Chinese Rice Flour Cookies with Date Filling 紅棗泥炒米餅
These Chinese Rice Flour Cookies with Date Filling 紅棗泥炒米餅 are wonderfully light and satisfying traditional cookies, slightly crispy yet crumbly with a lusciously sweet date filling besides packing a visual wallop with their graceful molded shapes. Plus they are easy to make!
- Prep time
- 20 min
- Cook time
- 15 min
- Yield
- 15 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 1 cup dried red dates 紅棗, with pits removed
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/4 tsp five spice powder, optional
- 3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp rice flour, 125g, plus extra for dusting
- 1/2 cup icing sugar, 60g
- 1/8 cup whole almonds, 20g
- 3 tbsp butter or lard, 60g, room temperature
Instructions
- 1
In small pot add in dates and water and cook over low heat for 5-7 mins or until the dates are tender and most of water is cooked off.
- 2
Let cool then use food processor to blend into a paste. Taste for sweetness and add sugar to taste if necessary.
- 3
Push paste through sieve to remove date skins.
- 4
Roughly chop almonds.
- 5
Add to food processor along with the sugar and process until the almond becomes a fine powder.
- 6
In mixing bowl add in powdered almonds, rice flour and mix.
- 7
Add in butter or lard and use fingertips to mix in until the mixture resembles crumbs. Test the mixture by gathering in hand and squeezing lightly. If ready the mixture should easily keep the shape that is formed. If it crumbles easily then add more butter, 1 small pat at a time, and mix in until desired consistency is reached.
- 8
Ready the mold by dusting with rice flour.
- 9
Scoop about 1 tbsp of dough (or however much will fill up half your mold) and press lightly but firmly into the bottom half of mold. Leave a depression in the middle for your filling and press the dough up the sides to the top.
- 10
Add in 1 tsp of date filling and level it smooth.
- 11
Add in the enough dough to fill up the mold and again press gently but firmly to fill the mold to the top.
- 12
To remove the cookie tap one end of the mold onto your table, keeping the mold as close the the table top as you can so that the cookie does not fall a long way once it decides to come out.
- 13
Repeat for the rest of cookies, remembering to flour the mold each and every time to prevent sticking.
- 14
Bake 250°F for 10 mins or until the cookies are just golden on the edges.
- 15
Turn oven off and keep in oven another 10 mins to dry out the cookie.