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Salted Egg Yolks Curry Leaves Cookies
Addictive sweet and savory Chinese New Year cookies, with salted egg yolks and curry leaves. These unique cookies are super easy and popular with guests.
Chinese New Year is fast approaching, and as usual, I am busy baking cookies and cakes to celebrate. Today, I have a very delicious Chinese New Year cookies recipe to share with you, salted egg yolks and curry leaves cookies.
These cookies are super easy to prepare, and yet, very delicious. If you plan on having plenty of guests coming for the Chinese New Year house visit (拜年), you will definitely want to bake a double batch, at the very least. These will be gone in a blink of an eye. :)
What do I need to prepare salted egg yolks and curry leaves cookies?
The ingredients for these cookies are quite unique, unlike your typical cookies. You will need:
- salted egg yolks. These are from duck eggs and not chicken eggs. My neighborhood Chinese market sells vacuum-sealed packets of steamed salted egg yolks, so I can immediately use them as is. If your market is selling the raw eggs, you will need to crack the eggs, then steam the egg yolks for 10 minutes to cook them.
- fresh curry leaves. My neighborhood Chinese market carries this in their fresh produce section along with other fresh herbs. You may also see these in an Indian or a Middle Eastern market.
- milk powder. I use Nestle Nido dry milk powder since I find this to be the closest to the kind we get in Indonesia and most other Southeast Asian countries. You can use baker’s milk powder, or even malted milk powder too, if that’s what you have.
- all-purpose flour
- baking powder
- unsalted butter
- cornstarch
- sugar
- salt
- egg yolk, to apply egg wash
- black sesame seeds, to garnish the cookies
How to prepare the cookie dough
- Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
- Sieve in all-purpose flour, milk powder, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Mix well with a spatula.
- Add mashed steamed salted egg yolks and finely chopped curry leaves, mix well with a spatula.
- Gather the crumbly mix to form a soft pliable dough. I usually just use my hand. Then wrap the dough with a saran wrap and rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
How to shape and bake the cookies
To shape the cookies, please do the following:
- Preheat the oven to 180 Celsius (350 Fahrenheit) and line baking sheets with parchment papers.
- Roll the chilled dough on a well-floured work surface into a 3 mm (1/8") thick. Then use a cookie cutter to shape the cookies.
- Arrange the cookies on the prepared baking sheets, making sure there is about 1" of space around the cookies.
- Brush the top of the cookies with egg yolk and garnish with black sesame seeds.
- Bake the cookies until golden brown. This should take about 15 minutes.
What if I don’t have any cookie cutter?
In that case, the easiest is to first shape the entire batch of cookie dough into a log. Then wrap the log with a saran wrap and chill for at least 1 hour, preferably 2 hours. Just prior to baking, use a sharp knife to cut the cookie dough log into 3 mm (1/8") thick slices and arrange on prepared baking sheets. Apply egg wash, garnish, and bake as per the recipe. :)
How long can I store the cookies?"
Before storing the cookies, make sure you cool them on a wire rack until completely cool. Then transfer the cookies to an air-tight container. The cookies should stay fresh at room temperature for up to 3 weeks.
Other Chinese New Year cookies recipes to try
Usually, we bake and prepare many kinds of cookies to celebrate Chinese New Year. You may want to bake these popular CNY cookies to fill your cookie tray:
- pineapple tart, filled version
- pineapple tart, rolled version
- Chinese peanut cookies
- Chinese walnut cookies
- Chinese almond cookies
- black sesame seeds cookies
- lidah kucing
- lemon macadamia cookies
- corn flakes chocolate chips cookies
We usually bake a cake or two as well to celebrate the new year. Here are some of the popular choices:
Salted Egg Yolks Curry Leaves Cookies
Ingredients
- 85 gram (6 tablespoon) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 40 gram (3 tablespoon) sugar
- 110 gram (about 1 cup - 1 tablespoon) all-purpose flour
- 15 gram (1 tablespoon) milk powder
- 10 gram (1 tablespoon) cornstarch
- 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 steamed salted egg yolk (from duck egg), mashed (*)
- 25 fresh curry leaves, chop into tiny pieces
- 1 egg yolk, for egg wash
- black sesame seeds, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
- Sieve in all-purpose flour, milk powder, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Mix well with a spatula.
- Add mashed steamed salted egg yolks and finely chopped curry leaves, mix well with a spatula.
- Gather the crumbly mix to form a soft pliable dough. I usually just use my hand. Then wrap the dough with a saran wrap and rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180 Celsius (350 Fahrenheit) and line baking sheets with parchment papers.
