Kue Kaastengel (Indonesian cheese cookies)

Kaastengel is known as a savory cookie in Indonesia. I got the recipe from my mum and surprisingly it uses frozen Parmesan cheese as the trick to make kaastengels crunchy. I have been baking this many times. Only require a few ingredients and very easy to bake. Patience is needed to shape the cookie dough into nice long strips. But, the result is very rewarding.

Ingredients:

• 25 gram salt-reduced margarine
• 150 gram unsalted butter (softened at room temperature)
• 150 gram frozen parmesan shredded cheese
• 225 gram plain flour (sifted)
• 2 egg yolks

For finishing step:

• 1 egg yolk
• 50 gram frozen parmesan shredded cheese

Preparation:

1. Cream butter and margarine with egg yolks using a mixer until it is soft and fluffy.
2. Add sifted flour. Mix well with a spatula.
3. Add frozen parmesan cheese.
4. Shape the dough into long strips by rolling (see photos below).
5. Brush the strip with egg yolk and add more parmesan cheese on each strip (see photos below). 
6. Bake at 180 C degrees for 20 mins or until slightly golden.

 

 

 

Almond Choc Chip Cookies

I baked these cookies since I had spare condensed milk in the fridge. I got the original recipe from BestRecipes.com.au for Cafe Choc Chip Cookies. The recipe has 5 star-review. I made a slight change to the recipe and it gave the perfect sweetness. You need to spend a bit of time to roll the cookie balls.







Ingredients:

• 180 gr butter, softened
• 1/3 cup caster sugar
• 125 ml condensed milk
• 1.5 cups self-raising flour
• 125 gr dark choc bits
• 110 gr of blanched almond kernels (break into medium-sized pieces using a food processor)

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 180 C degrees. Beat the butter and sugar together using an electric mixer until light and creamy.
2. Beat in condensed milk. Add the flour and mix with wooden spoon until smooth.
3. Stir in choc chips and almonds until well combined.
4. Roll about 2 teaspoonfuls of the mixture into balls. Press each ball with a floured fork.
5. Bake for 12-15 mins or until lightly golden.

Almond Puff Pastry

I got this recipe from Debora Agahari, my friend at church. As in our evening service routine, we always have dinner prepared by some people on every first Sunday of the month. She made this a few times and people love it. So, I asked her for the recipe. It is very easy to make and best to serve with a cup of tea. If you have a gathering, make this. It will be cleared out so quickly!




Preparation:

1. Cut puff pastry sheet into 4 squares
2. Combine 0.5 cup almond meal (ground almonds), 2 tbs caster sugar & 50 gr melted butter
3. Spoon mixture onto the centre of the squares and sprinkle with 1 tbs flaked almonds
4. Fold puff pastry edges in to create a border and dust with icing sugar
5. Bake at 200 C degrees for 12 mins or until puffed and golden
6. Cut into strips

Kue Nastar (Indonesian Pineapple Cookie)

These cookies are very popular in Indonesia and you can find them everywhere. My family never baked 'nastar' at home. I had always thought that it will take at least a whole day to prepare the pineapple jam, dough, and bake them. 

Anyway, I was so curious how difficult it is to make 'nastar'. I searched the recipe online and found one from this link.

I tried to bake 'nastar' and it was surprisingly simple. Yes... I had to start from making the pineapple jam but the result was very satisfying. I was very glad with my first 'nastar' attempt. I recommend those who are challenged to bake these cookies to use the recipe from the link above. It is in Indonesian though, but I have it translated here.

Ingredients:

• 250 g soft wheat flour/ Indonesian flour (brand: cap kunci). You can find this in Kingsford/Randwick asian groceries 
• 30 g cornstarch 
• 200 g unsalted butter/margarine (I used 150 g unsalted butter + 50 g margarine) 
• 20 g skim-milk powder 
• 60 g caster sugar 
• 2 egg yolks 
• 1/4 tsp salt 
• Clove for decoration. You can find this in any asian groceries.

Pineapple jam:

• 400 gr fresh pineapple, grated 
• 200 g sugar 
• 3 cloves 
• 5 cm cinnamon/ 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon 
• 1/4 tsp salt

For last touch before placing them into oven, mix:

• 3 egg yolks 
• 2 tbs skim milk/ 1 tbs skim milk powder dissolved in 2 tbs water
  

How to bake 

1. Mix soft wheat flour, cornstarch and milk powder, shifted. 
2. Add caster sugar, egg yolks, butter/margarine and salt into the flour mixture. Mix with mixer (low speed) until they become grainy. 
3. Press the dough together. Massage the dough with hand/ wodden spoon until the dough is ready to be rolled using rolling spin. 
4. Shape the dough with a round cookie cutter/ use a particular lid with diameter around 7 cm. 
5. Put some pinneaple jam on it. Shape the dough into a round ball. 
6. Brush the nastar with the egg yolk mixture and put a clove on it. 
7. Bake at 150 celcius degrees for 20 mins. Until they turn slightly golden.  
8. Pineapple jam: Mix grated pineapple, sugar, cinnamon, clove and salt, mix well. Cook in a wok with slow heat until it become thick. Cool the jam for 1 hour.   

Tips: 
Do not overmix the dough with hand. The butter will become slightly warm and hence the cookie will turn very hard. A good nastar should be hard outside but the dough inside should be soft and melt in your mouth. You can change the pineapple jam with other jams. Original version is using pineapple jam. Many Indonesians use durian paste. This is very delicious too!! They cost much more than the pineapple ones in the shop.