Recipe - Crisp Pandan Gula Melaka Butter Cookies 😋
[Recipe] Pandan Gula Melaka Butter Cookies 🌿🍪 Fragrant pandan meets butter, finished with caramelised gula melaka topping. Also, they're nicely crispy and so easy to make 😋
Simple and straight forward ingredients, eggless, and requires just simple mixing 😆
An important note I want to make will be the use of Pandan. I like fresh Pandan, but for cookies, I will encourage extract because it doesn't add too much liquid while adding lots of Pandan flavour, ensuring the cookies stay in shape after piping. You can definitely also make your own extract from scratch if you would like to!
Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 115g Unsalted Butter, Softened at Room Temp
- 45g of Icing Sugar, sift if clumpy
- Pinch of salt, to taste / optional
- 3/4 Tsp Pandan Extract + More (Up to 1.5 Tsp, depending on brand)
- 1/2 Tsp or 2.5ml Vanilla Essence
- 145g of Plain Flour, sift if clumpy
- Approx. 30g of Gula Melaka, granulated form (or chopped)
Instructions
1. In a large bowl, cream together softened butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy, approx 2 mins.
2. Mix in the salt, pandan extract and vanilla essence.
3. For the pandan extract, start with 3/4 tsp first before deciding how much more to add, as it varies from brand to brand and some might get overly green.
4. Fold in the flour until a dough is formed. Transfer to a piping bag with a desired tip and pipe on a non-stick baking tray without parchment paper. Refrigerate for 5 – 10 minutes if its too soft.
5. Top off with a sprinkle of gula melaka at the centre.
6. Bake at 160C for 18 minutes until crispy. The cookies will be nicely golden brown.
7. Serve and enjoy! Do let it cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
#learnonlemon8 #easyrecipes #recipeideas #pandan #gulamelaka
Making pandan gula melaka butter cookies at home is a rewarding experience, especially when you appreciate the unique blend of fragrant pandan and caramelized gula melaka flavors. When I first tried this recipe, I was surprised by how simple the process was, yet how impressive the results turned out to be. Using pandan extract instead of fresh pandan leaves helped keep the dough consistency perfect for piping, ensuring beautifully shaped cookies that baked evenly. One tip I found useful is to adjust the pandan extract amount carefully according to the brand's strength since some are more concentrated and can give an overpowering green color or flavor if used too liberally. Starting with about 3/4 teaspoon allowed me to control the aroma while keeping the dough from becoming too soft. Another highlight is the gula melaka topping, which caramelizes nicely during baking and adds a delightful crunch and rich sweetness complementary to the buttery base. Using granulated gula melaka allowed some melting but it mostly stayed in place, providing an attractive contrast on the cookie surface. If you can’t find gula melaka, palm sugar is a good alternative. I also learned that chilling the piped dough slightly before baking helps maintain the cookie shapes and prevents spreading. Baking at 160°C for about 18 minutes gave a perfect crisp texture and golden edges without drying out the cookies. Storing these cookies in an airtight container once fully cooled keeps them crisp for days, making them an ideal treat to prepare in advance for sharing with family and friends. Overall, this recipe is a wonderful way to enjoy classic butter cookies with a tropical twist, combining familiar comfort with a distinctive Southeast Asian flavor profile. It’s perfect for bakers looking for an easy-to-follow, eggless cookie recipe that is both tasty and visually appealing.
