Cantonese Chicken Cookies (鸡仔饼)
Chicken cookies! A classic at Cantonese bakeries, these cookies contain no chicken. But they do, of course, contain pork. Because... of course they do.
While they're certainly not limited to it, Chicken cookies could be thought of as a great way to use up leftover mooncake ingredients. Started a mooncake project for mid-Autumn and have some leftover invert syrup, toasted nuts, and candied pork fat? Look no further than chicken cookies.
INGREDIENTS
Note: these ingredients are for one batch of 32 cookies. If you would like to scale, refer to these ratios instead:
For the candied pork fat:
- Pork fat, diced
- Salt, 1/4 tsp
- Fenjiu (汾酒) -or- baijiu (白酒) -or- bourbon/vodka, 1 tsp
- Sugar, 150g
For the invert syrup:
- Water, 180mL
- Sugar, 200g
- Lemon juice, 25mL
For the wrapper:
- Invert syrup, 50g
- Peanut oil (花生油), 15g
- Kansui, Asian Lye Water (枧水), 1/4 tsp
- All purpose flour (全用面粉/中筋面粉), 75g
For the filling:
- Peanut oil (花生油), 15g
- Salt, 1/4 tsp
- Five spice powder (五香粉), 1/2 tsp
- Nanru, Red Fermented Tofu (南乳), 1/2 tbsp
- Water, 1 tbsp
- Sesame seeds (白芝麻), toasted, 15g
- Sunflower seeds (葵花籽), toasted and roughly pounded, 15g
- Indian almonds (榄仁) -or- pinenuts, toasted and roughly pounded, 15g
- Meicai Cantonese preserved mustard green (梅菜) stems, minced, 15g
- Garlic, 1 clove, minced
- Sugar, 85g
- Sticky rice flour (糯米粉), 25g
- Candied pork fat from above
PROCESS:
For the candied pork fat:
1. Mince the pork fat.
2. Mix with salt and liquor.
3. In a small bowl, layer with the sugar.
4. Toss in the fridge. Will be ready in four days.
For the invert syrup:
1. Add the sugar and water to a non-reactive pot, turn the heat to low. Do not touch.
2. Once the sugar is dissolved, add the lemon juice. Continue to not touch.
3. After about 25 minutes, the syrup should be almost done. You should see large bubbles, and when you toss it on a piece of paper, it can hold a sort of 'hemisphere' shape. You can also tell by temperature. Once the syrup reaches ~110-115C, it should be good to go.
4. Transfer to a container and jar it up.
For the filling:
1. Rinse the sugar off your candied pork fat.
2. Toast the nuts at 175C for 10 minutes, then roughly pound the sunflower and the Indian almonds/pinenuts.
3. Mix together the first five ingredients in the filling: the oil, the salt, the five spice, the tofu, and the water.
4. Add the seeds, garlic, and Meicai stem. Mix again.
5. Add the sugar and flour. Really combine well, then incorporate the candied pork fat.
For the wrapper:
1. Combine the syrup, the lye water, and the oil.
2. Sift in the flour. Mix for ~1 min until crumbly.
3. Transfer to smooth surface like a silpat, knead for ~7 minutes until smooth.
4. Wrap with plastic wrap, transfer to the fridge. Rest ~1 hour.
To make the cookie:
1. Roll the wrapper out into a long log, ~1 inch in diameter
2. Fold in half, then cut it in half 5 times to get 32 pieces. They should be ~5g each.
3. Roll each into a ball.
4. Roll out into a sort of 'ovular' shape by rolling as much as you can in one direction, turning 90 degrees, then rolling the other side a touch thinner. This will be your wrapper.
5. Place the wrapper in a soup spoon, add 1 tsp of the filling, then fold to wrap. Gently press, flip, and gently press again. Transfer to parchment paper lined baking tray.
6. Bake for 5 minutes at 200C.
7. Take the cookies out, leaving the oven door open for this first egg wash. Swap to 165C. Brush the cookies with an egg wash.
8. Add the cookies back. Bake for 10 more minutes at 165C.
9. Remove, egg wash again. Bake for 5 more minutes.
10. Begin watching your cookies. Remove when deeply golden brown, likely ~1-2 minutes more.
Oh! Something that I forgot in the video. Big thank you to dougou user "xian_闲云_yun" - that was their picture for the candied pork fat. Apologies for forgetting to credit in video. You can also check out their recipe here: https://www.douguo.com/cookbook/1532276.html
And check out our Patreon if you'd like to support the project!
http://www.patreon.com/ChineseCookingDemystified
Outro Music: คิดถึงคุณจัง by ธานินทร์ อินทรเทพ
Found via My Analog Journal (great channel): https://youtu.be/GHaL5H-VYRg
While they're certainly not limited to it, Chicken cookies could be thought of as a great way to use up leftover mooncake ingredients. Started a mooncake project for mid-Autumn and have some leftover invert syrup, toasted nuts, and candied pork fat? Look no further than chicken cookies.
