Thai Flower Shortbread Cookies - Khanom Kleeb Lum Duen
If you're looking for a pretty, cute and fun to make cookie recipe, look no further. I give you khanom kleeb lum duen, Thai shortbread cookies shaped into flowers of the region and then smoked with a special perfumed candle to instill fragrance into the cookies.
The recipe is a basic shortbread dough made by drizzling vegetable oil into flour. The perfect texture of the dough should be crumbly and like wet sand. When you bunch the dough into your hands it should hold together easily.
Once the the is done, you can color them as you please or keep them white, though it may look a little more fun with different colors.
Thai Flower Shortbread Cookies (Khanom Kleeb Lum Duen)
(Makes about 24 cookies)
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil (plus 1 or 2 teaspoons, if necessary)
- 1 Thai scented candle (optional)
- food coloring (optional)
Directions
- In a bowl, mix together the cake flour, powdered sugar and salt until combined. Slowly drizzle in the vegetable oil and vanilla, stirring with a fork until the mixture resembles wet sand.
- If using food coloring, separate the dough and mix with food coloring.
- Roll dough into quarter-sized spheres, saving some dough for the center. Cut spheres into quarters. These will serves as petals for the flowers.
- Roll the leftover dough into small balls for the center of the flower. Make a y-shape indentation to the balls.
- On a sheetpan, take 3 of the petals and press the bottoms together forming a flower. Place the smaller balls in the center. Bunch the petals together some more as they will spread apart while baking.
- Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-12 minutes.