Foodie

Friday, January 16, 2009

Peanut Cookie



These cookies must have been one of the oldest cookies served during the Chinese New Year, cos i used to make them following my grandmother's instruction. No written recipe to follow, just know the ingredients, which are ground roasted peanuts, sugar, lard and flour. There was no actual measurements, and somehow the cookie would turn out all right, sometimes sweeter, sometimes crunchier, sometimes not so flavorful.
We would only make these once a year, so the taste varied, the best part was, Grandmother did not realised why that year's cookie was not so flavorful, cos alot of peanuts were devout by us before they could be pounded(yes, the mortar and pestle was used to pound).
Lard was used and that enhanced the flavor and made the cookie very short. Nowadays, for health purpose, lard is not used. If you are game for the real Mccoy, use lard.
There is no fixed recipe and you could adjust it to your own liking. If you like it short, add more oil and if you like sweeter, add more sugar. The cookie will turn out good as long as you can roll it into a ball. The peanuts are the most important ingredient in this recipe, so make sure that they are roasted/fried until very golden brown, to ensure a very fragrant cookie.





Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups skinless peanuts , fried/roasted and processed till fine
1 cup fine granulated sugar
2 cups self-rising flour
1 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
5 - 6 fl oz cooking oil(preferably peanut oil)
Egg yolk + 1 tsp water for glazing


Method:
Mix the dry ingredients like sugar, salt, processed peanuts and flour until they are well-mixed and crumbly.
Add oil bit by bit and knead the mixture until the sugar is dissolved and a small piece of dough can be formed into a ball.
Roll the dough into small balls and place them on a lined baking sheet. Use a straw and press gently on the top of the balls to make round indents.

GLAZE with egg and bake in preheated oven 350f for about 12 - 15 minutes or until golden brown

Serves

24 comments:

Alexis Ng said...

thanks for sharing the recipe! i love peanut cookies! can never get enough of it! i'll try it out one of these days. hopefully i can form the dough into similar size of ball.

Anonymous said...

These melt in your mouth! Thanks Lily!

Mia said...

can i replaced the self-raising flour with regular cake flour? does it make any difference?

Unknown said...

k.a.

of course, just replace with all-purpose flour or cake flour with 1 tsp baking powder.

Unknown said...

claire

you ate them, they really melt in the mouth. if you want it to be more crunchy, use let oil.

felicakes said...

thank you so much for sharing this with us.

I use to help mom make this cookies for CNY too and I can not remember how she made it because like so many family recipes that is handed from one generation to the next, it's not written at all.

Now I know where to look when I miss home.

Anonymous said...

Hi Lily, approx. how much cookies will this recipe make? Love your site.

Unknown said...

anonymous

i think i have about 100 cookies. the cookie size is 3/4 - 1 inch after baking. make the balls a little bigger than 1/2 inch.

Anonymous said...

Aunt Lily:

You mentioned below,

k.a.

of course, just replace with all-purpose flour or cake flour with 1 tsp baking powder.

That means add 1 tsp baking power in addition to the recipe, total is 2 tsp??

Unknown said...

anonymous

yes, you are right 2 tsp baking powder cos you need 2 cups all purpose flour.

i hope k.a. reads tjos comment. i forgot to add that : to 1 cup of all purpose flour add 1 tsp baking powder to replace 1 cup of self ising flour.

Anonymous said...

Hi lily,
Been following your recipes for quite some time now.. I'm looking for the recipe for another type of peanut cookie. The round ones you find being sold in little tubs. I don't think it's baked. It's more like powdered peanuts and sugar compacted in a mould. The closest recipe I have come across would be the Malay traditional putu kacang. I wonder if you would have the recipe for this type of CNY peanut cookie?

Unknown said...

betty

i am sorry i don't have the recipe you mentioned. is it called 'kong thong' in cantonese? it is not a cookie but a sweet wrapped in white wax paper?

Unknown said...

betty

i am sorry i don't have the recipe you mentioned. is it called 'kong thong' in cantonese? it is not a cookie but a sweet wrapped in white wax paper?

Anonymous said...

What a delicious family recipe; I wish I could remember some of the things my grandmother taught me how to make :). I'd love to share your recipe with our readers, please let me know if you're interested!

Best,
Sophie, Key Ingredient Chief Blogger
sophie@keyingredient.com

Unknown said...

sophie

you are most welcome. Haley has been my contact for key ingredients, will it be ok for her?

Anonymous said...

Hi Lily,

Can you please tell me how much of the peanuts, flour and sugar I have to use in grams please? I'm so confused with converting volumes to weight. Thanks very much!

tazyspin said...

Hi Lily,

Will reducing the sugar affects the span of keeping the cookies longer?

I tell my friends they should not keep it beyond 1 month from baking date. Is this ok? Shld they put the cookies in the fridge say after 2 weeks (aft opening)even tho it is still in an airtight container?

Cheers!
Jackie

Unknown said...

jackie

these cookies will keep for a long time even on the counter. Make sure that the cookies are well baked.

tazyspin said...

Thanx, Lily.

Cheers!
Jackie ;-)

Anonymous said...

Hi Lily,

I have seen many biscuit recipes on your blog and was wondering could you post a recipe on "Kong Soh Peng"....as it seems there aren't any recipe on the internet for this old snack....

Thank you

Unknown said...

anonymous

kong soh peng, i was asked about that before and have got the recipe from a friend but have yet to try making them. I can remember how the end result should be.

Anonymous said...

Hi Lily,
Thanks for the fabulous recipe!
Made a batch with great success.
I used the bottle cap technique to shape the dough, tedious but produced consistent in shape and size. Instructions via link below (not my website)

http://bakecookeat.blogspot.com/2010/01/traditional-chinese-new-year-peanut.html

best wishes from the UK

Lilian said...

can i substitute the oil with melted butter? will it give a richer taste?

Unknown said...

lilian

i would not sub with butter cos butter has 20% water and water will toughen the cookies. With oil/lard/margarine/shortening, the cookies are very short - in cantonese 'soong'

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