Kueh Bangkit

First, I would like to say that making Chinese New Year goodies is HARD WORK. I have a newfound appreciation for all the amazing women who churn pineapple tarts, love letters and kueh bangkit out by the truckload from their homes.

I’ve been dabbling a little in CNY munchie making… I started off trying to make Kueh Bulu (Bolu? Baulu?), which looked easy enough: mix your egg and sugar, add some flour and baking powder, pour into mould, bake. As I discovered, appearances (of recipes) can be deceiving. Let’s just say my various attempts at Kueh Bulu were a total disaster. Maybe I’ll blog about it one of these days when I’ve over the shock.

Yesterday, I decided to try my hand at making kueh bangkit instead, and I am pleased to say that it really went quite well. Not the best kueh bangkit I’ve ever had, but very respectable for a first attempt (and not any worse than the kueh bangkit I bought from NTUC a few days ago). It doesn’t melt the second you put it in your mouth, and it’s a little crunchier than the kind of kueh bangkit I like best, but it’s very fragrant and still tastes good.

I got the recipe from the blog of Baking Mum, and reproduce it here with a few minor changes, and comments in red. (Thanks Baking Mum!)

Kueh Bangkit

Ingredients:

300g tapioca flour/starch
3-4 pandan leaves
20 gm margarine or softened butter
1 egg yolk
120g icing sugar
140 ml coconut milk (original recipe asked for 120ml)
1/4 tsp vanilla powder

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 170degC.

2. Fry tapioca flour with the pandan leaves over low flame until fragrant and light. Set aside to cool. Best to leave it to cool overnight or 1 to 2 days.
*I left the pandan leaves in the flour when I stored it for a couple of days, and by the time I used it it was wonderfully fragrant.

3. Sift tapioca flour and combine with sifted icing sugar and vanilla powder.

4. Lightly beat the egg yolk with the coconut milk. Add the mixture into the flour, along with margarine or butter. Knead until dough is pilable. If you find dough too dry and crumbly, add more coconut milk a tbsp at a time, and knead until it is workable.
*Yes that’s right you knead it with your hands. Hard work! And you will almost certainly have to add more coconut milk, and frankly the more the merrier (as long as the dough doesn’t become mush). The cookies taste better when they are more lemak (i.e. have a stronger taste of coconut).

5. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1/2 cm thick. Cut with cookie cutters. Arrange them on a lined baking tray (best to use the non-stick parchment paper).
*I advise you to work with 1/3 or 1/2 the dough at a time. Much less painful that way. And be sure to leave the resting dough covered.

6. Bake in a preheated oven for 15-17 mins or until a light brown (not too brown). Cool it on a wire rack and store in an airtight container.
*I suspect the melt-in-your-mouth quality I’m after has to do with the temperature + baking time, so you might like to play around with both. I’ll probably bake it at a slightly lower temperature the next time.

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Here, my cut-out dough awaiting its heated destiny….

And the final product =)

A little sampling for my mummy to try. Both my mum and mum-in-law love Kueh Bangkit so I really should try to get this recipe perfected…