semperit biscuits

Semperit biscuits.

Who’d have thought that these old skool biscuits would trigger the “kitchen goddess” in me? Heh. More like the kitchen un-goddess for me.

How does Ms Ni/gel/la cook up a storm in her kitchen, with not a single bead of sweat on her forehead?

And so, it was the fasting month last year. I was surfing around, looking for simple cookie recipes to bake for Hari Raya. I remember snacking on semperit biscuits in my childhood days. These were simply-decorated cookies that melt in your mouth, with a hint of buttery sweetness.

Sadly, they are quite rare nowadays.

Luckily, I found a recipe that seemed fuss-free and used minimal ingredients.

Good.

Rummaged through my mum’s kitchen cabinets and found most of the ingredients I needed. Went to the nearby supermarket and bought the remaining stuff.

And so my inaugural kitchen adventures started.

Mind you, yours truly was in her 7th month of pregnancy. I can’t quite explain it but I was feeling at my most domestic state.

The recipe was as easy as it seemed. And soon, I was ready to pop my 1st batch into the oven.

They came out looking yummy with a lovely shade of yellow, thanks to the custard powder in the recipe.

The family approved. My mum gave her thumbs up too. Which made me happy, considering that she’s got a fussy palate and very particular with taste and presentation skills.

And we had our 1st batch of cookies for Hari Raya to tick off our To-do list!

I’ve made some adaptations to the recipe.

Ingredients:

8 oz Plain Flour

2 oz Custard Powder

4 oz Corn Flour

6 oz Icing Sugar

1 block Butter (250gm)*

2 Egg Yolks

2 tsp Vanilla Essence

*Remove butter from the fridge 15min prior to making the cookie.

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 200deg.
2. Sieve Plain Flour & Corn Flour into a medium-sized bowl.
3. Cut butter into cubes and add them to the flour.
4. Mix butter & flour, using the Rub-In method, until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
5. Add egg yolks & vanilla essence & mix until a firm dough forms.
6. Pipe out the dough using a cookie press / Roll out dough to desired thickness and cut out using a cookie cutter.
7. Bake cookies for 15 min.

P.S. Dough should be firm. If it’s too dry and crumbly, add a few drops of milk. If it’s too soft & soggy, add corn flour till you get the desired firmness.

I’ve done 2 batches of this recipe and so far, they’ve been a success.

Lucky break for me considering I’m a novice at baking. 😉