Kuih Bangkit

Kuih Bangkit is one of hubby’s favorite CNY cookie! Don’t ask me why this white powdery cookie is named “Rise Cookie” (literally translated from Malay into English). This is one cookie where you’ll either love it or hate it I think. When you put it in your mouth, you get the powdery/floury texture which can be overwhelming if you pop one too many into your mouth and refrain from drinking water.

My MIL makes one of the yummiest Kuih Bangkit which crumbles and melts in your mouth! Hubby likes to describe it as “burst into powder”. Sadly, I was unable to achieve the same result when I tried out my MIL’s recipe. My MIL has many years of making and selling Kuih Bangkit under her belt. I have almost no experience in making them. The closest I came to making them was when I was younger and helped my mom mould the cookies. Well, my MIL did teach me her recipe when she came to visit and we made some together with success. Without her next to me, I was not able to get it right despite 2 separate tries a few weeks ago. =( They turn out hard as rock the first time. The second was ALMOST as hard as rock!

I found Lily’s recipe first before I tried my MIL’s recipe and was very happy with her outcome. It’s firm on the outside and melts in the mouth. Although it’s not as good as my MIL’s but that might be due to baker error……… the result was still satisfying! At least I can’t kill anyone if I hurl the Kuih Bangkit at them!! 

Lily’s recipe can be found HERE. I’m lucky to have the Kuih Bangkit mould, so I shaped mine into the mould with that instead of using a cookie cutter. Thanks, Anna for sending me this last year!! Here’s the recipe with my changes.

KUIH BANGKIT RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 225 gm Tapioca Fllour
• 36 Pandan Leaves, Cut into 2 Inch
• 30 gm Margarine
• 65 gm Powdered Sugar
• 1 Large Egg Yolk
• 75 ml – 90 ml Coconut Milk
• Pinch of Salt
• Red food coloring (Optional)

Method:
Line a large glass microwavable bowl with greaseproof paper, microwave the flour and 1/2 Pandan Leaves on high 1 min at a time for 5 times, stirring every minute. Set aside, cool completely before using.

Heat (medium low) coconut milk with remaining Pandan Leaves for about 10-15 minutes stirring constantly until leaves have wilted. Leave pandan leaves in coconut milk and let milk cool completely before removing leaves.

Cream margarine with sugar and yolk till sugar dissolves. Add in 75ml coconut milk and mix well.
Add flour to mix till a non-sticky dough is formed. If dough is too dry, add more coconut milk but add 1 tsp at a time, otherwise, dough may be too sticky. Leave dough to rest covered with a damp cloth.

Take a quarter of the dough and roll dough on a floured table to 3/8 inch(this thickness is necessary to obtain a nice size cookie)and use cookie cutters to cut into shapes. Using a pincher to pinch desired designs. Alternatively wooden moulds can also be used and that omits rolling the dough.
Baked on lined tray in preheated oven at 350 F for 15 –20 minutes until the bottom edges of the cookie is slightly brown. Let cookies cool before dotting the cookies with red food coloring and a bamboo skewer. Store cookies gently.

June’s Comments: I left the flour to cool overnight before using this. This was one of the tip my MIL passed on to me when attempting her Kuih Bangkit.

Lily’s original recipe requires a baking time of 15 minutes at 300F. That did not work for me as I was left with raw dough in the middle. at the end of the 15 minutes. I increased the temperature instead and that worked out better. Feel free to taste a cookie (don’t burn your tongue though) to see if it’s cooked through. The middle should be dry and powdery, not damp and doughy.