KUIH BANGKIT ~ TAPIOCA-COCONUT COOKIE FISH

Did I tell you a long time ago that I am a fish person? Yes I did ~ I so did. And I am now even more of one. 

How could I not love fish when I have these snowy carps swimming around in a dark pool of serenity. Like a floating dream on a moonlit night. 

And how could I not love fish when it melts in your mouth after a crunch and a crisp. And when I bite it a little bit further it melts a little bit more and some of it so submissive that it sticks to the roof of your mouth so that you cannot speak until you have finished the whole little cookie fish. Naughty little cookie fish!

Today I have a whole shoal of them. 

I was inspired to make these by Shirley of Kokken69 when I saw her beautiful Kinako Polvorones made from wooden cookie moulds that she had brought home from China. 

Now China was too far away for me to wander even if I did befriend Goosey Goosey Gander so I felt myself blessed when I chanced upon a box full of wooden Chinese cookie moulds that were, to me, Made in Heaven. They were beautiful. Exquisitely crafted moulds of carp. 

Although they had written the word crap on its label I really didn't think they were crap at all. They were carps. Not craps. Carps ~ gorgeous gorgeous carps.


Then I saw Sonia of Nasi Lemak Lover make kuih bangkit ~ snowy cookies of tapioca flour. I suffered her experiments and reveled in  her successes and I felt encouraged.


Then I saw Elin of Elinluv make these snowy mowie cookies too and finally I felt committed. Finally ~ I felt I could do it. Yes why not!

And the proof I say ~ Is in the cookie fish. 


I had used the same recipe that Elin of Elinluv had used. And this is a recipe from No-Frills Recipes blog. A blog that stays true to its name. 


The recipe............

I have to tell you that instead of standing like a scarecrow for 45 minutes to an hour in front of the stove stirring a wok full of flour I cheated and baked the tapioca flour in the oven instead ~ For an hour at 160 C. 

I can't tell you how the pandan leaves scented up the house ~ a total delight that Ju,The Little Teochew constantly raves about. 

And when I took the tray out from the oven the flour had a hint of caramel-like fragrance in it as well! Sweet!! Is it possible that the starch in the flour had turned to sugar and the sugar had caramelized? Shirley, Kokken69 do tell. I'm so not a chemist!

The flour had also turned a lovely hint of pinkish gold. How heavenly is that?

After baking I let it cool and stored it in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for 2 nights by which time I couldn't wait to get started on making the cookies.


This recipe is fantastic. A dream. And the only adjustment I would make is to up the sugar a little, probably by about 20 grams or so. It is truly a melt-in-your-mouth-crumbs-on-the-floor kind of cookie fish. Heaven.

Note : bake more flour than you  would need. The excess flour is to be used for flouring the mould.


450 gm tapioca flour
60 gm shortening
130 gm icing sugar
2 egg yolks
150- 200 ml coconut milk (I used 200 ml)
4 or 5 pandan leaves

Spread the flour on a suitably sized baking sheet. Cut up the pandan leaves into 4 ot 5 inch lengths and stir them into the flour. Bake in a preheated oven at 160 C for an hour and the pandan leaves have dried and crisp.


Cream the shortening with icing sugar and egg yolks till light and creamy and the sugar is totally dissolved. Pour in slowly 100 ml of the coconut milk and beat until well mixed and creamy.


Meanwhile sift the tapioca flour into a bowl, add a pinch of salt and add in the creamed mixture. Add in half of the remainder of the coconut milk and mix until teh dough comes together. If dry add in some more coconut milk until you get a nice lump of dough. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to rest for 30 minutes.

Flour the wooden mould well and then press a small mound of dough into it.Press down and cut off excess with a knife. Then knock the mould face down on teh baking tray and the cookie should fall out easily. If it doesn't then you have not floured the mould well.

If you don't have a cookie mould , roll out the dough onto a floured board and use a cookie cutter.


Bake 20 minute in a 170 -180C oven.


Allow to cool and store in an airtight container. Crush melt yummm....