Traditional Chinese Coconut Biscuit (Biskut Kelapa)
Course: Chinese New Year
Cuisine: Chinese
Prep Time: 30 minutesminutes
Cook Time: 30 minutesminutes
Total Time: 1 hourhour
Servings: 20pieces (depends on the size)
Calories: 79kcal
Author: Marvellina
Learn how to make these traditional Chinese coconut biscuits with the amazing aroma of coconut and that sandy and brittle texture that reminds you of the good old coconut biscuit made with only 6 ingredients.
Toast the grated fresh coconut on a dry pan over medium-low heat until lightly golden brown. Don't toast them too brown as your biscuit will turn out too dark after baking. You may still see some mixture of white and golden brown, that’s ok. You won’t be able to get them all evenly brown. Set aside to cool down
Toast the bread crumb on a dry pan too until just lightly golden brown, which happens pretty quickly compared to the coconut. So make sure to toast them separately and not together
Put both the coconut and the bread crumb in a food processor and pulse them a few times to ground into fine consistency
Prepare the biscuit mixture:
Preheat oven to 340 F (170 C) for a conventional oven. For a convection oven, lower the temperature by 20 degrees. Line a baking tray with a parchment paper. Mix all the ingredients with the coconut and bread crumbs. Stir to mix to combine them. Cover and let them rest for 15 minutes
If you use desiccated coconut, you may need a bit more water to get to the consistency when you press the biscuit mixture with your palm and then when you release your palm the mixture stays but will crumble if you push it with your fingers
I use a small mooncake press mold (50-gram size) and also the Taiwanese pineapple tart mold (it has a square ring and a press, which is perfect for this biskut kelapa)
If you use a mooncake press, put about 1 1/2 - 2 Tbsp or more (this also depends on the size of the mold you are using) of the biscuit mixture into the cavity of the press. We want a biscuit about at least 1/2-inch (about 1.3 cm) thick. Kinda press the mixture down into the mold to pack it, then turn it down onto a baking tray and press the tool down to really compact the biscuit. If it's not packed enough, the biscuit will fall apart
If you use the Taiwanese pineapple tart mold, scoop the biscuit mixture into the ring and use the press to pack it down to give you a cookie about 1/2-inch thick. Repeat with the rest
Baking:
Bake the biscuits at the middle rack for 30 minutes. Let them cool down on the tray for about 10 minutes or so before transferring to a cooling rack to cool down completely