Kuih Bangkit Gula Melaka Flavored

Gula melaka a.k.a. Palm Sugar or 'Malacca Sugar'.  Why Melaka/Malacca,?  I have no idea and hope that you readers can enlighten me.  Gula melaka is made by first extracting the sap from the flower bud of a coconut tree. Several slits are cut into the bud and a pot is tied underneath the bud to collect the sap. Then, the sap is boiled until it thickens after which, in the traditional way, it is poured into bamboo tubes between 3-5 inches in length, and left to solidify to form cylindrical cake blocks.

 Coconut palm sugar is being advertised as a healthy sugar; low in the glycemic index and full of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. It apparently tastes great with amazing caramel and butterscotch taste and it's gaining popularity rapidly until most coconut farmers are cashing in to this new high demand of palm sugar as  "healthier sugar", by converting their coconut trees into coconut sugar production.  No wonder, the price for a can of coconut milk/cream has triple the price lately.


I do not use gula melaka/palm sugar for any other reasons except to flavor these few desserts like
Onde Onde,
Kuih Dadar,
Kuih Koci,
Kuih Koci Pulut Hitam,
Kuih Talam Ubi Kayu,
Lepat Ubi Kayu/Casava Wrap,
Kuih Kosui


and now am using it to flavor my Kuih Bangkit, and can you tell me the characters of these cookies?  They are pressed from the same mould.

Ingredients:

225g tapioca flour

3 pandan leaves cut into small pieces

30g margarine

90 gm gula melaka/palm sugar - chopped fine

1 egg yolk
75ml – 90ml coconut milk
a pinch of salt













Method:

Line a large pyrex bowl with greaseproof paper, microwave the flour and pandan leaves on high 1 min at a time for 5 times, stirring every minute.

Set aside, cool completely before using.

Cook gula melaka and 75 ml coconut milk in medium low heat until gula melaka dissolves.  Set aside to cool.

Cream margarine, then add in yolk cream well till well combined, then add in the cooled gula melaka and coconut milk mixture.

 Add flour to mix till a non-sticky dough is formed. If dough is too dry, add more coconut milk but add 1 tsp at a time, otherwise, dough may be too sticky. Leave dough to rest covered with a damp cloth.

Take a quarter of the dough and roll dough on a floured table to 3/8 inch(this thickness is necessary to obtain a nice size cookie)and use cookie cutters to cut into shapes. Using a pincher to pinch desired designs. Alternatively wooden moulds can also be used and that omits rolling the dough.

Baked on lined tray in preheated oven at 300 f convection for 15 mins. .

Remove to cool completely before storing