Cashew Semolina (Sugee) Cookies

Semolina cookies are better known as sugee biscuits in Malaysia and Singapore. They usually contain ghee (or clarified butter) and ground almonds, and they have a delicate and fine sandy texture that melts in your mouth. The recipe for these cashew semolina cookies comes from Alex Goh's Baking Code, a book that I bought during my last trip to Malaysia. I had a packet of semolina that I had just opened last week to make Galaktoboureko (a Greek baked custard dessert), and so I decided to use some of it to make these sugee cookies.

I think the cashews give the cookies a nutty and creamy flavour, compared to almonds which I reckon are more on the "sweet" and fragrant side. These were pretty easy to make, until I got to the part where I had to roll out the dough and cut them into pieces. The dough was quite crumbly and needed a bit of kneading to get them to come together properly. I sliced some into squares, used Christmas tree cutters for a few and rolled the leftover scraps of dough into balls. The cookies turned out quite well (although I was in a bit of a rush making them as little J was halfway through his nap and I wanted to get everything done before he woke up) and they weren't too sweet, with a subtle taste of roasted cashews. They may appear to crumble easily on the outside, but they have a slightly firm texture when you bite through them. They are perfect with a cuppa and the kids just couldn't stop eating them!

Cashew Semolina (Sugee) Cookies
Adapted from Baking Code by Alex Goh

Ingredients

100g ghee/clarified butter
100g shortening
110g icing sugar
1/2 tsp salt
50g roasted cashewnuts, finely chopped
40g semolina
300g plain flour
50g rice flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
Extra cashews for decoration

Method

Sift the flours and baking powder and set aside.

Cream ghee, shortening, icing sugar and salt until light. Add chopped cashews and semolina and mix well. Add in the sifted ingredients and mix well. Bring it together to form a dough.

Roll the dough between 2 sheets of greaseproof paper and slice them into squares (or use cookie cutters of your choice). Place on lined baking trays. Brush some eggwash over the top and place half a cashew over each cookie. Bake in a preheated oven at 150C for 25-30 minutes. Let them cool completely on the trays before storing them in an airtight container.