Valentine Cookies

Valentine's Day is just around the corner and these delicious "shortbready" custard cookies are just the perfect gift for your loved ones.  And what's more they are homemade with love!

Decorated with pretty ribbons and strings, I'm sure they will bring a smile of delight to the ones who receive them ....

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

 

 

Valentine Cookies

Ingredients

100g butter
80g icing sugar
1 egg
220g plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
30g custard powder


Method

1) Preheat oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

2) Beat butter and icing sugar till creamy.  Add in the egg and continue to beat until light and fluffy.

3) Sift in the flour, baking powder and custard powder.

4) Mix together and knead lightly into a dough. 

5) Roll the dough between two sheets of baking paper until about 8mm thickness.

6) Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out shapes. Using a straw, poke two holes in the centre of the cookies. Place them onto the baking tray.

7) Bake cookies for 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and leave to cool on a rack.

8) Stack a few cookies on top of each other. Run a ribbon or string through one of the holes of the top cookie all the way down to the bottom cookie and then through the other hole of the bottom cookie and string it all the way up again. Tie the two loose ends of the ribbon/string into a pretty bow on top of the cookies.


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If you would like to decorate your heart cookies with icing, you can try this runny icing:-

Royal Icing

Ingredients
1 egg white
1 tsp lemon juice
8-10 heaped Tbsp icing sugar
food colouring

1) Place the egg white in a mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice and one heaped Tbsp of icing sugar. Stir with a spoon (do not use an electric beater. You are mixing, not whipping the egg white). Continue adding the icing sugar spoon by spoon until you get a white icing, which should be runny, but not watery.
   
2) You will need 8-10 Tbsp of sugar, depending on the size of your egg white. Always have some icing sugar on the side in case you need more, and if the icing becomes too thick, add a teaspoon of water to thin it down. You can mix in food colouring of your choice.

3) Spoon the icing directly onto your cookies and use the back of the spoon to smoothen it around. Leave aside to harden.

 Homemade with love ...

Kuih Bangkit (Tapioca Cookies)

Kuih Bangkit is another one of our all time favourite Chinese New Year cookies. I got a couple of new sea shell moulds from my sister this year and they are just perfect for these cookies as they are white in colour and look just like the real sea shells!



Kuih bangkit shells on a bed of sandy brown sugar!

 

 



Love these sea shell moulds!

Kuih Bangkit
(Recipe by Kevin Chai)

Ingredients
3 egg yolks
120g castor sugar
150ml thick coconut milk
400g fried tapioca flour *

* Fry the tapioca flour with 3 pandan leaves (cut into 4cm pcs) in a wok or pan on low heat till light and dry (about 40 mins). Leave to cool overnight.

Method
1) Beat egg yolks and castor sugar in the mixer with a whisk. Beat until light and fluffy, then add in coconut milk slowly and mix until well combined.

2) Sift the tapioca flour in a mixing bowl, add in coconut milk mixture slowly and mix until resemble crumbs. Cover with a wet kitchen towel.

3) Prepare a wooden mould, dust some tapioca flour in the mould, fill the mixture in the mould, press firmly. Knock out the cookies and arrange and arrange on a lined baking tray with baking paper. Decorate with red spot.

4) Bake in the preheated oven at 180C for 15-20 minutes. Dish out, leave to cool and store in airtight containers.