COCONUT COOKIES

Ingredients

700-800 g sago flour

10-12 fresh pandan leaves (purchased from Asian grocers)

300 g pure icing sugar (no added cornstarch)

240 g coconut cream (pure, no added thickening)

3 egg yolks

Method

Wash pandan leaves and wipe dry, then cut into roughly 5cm pieces.

Fry sago flour in a wok or pan over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring continuously.

Add the pandan leaves and continue to stir fry for another 15 minutes until the flour lightens and the leaves are dried and crinkled.

Cool mixture overnight, then remove pandan leaves.

Beat coconut cream and half the sugar with electric beaters until thick.

Beat egg yolks and the other half of the sugar in a separate bowl until creamy.

Combine the two mixtures and stir in the sago flour (leaving 1/2 cup aside).

Dust table surface with remaining sago flour and lightly roll dough.

Cut out small cookie shapes with a cookie cutter. The  mixture will be rather sticky and hard to handle but the flour dusting should help.

Bake at 130 degrees celsius for 30 minutes or until cookies are very light beige in colour. Set aside to cool and stir in an airtight container.

This is a traditional Malaysian/Indonesian creamy cookie, made at most of the festivals of these countries. They are dairy and gluten free, have the fragrance of pandan and melt in your mouth. This recipe was donated to our 50th Anniversary Cookbook by Carmelline T.