- Roll the chilled dough on a well-floured work surface into a 3 mm (1⁄8”) thick. Then use a cookie cutter to shape the cookies.
- Arrange the cookies on the prepared baking sheets, making sure there is about 1” of space around the cookies.
- Brush the top of the cookies with egg yolk and garnish with black sesame seeds.
- Bake the cookies until golden brown. This should take about 15 minutes.
- Cool the cookies on a wire rack until completely cooled, then transfered to an air-tight container to store. The cookies should stay fresh at room temperature for up to 3 weeks.
Notes
- (*) I bought and used steamed salted egg yolks. If you start from raw salted duck eggs, crack the eggs, and steam the egg yolks for 10 minutes, then mashed.
Comments
What an interesting recipe, I've never come across anything like this. Can't wait to try them out!
An authentic recipe, just in time for Chinese New Year! Thanks for sharing.
These cookies are awesome! They are so unique. I would have never thought of adding salted egg yolks and curry leaves to cookies, but I'm intrigued.
What an interesting looking cookie! I love trying new recipes, and think I will make this one with the kids!
Wow these look amazing. Never heard of using fresh curry leaves but will have to check it out!
Very interesting, I love salted duck egg yolks in anything. Would it still be ok to leave out the curry leaves? Many thanks.
Hi Houn, yes indeed you can omit the curry leaves if you want to.
Hi Anita, I've tried this amazing recipe of yours and yes, you're right. It's really addictive. I have two questions for you:
1. Can I pre make the dough and chill it in the fridge for about a week before baking these cookies? Or how many days can I actually keep the dough in the fridge? And also what about freezer?
2. What is the texture of the baked cookies supposed to be like? The outcome that I get is quite 'soft' and brittle-type. It tend to brittle easily. Is this the correct texture?
Hi Ann, I'm glad you like the cookies.
1. I haven't tried, but I think it should be OK to freeze the dough. I would even shape the dough into a log/cylinder before freezing. That way, when I am ready to bake, I can cut the log into discs.
2. Yes that is the right texture. It is somewhat soft and more fragile compare to Chinese peanut cookies. :)
Hi! Your cookies look beautiful. I intend to try this recipe over the weekend. I appreciate the inclusion of ground curry leaves. Have you considered adding a bit of chilli powder to mimick the original salted egg sauce? Let me know what you think? Thanks!
Hi Jieling, I've never tried adding chili powder, but I think it's a great idea. I think 1/4 teaspoon of chili powder should work beautifully for a little spicy kick. :)
What kind of milk powder to use? Or can I substitute it with something else? I’m excited to try out this recipe.
Hi Tiffany, I usually use Nestle Nido dry milk (https://amzn.to/3tgjhjE). You can also use malted milk powder from either King Arthur (https://amzn.to/3oCNypj) or Nestle Carnation (https://amzn.to/2NZJYZT).
Hello Anita, Thank you for sharing. This recipe seems interesting and I can't wait to bake a batch as I am a fan of soft cookies and addicted to anything with salted egg. Just one question before though, how will it turn out if I were to totally omit the milk powder?
Hi Edward, the texture of the cookies should stay the same even without the milk powder, but they will taste just a tad less savory compared to those with milk powder.
Thanks Anita for this recipe. The cookies are really so yummy! May I ask, how do you make the cookies less crumbly/brittle? My cookies came out quite brittle/crumbly that I almost couldn't hold it. It sort of just brittle and fall the moment I pick it up with my fingers. I hope you could advise on how to make the cookies a little bit harder. Thanks Anita.
Hi Annie, if the cookies are too brittle, you can either try adding a bit more butter (~ 1 tablespoon) or add a bit of water (also ~ 1 tablespoon) to the dough. Usually if all the measurement is correct, it shouldn't be too crumbly, so I suggest double checking the flour measurement using a scale rather than measuring cups.
Thank you for your recipe. Really really nice, today I try my first time. All my family love it.
Can I substitute the egg yolk with egg yolk powder instead?
Hi Angela, you can. Please follow the packaging instruction of your egg yolk powder to use the equivalent of 2 salted egg yolks.
Made them today. They were nice. Made some small alterations to recipe but that's just personal preference. I added in a little water to the dough as it was quite crumbly when I was mixing it. Think it made it less short and crumbly , I was able to hold it in my fingers after baking without them crumbling. Give it a try... Nice...
Love to try this recipe. How long can you store the cookies?
Hi Anne, the cookies should stay fresh at room temperature for up to 3 weeks.
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