Chinese New Year and Eid celebrations aren’t complete without a batch delectable Lidah Kucing! Lidah Kucing, also known as cat’s tongue cookies, are delicious buttery treats with crispy edges, a soft centre and nostalgia-tinted sweetness. They share a resemblance in texture to French almond tuile cookies, except they’re more ‘cakey.’
During the Dutch colonial era, these cookies were called Katte Tong and were adapted in Indonesia as Kue Lidah Kucing. Since then, it’s been an Indonesian favourite that is often served during Hari Raya, alongside other titular treats like pineapple cookies and peanut cookies.
You can either enjoy Lidah Kucing in its elegant simplicity or decorate them in colours with chocolate and sprinkles. Before we get carried away drooling over the yummy biscuits, let’s take a look at this simple recipe on how to make them at home!
Details
5 servings
15 minutes
15 minutes
416 kcal
Ingredients
200g of unsalted butter (softened)
150g of caster sugar / powdered sugar
160g of plain flour (sifted)
10g of milk powder
5 egg whites
1 tsp of vanilla extract
Directions
- Preheat oven to 140 degrees Celsius.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter until it softens. Then, add powdered sugar and beat with butter until the mixture becomes light and fluffy.
- Sift the flour and milk powder into the mix while stirring. Add one teaspoon of vanilla extract and mix it thoroughly. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until it forms stiff peaks. Gently spoon the egg whites into the butter mixture slowly while stirring evenly.
- Transfer the batter into the piping bag. (If you do not have a piping bag, you can put the batter in a ziplock bag and make a small diagonal cut across the corner.)
- Pipe the batter into a cat’s tongue mould baking tray that’s been smeared with egg wash or butter. (If you do not have this tray, you can squeeze out the batter in 6cm strips on a baking sheet. Remember to leave spaces in between each strip for them to expand.)
- Bake it in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, or until the edges turn golden.
- Allow the cookies to cool.
Flavouring Tips
- Ice your cookies and cover them with sprinkles, or dip them in melted dark chocolate and cover them with sliced almonds or sea salt. Yum.
- Instead of vanilla extract, you can also use grated lemon zest, orange extract or ground cardamom based on your own flavour preferences.
- Dust the cookies with some ground cinnamon or desiccated coconut.
Once that’s done, you can either eat your delicious homemade cookies fresh or store them in an airtight container for about three to four days. After that period the cookies will start to soften, but you can get their crispiness back by air-frying them or cooking them in the oven again for about five minutes.
Visit Lokataste Recipes for more mouthwatering Malaysian recipes.