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Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Mung bean-Almond Cookies [綠豆 - 杏仁 餅]

Chinese New Year Cookies

Chinese New Year Cookies



When I saw Sokehah Cheah's version of Macau Almond Cookies, it brought me back to my childhood days - I remember every year one of my neighbours would make  米餅 (which I believe is mung bean cookies) for Chinese New Year.  She would leave the cookies to dry under the sun for days before storing them.  Some of the cookies I tried were hard as rock whereas some were crumbly.  I wonder which is the right texture for mung bean cookies. 

I decided to make my own mung bean flour since I have some leftover split mung beans in my pantry.  But I asked myself if it's worth the extra effort to make my own flour since I am only using so little.

However, I knew that it was worth the effort when I bit into the cookies; I could taste the distinctive nutty flavour of the mung bean and the beautiful aroma.  
     

Ingredients:  (Makes 35 small cookies)

125g cooked mung bean flour (refer below for homemade mung bean flour)
30g almond meal (lightly fry for drier almond meal)
50g icing sugar, sifted
30g Rice Bran oil 
30g almonds, lightly toasted - chopped
5 tsp coconut milk
  • Preheat oven to 140 deg C.  Line baking tray with baking paper.
  • Combine mung bean flour, almond meal and icing sugar in a large mixing bowl. 
  • Add in oil and mix together;  then add in the chopped almonds.  Mix well.
  • Gradually mix in coconut milk a little at a time.  The dough should remain crumbly but come together when squeezed.
  • Take a small piece of  the crumbly dough and press firmly into the mould and remove excess around the edge.  Tap the mould on the counter a few times to knock out the cookie.  
  • Place cookies on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake for about 30 minutes with the oven door slightly ajar.
  • Let cookies cool in the tray, then gently transfer cookies onto a wire rack to cool completely before storing in an air-tight container.



HOME-MADE MUNG BEAN FLOUR


Homemade Mung Bean Flour



Ingredient: 
split mung beans

  • Rinse mung beans and drain thoroughly.
  • In a frying pan, dry fry the mung beans under medium-low fire.  Stir constantly to prevent burning.
  • As soon as you smell the nutty aroma of the beans, that means the beans are cooked.
  • Cool the beans completely before grinding them into fine powder.  (I used my Spectablend blender to blitz the beans into flour).
  • Sieve to get finer flour. 
  • Store flour in an airtight container.  

Note:  I dry fried the mung bean flour again under low fire until light and has a deeper tinge of yellowness.  Let it cool completely before use.  I did this step a couple of days ahead.




I'm submitting this post to the Bake Along event hosted by
 Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce of Kitchen Flavours and Lena of Frozen Wings
and the theme is 'Chinese New Year Cookies'

    12 comments:

    1. Hi Veronica
      You have been hardworking lately baking away for CNY cookies. You have done well too for this cookies as it looks so perfect. I think I can smell the aroma from here......isnt it amazing?

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    2. OH! gluten free! you are the best best best!!!

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    3. Hi Victoria, I've never tried to make this before. Your almond cookies look very pretty making me want to try some :)

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    4. Hi Veronica,

      I admire your extra effort of making mung bean flour. Very impressive!

      Zoe

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    5. Wow, Veronica, that's a great effort to DIY the mung bean flour. Your cookies look good. The 'Chow mai paeng' is different from mung bean cookies, think it's made of rice flour and I remember they're hard as rock! Hardly see this cookie nowadays. Thanks for linking to my post!

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    6. These are so pretty, a classic! They must be very tasty made with homemade flour. Kudos!

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    7. I don't know we can make the mung bean flour at home. Sounds a lot of effort to prepare. I definitely prefer the crumbly texture. Yours look delicious.

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    8. Hi Veronica,
      Another lovely cookie from you! I do remember these cookies from my childhood. Would love to try the crumbly ones! Kudos to you for your effort in making your own mung bean flour. Your cookies looks wonderful, would be lovely with a pot of warm Chinese tea!

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    9. thx for showing how to make your own mung bean flour cos i nvr tried before...and i so love the pattern of your cookies!

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    10. The rice bran oil has amazing health benefits for which they are known to be the purest oil. They reduce the level of cholestrol in human body and you can resist a number of diseases by using rice bran oil.

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    11. Hi Veronica
      Your cookies looks really yummy, must try to make it this year. Would you let me know where I can buy this beautiful cookie mold? I tried the on-line shop "grocerythai.com' but they don't stock them anymore.

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      Replies
      1. Hi Lillian, thanks for dropping by. I got this mould ages ago in Malaysia. You can use any mould for this.

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