“Hup Toh Soh” is synonymous with the Cantonese community of Malaysia and Singapore. It literally translates to “Walnut Biscuits/Cookies”. Cantonese immigrants from Guangdong, China arrived in this region around the early 19th century to the 1930’s. They settled in areas of Malaysia with a booming tin mining industry such as Kuala Lumpur and towns in Perak, Pahang and Negeri Sembilan. Growing up, Anne remembers Hup Toh Soh being sold in areas with large Cantonese communities such as Kampar and Bidor. She recalls these cookies being the size of her palm!
There are many variations of this recipe which you can find online. Some say Hup Toh Soh doesn’t actually contain walnuts, and that it is named as such only because it looks like a walnut! Some recipes use lard/shortening/butter. Some cookies are flat, some are round. Some are large, some are small. Some have a piece of walnut on them, some don’t.
Every Chinese New Year, Anne buys containers of Hup Toh Soh from a seller in Petaling Jaya (who makes a very tasty version of it) to share with her loved ones. As she is in Singapore this year, she decided to make her own instead! This recipe is adapted from that of one of her best friends back home in Klang. It passed our family taste test, and her grandchildren declare it better than the ones she buys every year!
Anne’s version has ground walnut in it, uses vegetable oil, is shaped roundish flat and has a walnut on top of it. It is of a small cookie size which makes it a perfect CNY goodie. This is an easy recipe which results in a crumbly and melt-in-your-mouth cookie.
We hope you like it as much as we do!
🍊🍊🧧🧧🧨🧨🌸🌸
HUP TOH SOH
Ingredients:
Makes about 100 cookies
450g Plain Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
150g Icing Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Salt
(Sieve all of the above)
150g Ground Walnuts
1 Egg Yolk
350ml Vegetable Oil (preferably Knife Peanut Oil, however you can also use Rice Bran oil or Canola oil)
Optional:
50g Walnuts – cut into pieces, use as cookie topping
Egg wash:
Beat 2 egg yolks with 3 tsp water
(We used a silicone brush as we didn’t have a bristle brush at the time. Anne recommends using a bristle brush for better results)
Bake in pre-heated, fan-assisted oven at 170 degrees Celcius for 15-20 minutes, till golden brown
Anne’s tips:
It is very important to use fresh walnuts which do not have a rancid odour. If the walnuts you buy don’t smell fresh, Anne recommends toasting the walnuts in a pan over low heat for a few minutes. This will give the walnuts a better smell and flavour. Grind them once completely cooled down. We managed to get very fresh walnuts from Empress Market in Singapore – hence no toasting was required for our cookies.
Original of the video here
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