What happens when you put a cracker into a cookie? Garden Pastry & Cake answers this with their Emping Cookies. They are a local Singaporean bakery founded in 1977 and primarily located somewhere in Aljunied, but you can find their pop-up stalls in town during festive fairs, such as Takashimaya. I primarily get these lovely emping cookies of theirs during Chinese New Year.
For those who aren't familiar with the region, emping is a deep fried savoury cracker originating in Indonesia and popular to the Southeast Asian region. It is made from melinjo (or belinjo) seeds (of the Gnetum gnemon tree), which are boiled or roasted, flattened, sundried then deepfried until they puff up and become a cracker. They are usually seasoned with some salt, or sometimes sweet and/or spicy chilli glazes, but even those would usually have a savoury base.
Emping usually tastes nutty and earthy, similar to a deep fried broad bean with notes of chick pea, except that it is in cracker form. Some variants also have a rather malty flavour reminiscent of unseasoned popcorn or other toasted grains. There is also a tinge of tannin-like bitterness, which seems to contribute to the complexity of the experience that makes you want to keep repeating it. I would daresay it even has a type of umami, and it is this complex nutty, umami, savoury and earthy crunch that makes them so addictive.
For emping cookies, it seems like these belinjo crackers are smashed to cacao nib size, and these crumbled bits are incorporated into the cookie dough then baked. The emping bits would be the dark orange or brown specks scattered around the lighter yellow cookie in the photo below. The results are one of most addictive snacks I've ever had for Chinese New Year.
The cookies are baked in typical Chinese buttery and crumbly style, so with the buttery cookie encasing these nutty, umami and savoury burst of emping crunch, it is one of the most well-balanced and tasty snacks. It is similar to the effect of a perfect shortbread cookie with well-roasted crunchy nuts such as hazelnut, walnut, peanuts or almond, except that it tastes more like a very earthy and toasty broadbean. Well, belinjo is technically a seed or a nut, so I suppose it is the Southeast Asian version of a roasted nut cookie.
If I were to put my finger on the specific taste elements, it would be the pairing of mellow and slightly sweet-savoury buttery cookie with the emping's rich nutty notes and intriguing earthy bitterness that provides a balance between comfort, familiar richness and exotic complexity.
The textural contrast between the more crumbly cookie and the crunchy emping is also another incredibly satisfying experience.
Overall, I think most people would love it because it is like a novel and tropical emping-based variation on well-loved classic nut-based cookies.
The ingredients list is in the photo below (click to enlarge), which also happens to include a lot of their other products. It is a delightfully pure list of just 5 ingredients with no preservatives: flour, butter, egg, sugar and emping. (I couldn't help but notice that their other products such as pineapple tarts, cookies and bites also have pretty pure ingredients with no preservatives listed. They even have some vegan cookies featuring vegetable oil instead of butter, including black sesame cookies, green pea cookies, green bean cookies and walnut cookies!)
Finally, it came in a very nice and pretty tin. Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.
Discover other Asian fusion cookies and pastries
- Cereal Prawn & Bak Kut Teh Cookies by Old Seng Choong
- Kaya Pistachio Cookies by Yakun
- Old Seng Choong Pastries
- Black Truffle Savoury Cookies by Old Seng Choong
- Polvoron - The European Version of Chinese Cookies
- Taiwanese Savoury Macadamia Tart by Shang Shin Select
- Hainanese Pepper Salt Crispy Mooncake and Fusion Mooncake by Amethyst Pastry & Cakes, Singapore
Comments
Post a Comment