Kueh Bangkit Wannabe - Parmesan Cheese Cassava Cookies

This is not a frequently seen CNY cookie. I'm not even sure it entirely qualifies but hey CNY is all about eating and delighting your visitors with angpows, tea and snacks, so I guess anything small, dainty, baked, kept in a plastic container with a red top works.

I first had a taste of these cookies few years ago at my mother-in-laws' place. They were teeny but packed a punch in taste as the sharp cheese hits the taste buds followed by the melt-in-the-mouth sensation. Entirely addictive.

 

I can't describe my own baked version in this way though, mine are a little crispy on the outside, tasted somewhat mellow in the cheese department but do melt in the mouth after that crisp. Guess my 100g of parmesan cheese may still be a little too faint as most of my test tasters are not able to guess the flavour with the first bite. It kind of takes 3 cookies before the mind can link the scent with the tongue. Most comments on these cookies were that they are similar to kueh bang kit. 

I love it that they can be rolled out and cut into shapes easily. The cookies hold the shapes well and only expanded a slight bit upon baking. They also bake up really fast, 8 minutes then flip the tray and another 8 minutes. I made 2.5 batches of the recipe and filled up 5 bottles of around 70 cookies per bottle.

Recipe (adapted from cornercafe.wordpress.com)

Ingredients:
170g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
160g sugar
2 eggs, separated
400g tapioca flour
3 pandan leaves
100g grated parmesan cheese
30g coconut milk powder

Steps:
1. Fry the tapioca flour with cleaned and dry pandan leaves until the flour is dry and very light. Be careful not to let the flour turn charred. I had some that turned a little cream colored when cooked too long.
2. Let the flour cool and sift to get 310g after sifting. (you can start with less than 400g. I used more as mine flew all over the place and out of the pan so I ended up with just the sufficient amount of sifted flour needed)
3. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and mix in until incorporated.
4. Mix the flour, cheese and coconut milk powder in a separate bowl and stir to mix well.
5. With the mixer at low speed, add the flour mixture gradually. At this stage, the mixture will look crumbly.
6. Add the egg white and mix well. I removed the beater and fold in the remaining bits that was not mixed in well together.
7. Chill in fridge for 15 minutes, it will be easier to roll and cut.
8. I like to roll fist-sized dough between 2 parchment layer, then cut out the shapes and dropped them on a lined tray.

9. Bake in pre-heated oven, top-bottom-fan mode 150C for 16 minutes. Turn the tray around at 8 minutes. They will remain beautifully pale with visible yellow shreds of cheese.
10. Cool completely before keeping them in air tight containers.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Submitting this to:
"Bake Along", hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids