Biskut Samperit / Custard Cookies

These are gorgeous 'Melt in the mouth' Biskut Samperit / 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 Samperit / Custard Cookies .

Mom's Little Helper

My siblings and I, would helped mom to bake Biskut Samperit / 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 Samperit / Custard Cookies .

Baking Biskut Samperit / 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 Samperit / 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 Samperit / Custard Cookies!!!

Quest for that Perfect melt in the mouth Custard Cookies / Biskut Samperit

I have been on a quest for few years.
Looking forward to bake the perfect Biskut Samperit / 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 Samperit / Custard Cookies.

Tried but still not as good as Mom's... until the subject about Biskut Samperit / 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 Samperit / Custard Cookies is OVER!!!

How to store Biskut Samperit?

Store in an airtight container.

Note :

2015 ~ I updated this post with my "How To Video' on baking that perfect Biskut Samperit / Custard Cookies.

Yield: 70 piecesAuthor: Lisa Ho

Samperit / Custard Cookies

'Melt in the mouth' Samperit / Custard Cookies , one of many 'favourite' traditional cookies, in many Malaysian households during Eid Celebration in the 70's to 80's.

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.

http://www.mykeuken.com/2011/08/samperit-custard-cookies.html

Lisa's Lemony Kitchen

Created using The Recipes Generator

33 comments:

AmeliaAugust 23, 2011 at 11:21 AM
Delicious Samperit, yours look very pretty the petals holds very well.
A cookies I'll surely bake for CNY.
Yati HarveyAugust 23, 2011 at 12:07 PM
Hahaha Lisa....I sooo remember the stiff thumb feeling!;P. Thx for sharing...
kankanaAugust 23, 2011 at 2:09 PM
These not only looks pretty .. but i bet they taste amazing too! Cute and tiny sweet little bites.
Rosa's Yummy YumsAugust 23, 2011 at 2:54 PM
So pretty and tempting!

Cheers,

Rosa
FlowerAugust 23, 2011 at 3:06 PM
Kuih samperit my fav kuih raya. Taste better before raya or after raya bila tinggal sikit.

Want 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.
maameemoomoo - a ½ food blogAugust 23, 2011 at 3:17 PM
Enak-nya!

And your piping skill.. so perfect! Can't wait to see what's in here for the next few days :)
AnonymousAugust 24, 2011 at 12:30 AM
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.

Selamat Hari raya Lisa dearest!
TorviewtorontoAugust 24, 2011 at 3:10 AM
cute cookies looks wonderful
mycookinghutAugust 24, 2011 at 3:34 AM
Ehhh.. ni biskut memang sudah lama I tak makan la... nak sikit :P
peachieAugust 24, 2011 at 5:51 AM
These look so dainty, pretty and yummy! how i wish i could pop some in my mouth right now!
AnonymousAugust 24, 2011 at 10:23 AM
I 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.
Lisa HoAugust 24, 2011 at 12:27 PM
Amelia
Thank 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
Lisa HoAugust 24, 2011 at 12:33 PM
Wiz
Sama 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 ;)
TasteHongKongAugust 25, 2011 at 12:56 AM
Samperit? I’m learning it here ...
They look cutie than traditional : )
SashquatchAugust 25, 2011 at 5:52 AM
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 :)
Lisa HoAugust 25, 2011 at 12:33 PM
TasteHongKong
:D

The Procrastobaker
Excellent idea as Christmas gifts :)
Nami | Just One CookbookAugust 25, 2011 at 1:28 PM
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! :-)
Lisa HoAugust 26, 2011 at 8:17 AM
Nami
Hahaha... now that you mentioned ... they do looked like little robots ;)
Angie's RecipesAugust 26, 2011 at 7:30 PM
They are perfectly piped and baked! I love them.
lenaAugust 26, 2011 at 8:29 PM
pretty pretty!! samperit, maybe i've eaten them before at a friend's house. Now you can proudy present this to your mom!!
Lisa HoAugust 27, 2011 at 10:32 AM
Angie
Thank you... they are almost gone now :)

lena
:D
Autumn (It's Autumn's Life)August 28, 2011 at 12:53 AM
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. :)
Lisa HoAugust 28, 2011 at 10:01 AM
Hazar
Cornstarch = 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
Sneh | Cook RepublicAugust 28, 2011 at 3:55 PM
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 :-)
shazAugust 28, 2011 at 10:29 PM
Love 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! :)
shazAugust 28, 2011 at 10:31 PM
Sorry.. I got a question. Will these work with butter instead of margarine?
Lisa HoAugust 29, 2011 at 1:35 PM
Sneh
Thank you :D
It sure feels great :)

Shaz
Yes ... butter can be substituted for that buttery creamy taste...

I so love makmur too :D
JeannieSeptember 1, 2011 at 2:07 PM
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:)
Lisa HoSeptember 2, 2011 at 3:00 PM
Jeannie
Thank you... :D
Happy baking...
T and Tea CakeSeptember 3, 2011 at 7:23 AM
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. :)

Cheers,
Tobias
Indonesia EatsNovember 11, 2011 at 9:53 PM
Oo yaaa I remember this kue! I used to munch them for the Eid either fitr or hajj :)

We call this kue semprit. :)
AnonymousJanuary 3, 2012 at 9:34 PM
hey! thanks for sharing the recipe! i tried baking this but failed to get the "melt-in-the-mouth" texture...

is the dough supposed to be like bread crumbs?
Lisa HoJanuary 3, 2012 at 9:48 PM
Anonymous
The 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 :)