Have An Auspicious Gold Bar （Kaasstengels) This Chinese New Year–Golden Cheesy Bar (黄金芝士条）

INTRODUCTION

HAPPY 2014. This is my second post of 2014 and will be my officially first post with recipe this year.

The first post was issued yesterday on my top 16 posts last year and you may want to check it out on Guaishushu’s Report Card–Top 16 posts For 2013.

I sincerely hope that 2014 will be a year that all readers will be blessed with lots of wealth. To have an auspicious start, I will share with reader this recipe of golden cheesy bar. I knew that some of the Facebook Group members are awaiting for my post so that they can prepare this for the coming Chinese New Year.

This is one type of savoury cookies that is rather common in Sarawak and Indonesia. However, I am unsure if it is common in Singapore and West Malaysia. During Chinese New Year, most families will serve their guests with sweet cookies such as pineapple tarts, kueh lapis and etc. Our visiting to relatives and friends house can be as many as 10 families per day.  After having too much sweet treats, logically, my body will crave for something savoury, this is the cookie that I have always looking for in a serving tray of many cookies.

This cookie is very common in Indonesia possibly due to the Dutch colonization. It is made of Edam Cheese, cheddar cheese and other savoury items but not even a grain of sugar. Instead, chicken or beef stock powder were used.  It is called Kaasstengels (a Dutch name) in Indonesia. If you Google kaasstengels, the Dutch version is made using puff pastry which is rather different from the Indonesian version of  kaasstengels. For more detail read up of Kaasstengels, you may want to refer to http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaasstengels.

I got this recipe from one of my Google Plus friends – Ms. Karin Frauenfeld . She had posted this recipe in our Goggle plus community and have a very good account on the history and some tips of making these savoury cheese stick  HERE. For more detail instruction, please show support to her by visiting her blog in Indonesian Savoury Cheese Stick.

Since it is a Chinese New Year cookie, as usual, I will give my cookie an auspicious name. Since it looked like 916 gold bar, I have decided to call these cookies Golden Cheesy Bar. Hopefully, it will bring lots of wealth to my readers and their guests after  eating these cheese cookies. Ha-ha

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WHAT IS REQUIRED

Recipe adapted from : Indonesian Savoury Cheese Cookies

Servings : About 70-80 sticks of 4cm x 1.5 cm x 1.5 cm

• 450 grams of plain flour
• 15 grams of milk powder
• 175 grams of grated cheddar cheese
• 250 grams of grated Edam Cheese
• 25 grams of corn starch
• 350 grams of butter, softened
• 2 teaspoon of Knorr or Maggie chicken/beef broth powder
• 4 egg yolks

* Note: you can get most Edam Cheese in supermarket Cheese Sections.

Egg wash

• 2 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon of honey
• 2 teaspoons of milk

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STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Pre-heat oven to 160 degree Celsius and line two baking trays with parchment paper.

• Cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add in one egg yolk at a time. Stir until well mixed.

• Sift in all the dry powdery ingredients (milk powder, chicken broth powder, plain flour and corn starch). Use the mixer to stir at low speed until well mixed. Add in grated cheeses (Edam cheeses and cheddar cheeses), stir until well mixed. Transfer out to a flat surface. Use hand to knead for 1-2 minutes until well combined.

• Roll the dough into a 1.5 cm thick and cut into 1.5cm x 1.5 cm x 4 cm. In order to ensure consistent size, you can consider to press your dough into a Swiss roll baking tin, use a ruler to cut, chill it in the  freezer for 5 minutes. 

• Take  out, follow the line to recut and transfer to the baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake in the preheated oven of 160 degree for 15-20 minutes.

• After 15 minutes, egg wash the cookies thoroughly. It is ok if the cookies have a bit of crack but please be careful as it can be quite fragile when hot. When you see the crack, egg wash that portion with more egg mixtures.  If you want it to be golden brownish and shining, you have to keep an eye on the cookies and egg wash additional one to two times if necessary.

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CONCLUSION

I have to thank Ms. Karin for providing this recipe. Do pay a visit to her blog at   http://karinisafrauenfeld.blogspot.de for some points that were not mentioned in this post. This is an auspicious cookie and hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.

For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX here and you can follow me at PINTERESTor visit this blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE .  

If you are a Pinterest user and you are interested to have more recipes, you can join or follow this Pinterest Board set up by me  where there are more than 1000 recipes worldwide and pinned by various bloggers: FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED PINTEREST BOARD. You can also join the Food Bloggers and Foodies United Group Facebook Group to see more recipes

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Here i am baking Chinese New Year cookies along with Lena, Joyce and zoe, the linky will be opened till Jan27.