Biskut Semperit
These are gorgeous 'Melt in the mouth' Biskut Semperit / Custard Cookies , one of many 'favourite' traditional cookies, in many Malay households during Eid Celebration in the 70's to 80's.

Down Memory Lane
Every Raya /Eid celebration, without fail, my mom would start her preparation as early as 2 weeks before Eid.
She would wash and dry the flat aluminium pot covers, which would served as baking trays later.
Then Mom would do a checklist and put aside all the ingredients needed.
She would bake as many as 5- 6 types of biscuits.
And one of the 'must-bake' sweet treats would be Biskut Semperit / Custard Cookies .

Mom's Little Helper
My siblings and I, would helped mom to bake Biskut Semperit / Custard Cookies every Eid.
Mom would mix the ingredients, my task was to greased the baking tray with margarine. My sisters would do the other task like making sure that biscuits were baked to perfection.
Sad to say, we didn't know how to appreciate good things back then.
We overlooked, underestimated, dished the traditional cookies.
And started to yearn for other exciting fancy name Cookies from the West.
The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence...
Since none of her children were looking forward to the traditional cookies anymore...
Mom stopped baking Biskut Semperit / Custard Cookies .

Baking Biskut Semperit / Custard Cookies
2 decades passed.. those cravings and longing for traditional cookies started to kick in.
I missed the 'Custardy-melt in the mouth taste' of Biskut Semperit / Custard Cookies.
I missed that little yellow Rose flower cookies with the cute little red cherry on the top...
Most of all, I missed my mom baking us Biskut Semperit / Custard Cookies!!!

Quest for that Perfect melt in the mouth Custard Cookies / Biskut Semperit
I have been on a quest for few years.
Looking forward to bake the perfect Biskut Semperit / Custard Cookies but failures came to greet me!
Either the dough was too soft that the 'petals' fell flat during baking or the dough was too stiff that my thumb hurts when I was trying to push the dough out of the nozzle.
I gave Mom a call asking for her recipe.
She managed to describe in the detail how she did hers.
Unfortunately the quantities in her recipe were measured by that orange colour tin labelled Brown and Polson Custard Powder ... dang!!!
I surfed the net, found few recipes for Biskut Semperit / Custard Cookies.
Tried but still not as good as Mom's... until the subject about Biskut Semperit / Custard Cookies was mentioned in one of my FB conversations with my former schoolmates... we talked food all the time...NOT!!!
Intan, generously share her recipe... and with her consent, I am sharing with everyone...
Thanks Intan...

