Monday, April 28, 2008

Lotus Blossom Cookie Molds


The above is a picture of the cookie molds my mother used to make the lotus blossom cookies. They are 3 different sizes with different shapes in the middle. She purchased them from a street vendor in Chinatown.



Thursday, April 24, 2008

Lotus Blossom Cookie Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup rice flour
1/2 cup flour
1 cup tapioca starch
3/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup water
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt
5 tbsp. sugar
4 tbsp. black and white sesame seeds
7 1/2 cups vegetable oil for frying




How to make the cookies:
1. Sift rice flour and flour

2. Mix flours
with tapioca starch

3. Stir in coconut milk
4. Add egg yolk, 1 tbsp. vegetable oil, salt, sugar, and sesame seeds. Mix well.
5. Heat oil and immerse cookie mold into oil until it is very hot
6. Dip cookie mold halfway into batter to coat (Do not dip the whole mold into the batter, if you do this, the cookie will not release into the oil)
7. Now, place cookie mold into oil
8. Gently wiggle the cookie mold until the cookie is released
9. Repeat steps #6,#7 and #8 until batter is all gone
10. Remove cookies from oil as soon as they are golden in color
This recipe requires a special cookie mold with a long handle. The molds come in different shapes and sizes.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Lotus Blossom Cookies



My mother made these beautiful Lotus Blossom Cookies for my sister's wedding. Many people had never heard of them before, but they were very popular as the mildly sweet flavor is different from most traditional cookies. They are not baked, but fried to produce a chip-like crunch.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Fortune Cookies


Fortune cookies are typically received along with a Chinese meal, but they can also be decorated and given out as party favors.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Mother's Day Cookie Bouquet

Having a cookie exchange is a lot of fun because you only have to make one type of cookie, yet you get to try a wide variety of cookies. Why not create a Mother's Day Cookie Bouquet as well!

I usually participate in cookie exchanges around Christmas time, but this year I will be trying something a little different. I have decided that I would like to make a Mother's Day Cookie Bouquet containing different types of cookies, but would rather only make one type of cookie. Therefore, I will be hosting a cookie on a stick exchange!

For the exchange, I have asked each person to bring:
  1. Two dozen of their favorite cookies. (A dozen of which will need to be on individual sticks)
  2. A container in which to arrange their bouquet, filled almost to the top with rice. (a vase, cookie jar or flower pot)
  3. Ribbon of choice
  4. Clear cellophane
We will each receive two cookies from each person, one to put in our bouquet arrangement and the other to taste while the person who brought the cookie tells us a little bit about it.

We will then wrap each cookie-on-a-stick with cellophane and tie it with ribbon directly underneath the cookie.

Next, we will arrange the cookies into each of our containers

The Mother's Day Cookie Bouquets will then be complete!

I chose to ask each person to bring their favorite cookie rather than a specific type. If you would like to have a particular theme for the bouquets, that would be fun also. For instance, you can ask your guests to bring cookies with a garden theme (flowers, leaves, butterfly shaped etc.), drop cookies, cookie cutter cookies, biscotti, chocolate flavored and so on.


Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Party Favors


Cupcake Cookies

These adorable cookie creations were made
by the very talented Flickr user hello_naomi
Click on one of her pictures to see more
of her amazing collection. The cupcake
cookies would make a wonderful party favor
for any child's birthday party.

Cookie Pops

Cookies and other baked treats have become
very popular as party favors. Cookies can
easily be customized to match any theme,
and are well liked by most party guests.


Cookie Houses

These cookie houses would be a perfect
housewarming party favor.