Soft Pandan Cookies March 27 2013

Soft Pandan Cookies
Though I'm not any part Irish, but whenever Saint Patrick's Day rolls around, I get pretty excited about it.  No, it's not the green beer I get excited about, the excitement is because I get to be creative with my food!  This year I've introduced a new flavour in my cookies to our Irish friends.  They are Pandan Cookies!!!  Even though the taste reminds you nothing about the Irish, but the color does.

Pandan (Pandanus) is a type of screwpine  that grows in Southeast Asia.  Some call this the Eastern or Asian Vanilla due to its wonderful sweet and creamy aroma.  Pandan is broadly used in Thai, Vietnamese, Singaporean, Malaysian cuisines and desserts.

Ingredients:
6-7 Pandan leaves
fresh or frozen (thawed if they're frozen) 1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/3-1/2 cup of cane sugar
2 pinches of salt
1 egg
5-7 tablespoons of unrefined coconut oil
1/2 cup of thick coconut cream
2 shakes of cream of tartar
small pinch of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons of toasted sesame seeds

To make:
Preheat oven to 350F.

Cut Pandan leaves into smaller pieces.  Pour Pandan cut leaves, coconut milk, coconut oil, salt, sugar, egg in blender to blend until everything is pureed.  Set aside.

Pour flour in a mixing bowl, add cream of tartar, baking soda, baking powder and mix well.  Next, pour the wet ingredients with flour.  Stir to mix well.

You can either pour this batter in a cookie mold.   If you want to make them freehand, you can add a little more flour to the batter to thicken if it's too runny -- adding flour will thicken the batter making it more workable with your hands.  Make balls about 1 1/2 inch diameter and place them in a cookie sheet.  Spread each ball about 2 inches apart all around.  You can either grease the cookie sheet with coconut oil, or place a sheet of parchment paper down to prevent cookies from sticking.  Sprinkle some sesame seeds on top.

Place in oven and bake for 20-25 mins., or until crust is very light brown.  When baked goods are getting close to being ready, you will start to smell the aroma!  Carefully remove cookies from molding or cookiesheet to place on cooling reck.