Hari Raya Cookies: Biskut Dahlia Recipe

On one fine Sunday, I was consumed with thoughts of Raya biscuits and I asked my husband when is Hari Raya? He did a quick check and it was indeed a week before. I was amused to learn that my brain had developed 'Raya' senses which would remind me of what I was missing from home on time, nonetheless. I also learned an interesting fact that one never really knows when Raya will arrive exactly as it is highly dependent on the Moon phases and its sightings.

I finally had a chance to play with my new toy (which is like the one on the left below).

I didn't stick very closely to the traditional method of making these as I had trouble getting custard powder and the traditional red cherries to decorate the biscuits. So I substituted the decoration with some pecans and sugar sprinkles instead. Naturally, without the custard powder, my biscuits did not turn out as yellow as the traditional ones but tasted pretty much the same. I checked the ingredients for custard powder which was basically corn flour and some custard flavouring.

Recipe: (for roughly 2 of these containers worth)

300g butter

150g icing sugar

2 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla essence/any essence of your liking

240g wheat flour

100g corn flour

160g custard powder 

(I used custard instead and added some flour accordingly)

*Optional: to make chocolate ones, you can just add 12g of cocoa powder to the mix.

Instructions:

1. Cream the butter and icing sugar. 

2. Add the egg yolks and vanilla essence. Beat lightly.

3. Sift the flours together and add in slowly.

4. Start squeezing the dough through the mould onto your baking tray/baking sheet.

I found pressing down firmly, turning it left and slightly back to the right does the trick.

5. Add sprinkles, chocolate chips, preserved cherries or nuts to the center of the dough.

6. Bake for 15-20 mins @ 175'C in a fan assisted-oven.

It's hard not to demolish these in one seating. I've been pacing myself and hopefully, these will last to the end of the week!