Chinese Rice Flour Cookies with Date Filling 紅棗泥炒米餅

Chinese, recipe, Rice Flour, Cookies,, crispy cookies, Date Filling, 紅棗泥, 炒米餅, traditional, wooden mold

The best thing about the celebration of traditional Chinese festivals are the traditional style eats, amirite? And as it's Mid Autumn Festival time (oh the moon tonite!) we thought we'd make some traditional style cookies for those who are not so much into eating mooncakes.

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!

We decided to use our traditional wooden mold in the shape of a fish. Fish are lucky tokens for the Chinese. You can find a similar mold here. (And check out our post on chinese wooden molds!)

I decided to do a filling for the cookie, just to make things a bit more complicated for myself I suspect. Actually the Chinese Rice Flour cookie is usually made without any kind of filling. If you do do it without the filling you will find that it is much quicker to make.

For our filling I decided to make a simple red date 紅棗 paste. These dried red dates 紅棗 are readily available at supermarkets and at the wet market. Try to find the pitted red dates, otherwise remember you must remove the pits before processing.

I love these dates, they are so yummy and naturally sweet!

The red date filling is easy to make. Just simmer the dates in a bit of water til tender, then mash 'em to create a paste. If you like you can add sugar to taste but I find that the dates are sweet enough on their own.

If you want to get rid of the skins you can push the mixture through a sieve. I didn't remove them; they didn't make a difference to the taste so I left them in.

The cookie dough, so to speak, is really simple. Rice flour, sugar, a bit of powdered almonds and then butter or lard to bind together. The trick here is to use just enough butter or lard to hold it all together.

Now for the fun part. I love using my wooden molds! Press the bottom of mold with cookie dough, firmly but gently, remembering to always flour your mold first to prevent sticking. (A good trick is to use an old toothbrush to flour the molds.)

Don't press too hard, like I did at first, cuz guess what, if you press really hard your cookie will stay inside the mold!

A dab of filling, less is more here, and the top layer of cookie dough is added on, press, press, gently but firmly and your rice flour cookie is molded. To get it out tilt the wood mold slightly off the table top and tap edge of mold on table until the cookie falls out.

A quick bake and then a rest in the oven to dry out the cookies and your traditional Chinese Rice Flour Cookies with Date Filling are done. Light and slightly crispy on the outside with a fruitily sweet center, this traditional cookie is delicious both inside and out!

Happy Mid Autumn Festival to all!

Chinese Rice Flour Cookies with Date Filling
紅棗泥炒米餅
(makes 12 cookies) Prep time: 20 mins Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Filling

1 cup dried red dates jujubes 紅棗, with pits removed
3/4 cup water
1/4 tsp five spice powder (optional)

Cookie Dough

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

Directions:

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. Let cool then use food processor to blend into a paste. Taste for sweetness and add sugar to taste if necessary. Push paste through sieve to remove date skins.

Roughly chop almonds. Add to food processor along with the sugar and process until the almond becomes a fine powder. In mixing bowl add in powdered almonds, rice flour and mix. 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.

Ready the mold by dusting with rice flour. 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.

Add in 1 tsp of date filling and level it smooth. Add in the enough dough to fill up the mold and again press gently but firmly to fill the mold to the top.

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. Repeat for the rest of cookies, remembering to flour the mold each and every time to prevent sticking.

Bake 250°F for 10 mins or until the cookies are just golden on the edges. Turn oven off and keep in oven another 10 mins to dry out the cookie. Eat right away or store in air tight container for up to 1 week. Enjoy!

Traditional Bakes at The Hong Kong Cookery: