Eid Mubarak, everyone! Are you having a feast today? If you’re Indonesians, I hope you’ve got yourself a good stock of ketupat—and maybe some opor or rendang to go with them. Or perhaps there are other kinds of dishes that you prefer to have come Eid morning? I’d love to know! And I know, I know, it’s way too late for baking Eid cookies right now—it’s the time for eating, am I right? But I thought I’d share the recipe I used this year anyway, just in case you’d want to make it later.
This year I was determined to use ube powder in the cookies I make, mostly because I already bought some a long time ago, but never got around to use—don’t worry, they were still good! That alone won’t be enough to deliver ube taste, though, so I turned to taro syrup as well—unfortunately, I couldn’t find any ube essence locally. Also, as per my policy this past few years, I would still keep it at least gluten-free with locally produced ingredients, and that’s how I opted for sago starch (again) instead of flour as per the default. I know the ingredients here seem like a lot, but trust me, it was pretty simple to make!
Ube or purple yam (or telo, as we call it in Java) is my favourite tuberous root vegetable. In fact, I love it so much that I made a recipe using it before. It has such an undeniable sweet taste and distinct colour. It also has so many benefits for your body. First of all, it’s chock full of antioxidants, which protects you from free radicals—that may lead to cancer. It may also help manage your blood sugar and lower your blood pressure. The vegetable itself can simple be steamed or baked before consumption, which makes it a practical alternative for carbohydrate sources to rice or bread.
40 cookies (original recipe via Sapapua Sagu)
Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Baking time: ± 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 247.5 gr sago starch
- 87.5 gr white margarine
- 75 gr powdered sugar
- 1 ¾ tbsp. ube essence
- 2 egg yolks
- 11 gr purple yam powder
- ⅛ tsp. salt
- almond slices for garnish
Instructions
- Sieve through the powdered sugar and mix it with the margarine in a bowl using a mid-setting hand mixer until mixed well.
- Gradually add in the egg yolks, while continuing to mix the batter until well mixed.
- Gradually add in the sago starch, purple yam powder and salt into the bowl, while continuing to mix.
- Gradually add in the ube essence, while continuing to mix the batter.
- Once the mixture already feels clay-like, make little balls out of it and place it on a tray lined with baking paper until the tray is all full. Preheat the oven to 150ºC while you do so.
- Place the almond slices on top of each ball and push them in to make sure they stick.
- Put the tray into the oven and let it bake with the bottom fire in small setting for 15 minutes.
- Turn on the top fire in small setting for 10 minutes, turn it off when the almonds have browned.
- Let the batter bake for 5-10 more minutes. Take them out and leave them to cool before devouring.
Things to Note
First and foremost, if you store your eggs in the fridge—like I do—let your eggs sit in room temperature for a while, preferably 15-30 minutes before you start prepping the batter. And be careful with separating the egg yolks! I hear there’s a device that helps you do this, but I personally find that the egg shells are helpful enough. Also, even if you fail to separate them, so long as the yolk is still whole you can always scoop it up with a spoon—no problem.
Sieve the powdered sugar into the batter to prevent it from clumping. Whenever it starts to clump on the sieve, push it down with a spoon to help it through the sieve.
Last but not least, don’t touch the clay-like batter too much while forming it to be baked. The more contact the batter has with your hands, the higher the chance of it getting harder and may not melt during baking. The idea is to form the batter into little balls that will melt into a wider, cookie shape in the oven.
Eid Mubarak, everyone! Are you having a feast today? If you’re Indonesians, I hope you’ve got yourself a good stock of ketupat—and maybe some opor or rendang to go with them. Or perhaps there are other kinds of dishes that you prefer to have come Eid morning? I’d love to know! And I know, I know, it’s way too late for baking Eid cookies right now—it’s the time for eating, am I right? But I thought I’d share the recipe I used this year anyway, just in case you’d want to make it later.
This year I was determined to use ube powder in the cookies I make, mostly because I already bought some a long time ago, but never got around to use—don’t worry, they were still good! That alone won’t be enough to deliver ube taste, though, so I turned to taro syrup as well—unfortunately, I couldn’t find any ube essence locally. Also, as per my policy this past few years, I would still keep it at least gluten-free with locally produced ingredients, and that’s how I opted for sago starch (again) instead of flour as per the default. I know the ingredients here seem like a lot, but trust me, it was pretty simple to make!
Ube or purple yam (or telo, as we call it in Java) is my favourite tuberous root vegetable. In fact, I love it so much that I made a recipe using it before. It has such an undeniable sweet taste and distinct colour. It also has so many benefits for your body. First of all, it’s chock full of antioxidants, which protects you from free radicals—that may lead to cancer. It may also help manage your blood sugar and lower your blood pressure. The vegetable itself can simple be steamed or baked before consumption, which makes it a practical alternative for carbohydrate sources to rice or bread.
40 cookies (original recipe via Sapapua Sagu)
Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Baking time: ± 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 247.5 gr sago starch
- 87.5 gr white margarine
- 75 gr powdered sugar
- 1 ¾ tbsp. ube essence
- 2 egg yolks
- 11 gr purple yam powder
- ⅛ tsp. salt
- almond slices for garnish
Instructions
- Sieve through the powdered sugar and mix it with the margarine in a bowl using a mid-setting hand mixer until mixed well.
- Gradually add in the egg yolks, while continuing to mix the batter until well mixed.
- Gradually add in the sago starch, purple yam powder and salt into the bowl, while continuing to mix.
- Gradually add in the ube essence, while continuing to mix the batter.
- Once the mixture already feels clay-like, make little balls out of it and place it on a tray lined with baking paper until the tray is all full. Preheat the oven to 150ºC while you do so.
- Place the almond slices on top of each ball and push them in to make sure they stick.
- Put the tray into the oven and let it bake with the bottom fire in small setting for 15 minutes.
- Turn on the top fire in small setting for 10 minutes, turn it off when the almonds have browned.
- Let the batter bake for 5-10 more minutes. Take them out and leave them to cool before devouring.
Things to Note
First and foremost, if you store your eggs in the fridge—like I do—let your eggs sit in room temperature for a while, preferably 15-30 minutes before you start prepping the batter. And be careful with separating the egg yolks! I hear there’s a device that helps you do this, but I personally find that the egg shells are helpful enough. Also, even if you fail to separate them, so long as the yolk is still whole you can always scoop it up with a spoon—no problem.
Sieve the powdered sugar into the batter to prevent it from clumping. Whenever it starts to clump on the sieve, push it down with a spoon to help it through the sieve.
Last but not least, don’t touch the clay-like batter too much while forming it to be baked. The more contact the batter has with your hands, the higher the chance of it getting harder and may not melt during baking. The idea is to form the batter into little balls that will melt into a wider, cookie shape in the oven.