Alas
my search for the perfect 'Melt-in the Mouth' Biskut Semperit / Custard Cookies is OVER!!!
How to store Biskut Semperit?
Store in an airtight container.Note :
2015 ~ I updated this post with my "How To Video' on baking that perfect Biskut Semperit / Custard Cookies.Biskut Semperit
Ingredients
- 150g margarine
- 80g icing sugar
- 50g cornflour
- 80g custard powder
- 120g plain flour
- 1 egg yolk
- glaze cherries - chopped
Instructions
- Fry the cornflour, plain flour and custard powder into the dry wok over low fire until the mixture is light and leaves the side of the wok. Set aside to cool.
- Beat the margarine and sugar until creamy
- Add in the egg yolk. Beat the mixture until well combine.
- Add in flour mix
- Pre-heat oven to 120C.
- Using the Samperit Nozzle (photo above)... pressed out the dough.
- Topped with cut up cherries and bake for 15-20 minutes.
Notes:
see post for tips
Nutrition Facts
Calories
26.31Fat (grams)
1.85Sat. Fat (grams)
0.37Carbs (grams)
2.33Fiber (grams)
0.02Net carbs
2.31Sugar (grams)
1.58Protein (grams)
0.17Sodium (milligrams)
1.24Cholesterol (grams)
3.23
Delicious Samperit, yours look very pretty the petals holds very well.
ReplyDeleteA cookies I'll surely bake for CNY.
Hahaha Lisa....I sooo remember the stiff thumb feeling!;P. Thx for sharing...
ReplyDeleteThese not only looks pretty .. but i bet they taste amazing too! Cute and tiny sweet little bites.
ReplyDeleteSo pretty and tempting!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Rosa
Kuih samperit my fav kuih raya. Taste better before raya or after raya bila tinggal sikit.
ReplyDeleteWant to know what I did to lessen the the soreness of my thumb, I will used the extra nozzle to press the dough in. Just wrap the 'presser nozzle' with some plastic bag to avoid the dough from getting into the hole. With that method you can even press it with your palm. More or less, you kasi tindihkan nozzle to on top of each other.
Enak-nya!
ReplyDeleteAnd your piping skill.. so perfect! Can't wait to see what's in here for the next few days :)
Have yet to make semperit this year. Dah tua2 ni, we now long for traditional kuih kan Lisa. Love semperit, makmur, kuih bakar, batang buruk and the list goes on.
ReplyDeleteSelamat Hari raya Lisa dearest!
cute cookies looks wonderful
ReplyDeleteEhhh.. ni biskut memang sudah lama I tak makan la... nak sikit :P
ReplyDeleteThese look so dainty, pretty and yummy! how i wish i could pop some in my mouth right now!
ReplyDeleteI ate a lot of these cookies when growing up but never know what they are called. Thanks for sharing this recipes, Lisa. Brings back nice memories.
ReplyDeleteAmelia
ReplyDeleteThank you dear... I'll be baking this again for CNY too :D
Kak Yati,
Sama2... :)
kankana
I have to exercise self control... otherwise none would be left for others ;P
Rosa
Thanks... :D
Flower
Hahaha... betul.. taste better when a few left in the jar...
Thanks for the tip... will keep that in mind :D
Sherie
Terimakasih...
err sorry my dear... not a lot of happening as most of my traditional cookies dah posted last year and the year before ;P
Wiz
ReplyDeleteSama kita Wiz... I love the traditional kuih and kids pun enjoy the Raya goodies.
Selamat Hari Raya to you too Wiz..
Torviewtoronto
Thank you :D
Leemei
Boleh saja ... mai la Perth :D
peachie
awww... thank you :D
Ellie
Agree ... brings back good memories, and it would be nice if I could find the old Saloma Raya song to go with it ;)
Samperit? I’m learning it here ...
ReplyDeleteThey look cutie than traditional : )
Custard powder is a genius little ingredient in recipes so i can imagine these are absolutely gorgeous! Definitely wanting to try this, they would make beautiful christmas gifts :)
ReplyDeleteTasteHongKong
ReplyDelete:D
The Procrastobaker
Excellent idea as Christmas gifts :)
Oh no, I think I'm missing out something really delicious in this world! I have never heard of samperit and all I can imagine is from "custard cookies".... You totally perfected this cookies... look at all these same shape flowers!! They are like little robots marching down. so cute!!!! I actually have a question, so I'll email you! :-)
ReplyDeleteNami
ReplyDeleteHahaha... now that you mentioned ... they do looked like little robots ;)
They are perfectly piped and baked! I love them.
ReplyDeletepretty pretty!! samperit, maybe i've eaten them before at a friend's house. Now you can proudy present this to your mom!!
ReplyDeleteAngie
ReplyDeleteThank you... they are almost gone now :)
lena
:D
Yum yuM! I wanna make this for eid so badly. I have a question though, is cornflour the same as cornstarch? Or is it cornmeal? Just wanna make sure before I make them so I don't mess them up. I know cornflour can mean several things. :)
ReplyDeleteHazar
ReplyDeleteCornstarch = cornflour... Its white in colour and usually used as thickener in Chinese cooking...
Sending you the link here :
http://www.foodsubs.com/ThickenStarch.html
for further clarification.
Happy baking and Have a joyous Eid :D
Gosh, you'd think after having a zillion of these in Singapore, I'd know their name? So thats what they are called. I always called them those yellow cookies with the red dot, lol! It must be truly awesome hitting that right recipe after years of searching for the perfect one :-)
ReplyDeleteLove kueh makmur! It's one of those kuehs that have not crossed over to join other chinese new year goodies like pineapple tarts and kueh bolu. I always look forward in anticipation for my muslim friends to share there makmurs with me during hari raya! :)
ReplyDeleteSorry.. I got a question. Will these work with butter instead of margarine?
ReplyDeleteSneh
ReplyDeleteThank you :D
It sure feels great :)
Shaz
Yes ... butter can be substituted for that buttery creamy taste...
I so love makmur too :D
Wow! I must say this is the best looking samperit I have ever seen! Am so going to try this! Bookmarking it and Selamat Hari Raya to you and your family Lisa:)
ReplyDeleteJeannie
ReplyDeleteThank you... :D
Happy baking...
Ha! Funny that you said your mother used to make them in the 70s and 80s because that was my first thought when I saw the pictures: Vintage Biscuits! They really look sweet and I am happy for you that you finally managed a recipe that you like. :)
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Tobias
Oo yaaa I remember this kue! I used to munch them for the Eid either fitr or hajj :)
ReplyDeleteWe call this kue semprit. :)
hey! thanks for sharing the recipe! i tried baking this but failed to get the "melt-in-the-mouth" texture...
ReplyDeleteis the dough supposed to be like bread crumbs?
Anonymous
ReplyDeleteThe dough should not be crumbly or breadcrumbs like.
It should be soft and able to push the dough through the nozzle.
Don't miss out step 2 n 3 (especially step 3 ~ egg yolk)
happy baking :)