Kuih Kapit

January 21, 2019

Love letters or Kuih kapit is a traditional Chinese New Year thin crispy crêpe like biscuits.
This is an updated post, video on 'How to' make kuih kapit/ love letters is included below.



kuih kapit image<

Chinese New Year will not be the same without Love letters or kuih kapit.
Love letter or kuih kapit is a sweet paper thin crispy biscuits.

What does Kuih Kapit / Love Letters means?

For Malaysians, Kuih, pronounce as 'Coo-eh' can be either sweet or savoury.
Biscuits, cookies or anything of traditional food,  we usually call them 'Kuih'!


Kapit means sandwiched or pressed together.
Kuih Kapit means Pressed cookies.

Then... why are they known as Love Letters?


LOL... calling these Kuih Kapit, Pressed cookies, doesn't sound delicious and mysterious.
Anyway, its the folding of the kuih kapit, just like writing and folding love letters, ready to be send to our loved ones.



Crispy thin Love letters  photo

Background tale

Story as told by the husband!
You know... that once upon a time kind of story :)


Perhaps a month or possibly few weeks before Chinese New Year celebration, 4 to 5 womenfolk in small villages would get together to bake or cook as a community/communal celebration project.

They would spent the whole day... each with a given task to do for the day.

Traditionally, love letters cookies / kuih kapit were cooked over open hot charcoal stove.

Watch this video to see how kuih kapit / love letters were made and some still using the same method to make Love Letters / Kuih Kapit.




Crispy thin love letters

By the end of the day, they'd divide the love letters to take home, ready for Chinese New Year celebration.


Did you watch the video? its laborious :(  isn't it?
I just cannot imagine myself making these crispy thin Love Letters / Kuih Kapit the traditional way!


love letters using an electric egg roll maker photo

Love letters maker
Kuih Kapit for Chinese new year

Making Kuih Kapit/ Love Letters cookie the modern way...


I was thrilled to receive an egg roll toaster from my sister, it means that we can enjoy making homemade kuih kapit/ Love Letters cookie for Chinese New Year this year (and every year...hahaha NOT ;P).



Even though I was using an electric egg roll toaster, I was its slave for more than 3 hours, standing in my kitchen.


Pouring the batter into the mould, checking every now making sure the love letters cook to perfect golden colours instead of black!!!

Folding the love letters while its hot, I got burnt many times in doing so :(


By the end of the day ... I was dead on my feet!

When its done, I heard my kids saying "Mom, these are good for 3 days" and true to their words, by the end of third day... not even a crumb left :(




Chinese Love letters cookie

Some suggestions for Chinese New Year bake

These are some Chinese New Year goodies that you could bake :


Video


For more videos,  hop over to my YouTube channel :D




Tips : 

** the toaster heated up very fast and can be very hot... so do be careful and check every so often, you wouldn't want to end up with burnt love letters

Love letters or Kuih kapit is a traditional Chinese New Year thin crispy crêpe like biscuits.  Its best eaten after it has completely cool down.


Comments

  1. OMG! your photo's are amazing, Lisa!
    Love your 'crêpes', they look delicious! The recipe sounds good, perfect for a perfect Sunday! Thank you!

    ReplyDelete