Dragon cookie

In China, the dragon and the phoenix are traditional animals symbolic of auspiciousness. Along with the lin and the tortoise, they were known as the "Four Supernatural Spirits." According to ancient records, the dragon appeared in a magical variety of forms. It could be long or short, small or gigantic. It could be both secretive yet active, and it also inhabited everywhere from the heights to the depths. Traveling between the skies and earth, dragons were considered the mounts of heavenly deities. They also had the power to control rain.During times of drought, dragons could bestow precious water, and in times of flood, they could stop the rain and clear the skies. It is so true especially when you make these cookies, they turned out long, short, small or gigantic. If the dough is not the right texture, you need dragon strength to pipe and when you are exhausted from piping, disappointment awaits when you open the oven door - the dragon had lost its' scales.

I did not realised that i have left out a whole egg from the recipe, therefore the dough was not right. I managed to adjust the texture with cooking oil and it did the trick - very smooth dough which this old phoenix can tackle. Managed to get a tray baked and it turned out fine but these cookies are so delicate that you have to treat them with tender loving care. To my surprise, the cooking oil did good, making the cookie melts in the month.

Time was not with me last night, it was too late to carry on baking. So, dough has to take a vacation. Very bad idea to let the dough rest, cos with time, gluten developed and the dough was tough as ever.

I refused to give up the idea of making dragons and came up with this new method which i would like to share.

Roll the dough, make straight design with the pineapple roll's rolling pin and then cut across into strips.

Shape the strips into dragons and dot the eye with red coloring

Ingredients:

150g butter

90g confectioner's sugar

350g cornflour

20g all purpose flour

1/2 oz milk powder

3 egg yolks

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

2 tbsp milk

2 - 4 tbsp cooking oil


Method:

Sift cornflour, all purpose flour and milk powder into a bowl. Set aside.

Sift confectioners' sugar into a mixing bowl. Add butter and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy.

Add yolks one by one, beating well after each. Add in , vanilla essence and milk. Mix well.

Fold in dry ingredients in (1) and mix until a soft dough is formed. Adjust dough texture with cooking oil.

Put dough into a piping bag. Using a star nozzle, pipe out an "S" shape. Dot the eyes red.

Alternatively, roll a tiny piece of dough and roll with the pineapple roll rolling pin to get the lined design. Cut into 2 - 2 1/2 inches strips, (smaller dragons are not as delicate) shape them into dragons and dot the eye red.

Bake in preheated oven at 350 f for 10 - 15 minutes. DO NOT bake till brown. These cookies are suppsoed to be white or yellowish.

Remove from oven and cool on wire racks.

Store in air tight container.

Notes:

Pipe the design as soon as the dough is ready and well mixed.

Using a smaller star nozzle, creates a better design and make the cookie smaller, longer dragons are too delicate and break, creating a storage problem.

I would suggest that when piping, have the star nozzle touching the baking sheet and pipe out in lines of length of about 2 1/2 inchs, then form the shape of "S"