book. 

For more Chinese New Year related cookies, snack and steamed cake recipes, you can have a copy of “Easy Chinese New Year Recipes – A step by step guide” that was packed with 30 recipes, 60 pages at a reasonable convenience fee of USD3.50. The recipes covered various recipes from auspicious radish cake to nian gao to traditional kuih bangkit to trendy London almond cookies. Of course not forgetting both type of pineapple tarts. You can purchase by clicking the link above. You can either pay using Pay Pal or Credit card account. Please ensure that you have an PDF reader like Acrobat or iBooks in your mobile phone or iPad if you intended to read it in your ipad or mobile phone. Should there be any problems of purchasing, feel free to contact me at kengls@singnet.com.sg and separate arrangement can be made.

Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.

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