If you love the savory and sweet combinations in cookies, you need to try these eggless laksa cookies with a great savory, umami taste from the laksa paste and amazing aroma of laksa leaves.
Line your baking sheet with parchment paper. Let butter comes to room temperature and soft, but it shouldn't be melty. You can easily mash them with a spatula. Mix it with the icing sugar. You can also use a mixer to cream butter and icing sugar until just combined. Do not over cream them or your cookies will be crumbly. Add laksa paste and laksa leaves and mix until combined
Sift in the dry ingredients and then use a spatula to mix until you can form a soft cookie dough. Flatten the dough into a disc. Wrap the dough with a cling wrap and chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes so it's easier to work with
Shape the cookies:
Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C).
To use cookie-cutter: Roll the cookie dough with a rolling pin in between two parchment paper into about 4-5 mm in thickness. I suggest 4 mm as a minimum. Don't roll it too thin to have a good mouthfeel for the cookies.
Cut the cookies as closely as possible, so you don't have to re-roll the dough too many times. Place the cut-out cookie doughs on a baking sheet, about 1/2 inch apart. They won't spread much during baking. Gather the dough scrap and repeat the step above
Without a cookie-cutter: If you don't want to use a cookie cutter, you can also pinch off about 10 grams of dough and roll it round and then flatten slightly with a fork or your palm into about 4-5 mm in thickness
Put the baking tray in the freezer for about 10 minutes
Bake the cookies (Version 1):
Bake on a middle rack in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes (depending on how crispy crunchy you want them). I do 20 minute and they are crisp enough on the edge with a bit of softness in the middle (because my hubby likes them that way). If you prefer crispy crunchy type, you can add additional 3-5 minutes (depending on your oven too)
Remove from the oven and let them cool down on the pan for that crisp and crunchy texture
Bake the cookies (Version 2):
Bake on a middle rack in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes (depending on the size of the cookies too). for that soft-melt-in-mouth texture. Let them cool on the pan for about 1 minute and then remove to a cooling rack to let them cool down completely before storing
Storage:
Store the completely cooled-down cookies in an air-tight container and they can be kept for 2 weeks