Hae Bee Hiam Cookie

Happy Valentine's Day to all.  

Unfortunately due to a last minute arrangement, I didn't have time or energy to bake something to commemorate this occasion.   I seriously hated such last minute request and upsetting all my plans but I had no choice.  

Anyway, back to this CNY goodies.  

My hubby and I love Hae Bee Hiam.  We like it with rice, porridge, and as a sandwich.  We are love the spring roll hae bee hiam too!  It is so addictive. 

When I saw Dreamer Loft's Hae Bee Hiam Cookie, I became really curious.  Besides cheese cookies, I hardly associate cookies as savoury.  So this is something new for me.

I was game to try!

Verdict: The process is long so you need to break it into two days.  First day to prepare the Hae Bee Hiam and Day 2 for the dough.

These two were okay for me as it was smooth operation.

My challenge came when I was rolling out the dough.  It was really soft.  Despite me dividing into smaller portion and chilling it, it takes a min or so to have a soft dough again.  So the process of cutting it, transferring it to baking sheet and into the oven was really long.  I wish I have an air con kitchen!

I told myself I have to hang on for I am so sure these will turn out marvelous.

True enough, the aroma while baking was intoxicating like what Dreamer's Loft described. 

It has a little melt in the mouth texture.  While it is fresh from the oven, it has a nice crisp outside and soft inside.  Upon cooling down, the cookie is soft.  It is not soft till you can't hold it up but it has a soft texture.  Would really want to know whether the one at the cookie museum is crisp but I had a hunch that it won't be unless the hae bee hiam is in powder form.  

For homemade, I doubt we can turn that into powder form.

Anyway, this is an interesting and exciting recipe.  If you are up for adventure, this recipe will be it.

What you need:

160g Plain flour

50g Corn flour

160g Unsalted butter, cubed and slightly softened

50g Icing sugar

200g Hae Bee Hiam

1½ tsp Fish sauce

½ tsp Chilli flakes/powder

½ tsp Fine shrimp sauce

½ tsp Fine salt

Zest of 1 thai lime and 2 small lime

Method:

Sift plain flour and corn flour together. Set aside.

If hae bee hiam is too chunky, take about 3/4 portion and use a food chopper to blend till flossy. 

In a mixing bowl, add butter and icing sugar. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy about 3-4 mins, stopping to scrap bowl as necessary.

Add hae bee hiam, fish sauce, chilli powder, shrimp sauce, salt and lime zest. Mix until well-combined.

Add flour mixture in 2-3 additions, till just combined.

Divide the dough into 3 portions. Place each portion between 2 sheets of cut-up clear plastic bags. Use a rolling pin to roll and flatten the dough into 6mm even thickness dough sheet.

Place the dough sheets in the fridge to chill for an hour or freezer for 30 mins so that the dough will be firm enough to stamp.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 160°C on fan mode. Line baking tray with Silpat mat or parchment paper.

Work on 1 sheet of dough each time. Open the top plastic sheet, stamp dough using 3cm flutter cookie cutter and place cookie onto the baking tray. For the scraps, gather into dough again and repeat step 6-7. Repeat till all dough used up.

Bake the cookies at 160°C for 12 mins.

Once done, let the cookies cool completely and store them in air-tight container, for up to 2 weeks.

1) I am linking this to "My Treasured Recipes #5 - Chinese New Year Goodies (Jan/Feb 2015)" hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well in Flanders and co-hosted by Charmaine of Mimi Bakery House

2) I am submitting this post to Best Recipes for Every one Jan & Feb Event:

My Homemade Cookies  organized by Fion & Co-Hosted by Victoria from Baking Into Ether

3) I am also linking this to Cook & Celebrate: CNY organised by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Yen from Eat Your Heart Out and Diana from the Domestic Goddess Wannabe.

Cheers