Cantonese Chicken Cookies (鸡仔饼)

A classic at Cantonese bakeries, these cookies contain no chicken. But they do, of course, contain pork. Because... of course they do.

Before we start the recipe, I guess we do need to get something out of the way here real quick at first. See, despite the name, no, there's not any chicken in these cookies.. sorry to disappoint. But because this is Cantonese food after all, a fundamental ingredient in your chicken cookies that you just won't be able to be without will be… pork. Lemme explain.

So, the story has it, the original inventor of this dish was a servant in the house of Wu, which was an old merchant family in Guangzhou. Her name was Siu Fung, or "little Phoenix" – so originally the cookies were called Siu Fung Bang (小凤饼), or "Little Pheonix's Cookies".

Years later, the cookies were popularized by an old restaurant in Guangzhou called Seng Ju Lao (成珠楼), who would make these "little Pheonix cookies" after the mid-Autumn festival as a way to use up leftover Mooncake ingredients, such as candied pork fat. Now, in Chinese cuisine, sometimes chicken meat is referred as 'pheonix'… classic example being those "Pheonix Claws" that you see at Dim Sum. So over the years, for whatever reason the name of this dish ended up going in the opposite direction – that is, little Pheonix's cookies turned into… little chicken cookies.

And chicken cookies could be thought of as a great way to use up leftover mooncake ingredients. Started a mooncake project for mid-Autumn and have some leftover invert syrup, toasted nuts, and candied pork fat? Look no further than chicken cookies.

So nothing to do with chicken, but a great sweet-savory little traditional baked goods, which aroma reminds every Cantonese kid the time in a year with great seasonal delicacies around Mid-autumn Festival.

Cantonese Chicken Cookies (鸡仔饼)

• For the candied pork fat (冰肉):

  Pork fat, 80g, diced

  Salt, ¼ tsp

  Fenjiu or baijiu or bourbon/vodka (汾酒/白酒), 1 tsp

  Sugar, 150g

• For the invert syrup (转化糖浆):

  Water, 180mL

  Sugar, 200g

  Lemon juice, 25mL

• For the wrapper:

  Invert syrup (转化糖浆), 50g

  Peanut oil, 15g

  Kansui (Asian Lye Water/枧水), ¼ tsp

  All purpose flour, 75g

• For the filling:

  Peanut oil, 15g

  Salt, ¼ tsp

  Five spice powder (五香粉), ½ tsp

  Nanru (Red Fermented Tofu/南乳), ½ tbsp

  Water, 1 tbsp

  Sesame seeds (熟芝麻), toasted, 15g

  Sunflower seeds (葵花籽), toasted and roughly pounded, 15g

  Indian almonds or pinenuts (榄仁/松子), toasted and roughly pounded, 15g

  Meicai (Cantonese preserved mustard green/梅菜) stems, minced, 15g

  Garlic, 1 clove, minced

  Sugar, 85g

  Sticky rice flour (糯米粉), 25g

  Candied pork fat from above

Baker’s percentage:

Process:

Candied pork fat:
Mince the pork fat. Mix with ¼ tsp salt and 1 tsp liquor. Arrange into several layers with 150g sugar in a small bowl, with the bottom and top layers both being sugar. Cover and refrigerate for four days.

Invert syrup:
In a non-reactive pot, dissolve 200g sugar in 180mL water over low heat. Add 25mL lemon juice. Cook for about 25 minutes until large bubbles form and syrup reaches 110-115C. Refrain your desire of constant stirring during the cooking process. Once it reaches the consistency, just transfer to a container.

Filling:
Rinse sugar off candied pork fat. Toast nuts at 175C for 10 minutes, then roughly pound sunflower seeds and almonds/pinenuts into coarse bits. Mix 15g peanut oil, ¼ tsp salt, ½ tsp five spice, ½ tbsp fermented tofu, and 1 tbsp water. Add 15g each of sesame seeds, pounded sunflower seeds, pounded almonds/pinenuts, minced Meicai (preserved mustard green) stems, and 1 minced garlic clove. Mix in 85g sugar and 25g sticky rice flour. Incorporate candied pork fat.

Wrapper:
Combine 50g invert syrup, ¼ tsp lye water, and 15g peanut oil, mix well. Sift in 75g flour. Mix until crumbly, then knead for 7 minutes until smooth. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Assembly:
Roll wrapper into 1-inch diameter log, cut into 32 pieces (~5g each), then roll out each piece into an oval shape.

Gently place wrapper in a Chinese style soup spoon, add 1 tsp filling, wrap it up by folding the sides over. Work through the cookies, arrange them 1 inch apart on a baking tray, and bake at 200C for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, reduce the temperature to 165C, brush on some egg wash, bake 10 minutes. And then, brush on some more egg wash again, bake 5 more minutes.

After that time, watch very closely, and bake them until deeply golden brown, about 1-2 minutes more.