Chinese New Year is again round the corner!
This year I decided to try baking some German Cookies. I have seen pictures and recipe of these cookies being circulated the past few years but never got the chance to bake them. I am always attracted to the cute animal design, each made in accordance to the year of the zodiac. This year 2018 is the Year of the Dog, the design shared on Facebook is simple and cute, thought I will attempt it with the help of my eldest.
Recipe is adapted from GoodyFoodies, design is adapted from Facebook.
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 15-17 minutes (per batch)
Makes about 30-40 (depending on the size you make them)
Ingredients
125g butter, softened at room temperature
40g icing sugar, sifted
125g potato starch/flour, sifted
80g plain flour, sifted
Decoration
Koko Krunch for the ears
Chocolate chip for the nose (don't get the Hershey ones that will melt when baked, you don't want the cookies looking like a dog with runny nose!)
Black Sesame Seed for the eyes
*Note - I thought I can be a lazy mum and use an edible ink pen to dot the eyes, but turns out I can't do that, the cookie is just crumbles whenever I tried to apply the eyes on it *
Method
1. Preheat oven to 170°C (no fan). Line baking tray with grease-proof paper.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy, for about 5 minutes.
3. Add the potato starch and plain flour, and mix to form a soft dough. The dough will look sticky like photo below, but soft enough to pinch off and roll into a ball.
4. Roll the dough into small balls (about 2-3cm diameter), arrange on the baking tray and lighty flatten each piece.
5. To decorate the cookie for Year of the Dog :
(Ears) Attach 1 piece of Koko Krunch on each top side of cookie
(Nose) Attach 1 piece of chocolate chip on the middle section of cookie
(Eyes) Using a pair of tweezers or your fingers, gently position and place the sesame seed above the nose.
If you choose not to decorate, you may use the traditional method of pressing the back of the fork on to the dough to create the classic cookie design. Remember to dip the fork in water before each use so the dough won't stick onto the fork.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 15-17 mins on middle rack (Change to setting with fan). It takes 15 mins if you're making 2 cm ones and 17 mins for 3 cm ones .
The cookie will still look pale yellow when it is baked. Don't worry! This is normal. Allow the cookies to cool on baking tray and store in an airtight container once cooled.
So here is my final result of German Cookie, the left is classic design, the right is Year of the Dog design. My elder girl got lazy after making first batch (she just wanted to roll the dough!) so poor mummy had to decorate the rest of the cookie before just switching to the classic design LOL. I also made the mistake of using edible ink pen for the eyes, but it did not turn out well so I have a batch of 'blind' dog cookies as well.
It is a very simple recipe to make, can't go wrong, especially for a noob baker like me! I like how it crumbles and melt in my mouth. If too lazy to do fancy decoration, just stick back the classic design.
This recipe is a keeper, hope to be able to do it next Chinese New Year!
Comments