Putri Salju (Cashew Nut Meal Cookies)

Description:
I love this cookies as for the flavour and for the taste and texture. There are so many versions of this cookie, from buttery to dry floury texture. The cookie that I made is very common and famous in Indonesia, at least in Jakarta where I live. It is also usually served during the festive season of Ramadhan or Christmas. I like the texture of these cookies, light and slightly buttery but not over indulged in fat.

The other versions of this cookie in the other countries such as in Greece and Mexico, is made with almond meal or pistachio. I think the other version of this cookie is also available in the Middle East.

This recipe is modified from the recipe at detikfood.com: http://www.detikfood.com/index.php/detik.read/tahun/2003/bulan/12/tgl/18/time/110727/idnews/360566/idkanal/361.

Fotonya nyusul ya...



Ingredients:
200 g cashew nut, roasted unsalted and ground

150 g unsalted butter, Home Brand, cold and cubed
100 g margarine spread, Logicol, cold
100 g icing sugar mixture
2 tsp vanilla extract, Queen's

250 g all purpose plain flour
20 g full cream milk powder

3-4 Tbsp icing sugar mixture for dusting



Directions:
Preheat the oven to 150 deg C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

Use a food processor, grind cashew nut until mealy. Don't over processed until becoming cashew nut butter. Stop mixing when the cashew nut meal starts to clump. Put aside in a large mixing bowl.

Add butter, margarine, sugar and vanilla to the food processor. Don't worry about washing the processing bowl. Blend until combined and scrape with a spatula.

Add flour, milk powder and cashew nut meal. Pulse until well combined. Transfer the dough to the mixing bowl.

Take a rounded teaspoonful of dough. Roll to make a ball and squeeze the dough by moving the palms to the opposite sides (forward and backward) so the shape becomes like a caterpillar.

Put the dough on the lined baking tray and shape it as a cresent.

Bake one tray at a time (if the oven is not big enough) at 150 deg C for about 15-18 minutes or until the cookies are done (slightly dark yellow and the bottom is not dark brown). Keep the remaining dough in the fridge while waiting.

Cool the cookies on the cooling rack.

Put some icing sugar in a container (big enough to tumble the cookies), put the cookies in the container when it is cold enough to hold the shape and top with some icing sugar. Tumble the container gently until the cookies are coated with sugar.

Keep the cookies in that container or move to another air tight container.


Cook's Note:
- Don't bake it at high temperature as the bottom of the dough gets burnt easily.
- Don't overmixed otherwise the cookies become dense.
- Cashew nut can be replaced with almond meal or other preferred nuts.
- The icing sugar still sticks to the cookies when the cold cookies are rolled into the sugar.