Strawberry Custard Cookies (Kuih Semperit)
The past couple of days have been full on with my little girl as her classes have switched back to online learning due to the current lockdown. We go to the park in the evenings for some cycling and foraging, as it’s so lovely to breathe in some fresh air.
I haven’t been able to create much lately but I did managed some small bakes last weekend which I managed to photographed with the help of beautiful afternoon sunlight. I’m sharing them today on my feed, they’re called “kuih semperit susu”, or custard cookies. It’s similar to Scottish butter cookies and they’re quite popular during festive seasons in Malaysia. I find them pretty when piped out into small dahlia flower patterns or even the basic round shapes with serrated surfaces. I make them with just four ingredients: corn flour, salted butter, condensed milk and strawberry juice since strawberries are in season right now. The garnish was just candied cherries chopped to smaller pieces.
I discovered that with cookies, the type of butter you use determines the final colour and texture. You cannot go wrong if you opt for premium quality. My favourite brand is Golden Churn, I buy them in blocks and they’re so smooth and creamy in a lovely warm, yellow colour. I always had to resist sticking my fingers into the butter whenever I open the foil paper. We’ll be having these cookies with tea (I’ve a box of locally grown BOH Cameronian Gold Blend tea leaves sitting in the pantry).
I have posted the recipe below. Do check it out and I hope you give it a try 🙂
I’m late for the Dragon Boat Festival which was on Monday 14th June, but I’ll be in the kitchen again this week making some zongzi 粽子 (or bakchang in Hokkien dialect) to commemorate the festivity. They’re little parcels of stuffed glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves. My mother makes them every year, and my family loves the savoury Cantonese/Hokkien ones with mushrooms, pork belly, chestnuts and salted egg yolks cooked in soy sauce and five spice. I made a similar one last year, but I think I’ll try a sweet version this time.
Strawberry Custard Cookies (Kuih Semperit)
Equipment
- Wilton 1G Star Piping Tip
Ingredients
- 250 g salted butter room temperature (I use Golden Churn butter blocks)
- 167 g condensed milk room temperature
- 500 g corn flour (don't mistake it with corn starch!)
- a handful of candied cherries chopped small
- 6 strawberries juiced
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 120C. Bear in mind that ovens cook differently; I find smaller ovens cook faster compared to larger ones. I've cooked these cookies in larger ovens at 160C and they turned out fine.
- Measure all the ingredients. Chop the butter into smaller pieces, placed them in a bowl, then pour in the condensed milk. With a spatula, gently mash them up until just combined and the butter has mixed well with the milk. Do not overmix because if you mix them too long, the biscuit will over-expand when you bake it in the oven.
- Add in 400g of the corn flour, keeping the balance 100g aside. Using your fingers, gently combine with the rest of the ingredients. Then add in the remaining flour. Knead well.
- Form a small well in the middle of the dough, and spoon in the strawberry juice one teaspoon at a time. Keep kneading the dough with your fingers until combined. At this point, it should be pliant, not too soft or too hard (somewhat like playdough texture) and could be easily pressed out from the piping tip.
- Grease your baking sheet with some butter. Fill the cookie dough into the piping tip until almost full. Use your thumb to push the dough out gently and start piping dahlia shaped patterns onto the baking sheet. Each pattern should be about 0.5 inches high; don't go any higher than that. As you bake it in the oven, the cookie dough will decrease in height naturally. If you make a mistake, you can always start all over again; cookie doughs are quite forgiving!
- Garnish with a slice of candied cherry on top. You can also put chocolate chips if you prefer.
- Place your baking sheet right in the center rack of the oven and bake until golden for 15-20 minutes (maximum bake time is 25-30 minutes). Always check your cookies in the oven as they bake. If the top of your cookies are browning too quickly, simply place a layer of foil on top of the cookies and remove it halfway during the baking time.
If you made this dish, let me know by tagging @saveurmalaisie on Instagram.
