Hup Toh Soh (Chinese New Year biscuits)

Ingredients

• 600g flour, sifted
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tsp salt
• 250g icing sugar
• 250g cashews, lightly roasted
• 375ml vegetable oil
• 2 egg yolks

Method

Hop Toh Soh means 'crunchy walnut cookie' in Cantonese. This is said to refer to the decorative walnut half that was often placed on top of the biscuits, and traditional recipes did not tend to include any walnuts in the biscuit dough. The increase of home ovens in China has seen an explosion of different varieties of Hop Toh Soh and many modern recipes include a variety of fruit and nuts. This recipe from MasterChef winner Ping Coombes includes roasted cashews for a deliciously nutty flavour.

This recipe can make 60 bite-size biscuits or around 35 using a 2 1/2 inch scone cutter.

Preheat oven at 180C fan/200C/gas mark 6, and roast the cashews for 10 mins. Cool and roughly chop.

In a large mixing bowl, place all ingredients except for the egg yolks. Mix well. Dough will feel a little crumbly but it is normal and will come together when rolled out.

Working in small batches, place on flat surface to form a dough and roll out about 1cm thick, cut out the cookies with your favourite cookie cutter.

Place on biscuits a baking tray with spaces in between. Brush with a beaten egg yolk.

Bake for 20 – 25 minutes on 150C fan/170C/gas mark 4.

Our thanks to Wing Yip for providing this recipe.

Visit our Asian recipe section for more recipes from China, Japan, Korea and more.