Less Mess Kueh Bangkit

My preferred brand of santan (coconut cream) is "Kara".
Kueh Bangkit baking in my Healsio oven (using "Oven" function)

Kueh Bangkit is one of my favourite traditional Chinese New Year cookies. A good KB is fragrant, light, crisp, and melts delightfully in the mouth. But if not done properly, it is hard and sticks in the mouth! Getting it right is a little tricky, not to mention the preparation can get messy.

Traditionally, the tapioca flour is dry-fried in a wok till light. In the process, the whole kitchen gets coated in a light dusting of flour! I hate getting messy, so I've adapted by using microwave to dry the flour. The other "innovation" is to knead the dough in a plastic bag rather than in a bowl (& getting my hands all sticky). The plastic bag not only keeps all the mess in, but also keeps the dough from drying out. And as I prefer my KB to be slightly "toasty", I make them small and bake them a little longer than necessary. I must stress that I'm not a great stickler for authenticity or traditional methods, but IMHO, the resulting cookies are really rather nice.

Ingredients
2C + 3T (~ 240g) tapioca flour / tapioca starch
1 - 2 pandan leaves, cleaned & cut into 1" sections (optional)
2/3C (~ 80g) icing sugar, sifted
1T margarine (or Crisco)
1 egg yolk
1/3C thick santan (~ 85ml)

Method:
Put tapioca flour (and pandan, if available) on baking paper in a large microwave bowl. Zap 1min on HI, stir, repeat 5 - 6 times. Cool (preferrably overnight, but I waited ~ 2 hrs).

In a large clean sandwich bag, put icing sugar, margarine & yolk. Squeeze bag to mix. Add 1/3C (~ 85ml) santan & squeeze till well mixed.

Sift cooled flour, discarding pandan. Reserve 3T for dusting KB molds and add the rest to bag.

Squeeze bag & knead well to a smooth, pliable dough, neither crumbly or sticky at all(add a little extra flour or santan if necessary). Rest dough in bag for 30 mins.

Dust KB molds with reserved flour, press in dough & tap sharply out onto paper-lined tray. Alternatively, roll to ~ 1/4” thick, cut shapes & pinch with KB pincher.

Bake at 150 deg C for 15-20 mins (till light, dry & very faintly tinged).
Cool & store in air-tight tin. Makes 100+ 1” cookies.