Peanut Cookies Recipe

Peanut cookies is a Chinese New Year tradition in my family. We make them every year. They are sweet, nutty and aromatic, and insanely easy to make. The recipe is very simple, with just 4 inexpensive ingredients - flour, sugar, ground roasted peanuts and vegetable oil. But the process of making them can be long and tedious.

Peanut Cookies for Chinese New Year

This is my mother-in-law's recipe. She has been making them for decades and every time, they are just as delectable. By the way, my mother-in-law never weighs the ingredients :) She goes by the ratio of 1:1:3/4, that is, equal portions of ground roasted peanuts and flour, with the portion for sugar reduced to taste. There is no measurement for oil either. Oil is added a little at a time, and mixed until a dry dough forms and tiny balls can be shaped without crumbling.

Making Chinese New Year Peanut Cookies

Mix the dry ingredients (flour, ground roasted peanuts and sugar) together in a big bowl.

Mix flour, ground peanuts and sugar together

Add the oil, a little at a time.

Add oil, a little at a time

Mix until a dry dough forms. To test, take about a teaspoonful of dough and shape into a ball. If it crumbles easily, it's too dry - add more oil. If it holds together, it's good.

The dough - not too wet/oily, not too crumbly

Now the labour begins... Take a small portion of dough, shape into a bite-sized ball and place on prepared baking tray.

Place dough balls on baking tray - 80 pieces per tray

We use the bamboo cap of the chinese calligraphy brush to make the circle mark on the cookies.

Make the traditional/signature circle mark on the cookies

Give it an egg wash and it's ready to go into the oven. We prefer to use the calligraphy brush (new and cleaned, of course) for the egg wash as it is softer. We find the normal pastry brush too hard and tend to break the cookie.

Egg wash

Bake at 170°C for 12 minutes, or until golden brown.

Bake till golden brown

Chinese New Year Peanut Cookies Recipe

Ingredients
1 kg sifted all-purpose flour
1 kg ground roasted peanuts
700 gm sifted icing sugar, adjust to taste
Vegetable or peanut oil (cooking oil like Helang, Buruh, Neptune are all suitable)

Egg wash: 9 egg yolks

Makes about 500+ bite-sized pieces

Method

1. Oil the baking tray, or line with non-stick baking paper.
2. Mix the flour, ground roasted peanuts and icing sugar in a large bowl.
3. Pour the vegetable oil, a little at a time, in the flour mixture. Mix till a dry dough forms.
4. Shape into small balls and place on the baking tray.
5. Make the circle mark on the balls.
6. Brush generously with egg wash.
7. Bake at 170°C for 12 minutes.

Notes:

• You can use store-bought ground roasted peanuts, or do like we do - buy, roast and grind the peanuts ourselves. 
• Both icing sugar and granulated sugar can be used. If using icing sugar, be sure to sift first to avoid lumps.
• Don't add too much oil, even if the dough initially appears dry or crumbly. The oil will combine with the flour the longer the dough sits. You can let the dough rest for a while if you prefer.
• Personally I find the egg-yolk-only egg wash a little too thick and difficult to work with. I usually prefer egg yolk thinned with a little milk. It's easier to work with and gives a nice sheen. But MIL says egg yolk only :)
• The cookies tend to stick to the tray/baking paper if any egg wash drip onto it. So avoid brushing with too much egg wash. 
• You can make as much or as little as you like Just follow the 1:1:3/4 ratio guideline, e.g. 1 bowl of flour + 1 bowl of ground roasted peanuts + less than 1 bowl of sugar. Each ingredient can be adjusted to one's liking, i.e. more nuts for a nuttier flavour, more flour for a firmer cookie. Other variations include using butter or margarine, coarsely ground roasted peanuts, very finely ground roasted peanuts and so on.