Banh Dua Nuong (Baked Coconut Almond Cookies)

Method

1. Peel the brown skin from 500g coconut meat, rinse it, grate it finely and spread it on a tray.
2. Toast the coconut at 180 degrees C for about 4 minutes, then take it out to cool. It is ready when it is white, fine and not scorched.
3. Put 40g all purpose flour, 135g kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 20g butter, 30g almond flour and 200ml oat milk in a large bowl and mix well. Sifting the flour once gives a finer texture.
4. Separate the yolks and whites of 1 to 2 chicken eggs, whisk the whites and pour them into the flour bowl, then stir until the mixture is even, with no lumps and no foam.
5. Add the cooled toasted coconut and 100g desiccated coconut to the bowl, along with 1 vial vanilla powder and a pinch of salt, and mix into a cookie batter.
6. Rub a little cooking oil on your hands, divide the batter into small portions and roll them into balls.
7. Line a tray with baking paper, arrange the cookies and bake at 180 degrees C for about 20 minutes, until they are evenly golden and fragrant.
8. Take them out to cool before serving.

Tips

• A stiff batter loosens with a splash of water and mixes more easily.
• Heating the oven for 10 minutes beforehand means the cookies bake at the right temperature.
• Cooled cookies keep their crunch in a sealed jar somewhere cool, or in the fridge.
• The toasted coconut has to be completely cold before it goes into the batter, since hot coconut melts the butter and slackens the mixture.
• kOBE Monk Fruit Blend dissolves slowly, so rest the batter 5 minutes and mix it again before rolling.
• The golden color here comes from the toasted coconut rather than from the blend, so extra time in the oven to chase color only dries the cookies out.