Chinese New Year Cookies: Walnut Biscuit (Hup Toh Soh)

What comes to mind when you see those mouth-watering Walnut Biscuit? Fragrant and crunch. Right? By making the traditional walnut biscuit in bite size, they are perfect for Chinese New Year too! Fyi, walnut is called hup toh in Cantonese.

Besides Walnut Biscuit, my sister also made Almond Thins on the same day. She’ll tackle her favorite Kuih Bangkit again this year. As for me, I don’t plan to bake any cookies this year. I feel Chinese New Year is coming very fast. Too fast! So I think I’ll just relax. But I did promise my mom to make Huat Kuih.

Walnut Biscuit… crunch! crunch!

Come let’s make some.

First take an empty bowl,

Sift flour, bicarbonate soda and baking powder together. Put them aside.

Place roasted walnut on a napkin. Then fold the napkin and thump lightly with a pestle.

Coarsely ground walnut. This size is just nice.
If it’s too fine, you won’t be able to ‘enjoy/taste’ the walnut.

Next in another bowl,

Add icing sugar, salt, vanilla essence and peanut oil. We use palm+peanut oil (Eagle brand).
It is preferable to use 100% peanut oil to bring out the fragrance.

Mix until salt dissolves.

Add flour mixture. Then mix again to form a soft dough. Add a little oil if mixture would not bind (too dry). My sis uses her hand later on. Easier.

Walnut dough ready to be rolled into balls.

Roll the balls to about 2cm in diameter. Press lightly on the dough with the back of the spoon.

Brush with egg wash and bake until golden brown.

Yummy walnut biscuit fresh from the oven.
They’re very easy to make. You can let your kids have fun with it too.

We made 2 batches for this recipe.
In the 1st batch, the balls are bigger in size hence we get about 30 pieces. In the 2nd batch, we rolled the balls 2cm in diameter and we get 35 pieces.

And remember to use 100% peanut oil if you want a really fragrant outcome.

Walnut Biscuit in sealed plastic container. We’ll unseal the container on the first day of Chinese New Year and place these lovely cookies in lovely jars. Will offer them to family and friends when they come visiting.

Last but not least, I would like to take this opportunity to wish my Chinese readers:

Kong Hei Fatt Choy!
May prosperity and good fortune fill your home.

Walnut Biscuit – Chinese New Year Cookies
Adapted from Debbie Teoh (Flavors magazine 2009)
Yields 30-35 pieces

90g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

75-80ml peanut oil
40g icing sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt (original recipe ask for 1/8 teaspoon)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence (optional)
40g walnuts, roasted and coarsely ground

1 egg yolk, lightly beaten (egg wash)

Method:
1. Sift flour, bicarbonate soda and baking powder together. Put aside.

2. Place oil, icing sugar, salt and vanilla essence (optional) in a mixer bowl. Mix until salt dissolves.

3. Then add flour mixture and walnuts into the mixer.

4. Mix until you get a soft and pliable dough. Add a little oil if mixture would not bind.

5. Preheat oven to 170^oC.

6. Divide dough into 10g portions and roll into balls. For our case, we roll the balls into about 2cm diameter.

7. Press lightly on the dough with the back of a spoon to flatten it. Lastly, brush the cookie with egg wash.

8. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.