This type of cookies is one the most popular delicacy during the festive seasons in Indonesia, be it Christmas, Eid Mubarak, or Chinese New Year. Towards those festive seasons, people will bake or buy various cookies and cakes to serve their guests, putri salju is usually one that always make appearance in many households during these times.
It is called putri salju or snow white because it is generously dusted with icing sugar. The texture is similar to butter shortbread, which it melts in your mouth. However, it has that distinct nutty flavor, which comes from the ground toasted cashew. There are so many variations of this crescent-shaped cookies recipes, ranging from the traditional using cashew to other nuts substitutes and even without any nuts at all. This version is the one we love most.
The recipe is copied from a fellow blogger’s (click here for the original recipe):
- 200 grams of butter at room temperature (I use unsalted butter with a tiny pinch of salt)
- 100 grams of castor sugar
- 250 grams of lightly toasted cashew, then finely ground
- 200 grams of flour
- 1 tablespoon of milk powder (I used two heaped tablespoons and reduced the amount of flour used)
- Icing sugar for dusting
Mix the butter and sugar with a whisk until all combined then add in the ground cashew. Combine well with a spatula before adding the flour and milk powder. Mix until everything is well combined then wrap the cookie dough in a piece of cling wrap and let it rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes rest, the dough should be easy to be rolled and cut with cookie cutter. Traditionally, a crescent-shaped cookie cutter is used, but I used a heart-shaped instead as that is all I can find at home.
Bake in a preheated oven at 140 C for approximately 20 minutes. (I baked mine at 150 C for 20-25 minutes).
Once they are out of oven, let them rest for about 5 minutes then dust them generously with icing sugar. Let the cookies to be completely cool on the pan before transferring to cookie jar.
Some tips:
- The cashew needs to be lightly toasted to prolong the cookies life and prevent them turn rancid too quick
- Do not over mix the butter and sugar
- Do not over bake the cookies until golden brown. Once they are easily moved when the baking pan is tapped, they are ready. They may feel too soft to touch, just let them cool in the pan before moving them and they will harden