INGREDIENTS
Note: these ingredients are for one batch of 32 cookies. If you would like to scale, refer to these ratios instead:
For the candied pork fat:
- Pork fat, diced
- Salt, 1/4 tsp
- Fenjiu (汾酒) -or- baijiu (白酒) -or- bourbon/vodka, 1 tsp
- Sugar, 150g
For the invert syrup:
- Water, 180mL
- Sugar, 200g
- Lemon juice, 25mL
For the wrapper:
- Invert syrup, 50g
- Peanut oil (花生油), 15g
- Kansui, Asian Lye Water (枧水), 1/4 tsp
- All purpose flour (全用面粉/中筋面粉), 75g
For the filling:
- Peanut oil (花生油), 15g
- Salt, 1/4 tsp
- Five spice powder (五香粉), 1/2 tsp
- Nanru, Red Fermented Tofu (南乳), 1/2 tbsp
- Water, 1 tbsp
- Sesame seeds (白芝麻), toasted, 15g
- Sunflower seeds (葵花籽), toasted and roughly pounded, 15g
- Indian almonds (榄仁) -or- pinenuts, toasted and roughly pounded, 15g
- Meicai Cantonese preserved mustard green (梅菜) stems, minced, 15g
- Garlic, 1 clove, minced
- Sugar, 85g
- Sticky rice flour (糯米粉), 25g
- Candied pork fat from above
PROCESS:
For the candied pork fat:
1. Mince the pork fat.
2. Mix with salt and liquor.
3. In a small bowl, layer with the sugar.
4. Toss in the fridge. Will be ready in four days.
For the invert syrup:
1. Add the sugar and water to a non-reactive pot, turn the heat to low. Do not touch.
2. Once the sugar is dissolved, add the lemon juice. Continue to not touch.
3. After about 25 minutes, the syrup should be almost done. You should see large bubbles, and when you toss it on a piece of paper, it can hold a sort of 'hemisphere' shape. You can also tell by temperature. Once the syrup reaches ~110-115C, it should be good to go.
4. Transfer to a container and jar it up.
For the filling:
1. Rinse the sugar off your candied pork fat.
2. Toast the nuts at 175C for 10 minutes, then roughly pound the sunflower and the Indian almonds/pinenuts.
3. Mix together the first five ingredients in the filling: the oil, the salt, the five spice, the tofu, and the water.
4. Add the seeds, garlic, and Meicai stem. Mix again.
5. Add the sugar and flour. Really combine well, then incorporate the candied pork fat.
For the wrapper:
1. Combine the syrup, the lye water, and the oil.
2. Sift in the flour. Mix for ~1 min until crumbly.
3. Transfer to smooth surface like a silpat, knead for ~7 minutes until smooth.
4. Wrap with plastic wrap, transfer to the fridge. Rest ~1 hour.
To make the cookie:
1. Roll the wrapper out into a long log, ~1 inch in diameter
2. Fold in half, then cut it in half 5 times to get 32 pieces. They should be ~5g each.
3. Roll each into a ball.
4. Roll out into a sort of 'ovular' shape by rolling as much as you can in one direction, turning 90 degrees, then rolling the other side a touch thinner. This will be your wrapper.
5. Place the wrapper in a soup spoon, add 1 tsp of the filling, then fold to wrap. Gently press, flip, and gently press again. Transfer to parchment paper lined baking tray.
6. Bake for 5 minutes at 200C.
7. Take the cookies out, leaving the oven door open for this first egg wash. Swap to 165C. Brush the cookies with an egg wash.
8. Add the cookies back. Bake for 10 more minutes at 165C.
9. Remove, egg wash again. Bake for 5 more minutes.
10. Begin watching your cookies. Remove when deeply golden brown, likely ~1-2 minutes more.
Oh! Something that I forgot in the video. Big thank you to dougou user "xian_闲云_yun" - that was their picture for the candied pork fat. Apologies for forgetting to credit in video. You can also check out their recipe here: https://www.douguo.com/cookbook/1532276.html
And check out our Patreon if you'd like to support the project!
http://www.patreon.com/ChineseCookingDemystified
Outro Music: คิดถึงคุณจัง by ธานินทร์ อินทรเทพ
Found via My Analog Journal (great channel): https://youtu.be/GHaL5H-VYRg
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