You know what? Before I
got sucked into the fast-paced and capturing world of food blogs, I
have never heard of the miraculous concoction that is five spice
powder. Then I read about it on several blogs, featured in both sweet
and savory dishes. I was intrigued, yes, but never imagined ever
getting my hands on it because I thought I would not be able to get
where I live. I was wrong.
One day I was just sort of
meandering through my go-to self-proclaimed 'international' shop –
and with 'international' they mean mostly Asian and Oriental food
with a bit of African thrown in – when I found a semi-transparent
little plastic bag tightly stuffed between a plethora of other
semi-transparent plastic bags filled with spices. This one, however
had the unexpected printed on it in bold black letters on a baby blue
background: 5 Spice. Jackpot.
Curiously, I sniffed the
package – quickly checking whether anybody else is in sight
because, you know, I don't want to be the weird person sniffing stuff
in public except fruits maybe – and fell in love with what I was
smelling. Usually, five spice powder consists of a combination of
cinnamon, fennel seeds, star anise, sichuan pepper and ginger, each
representing one element of the five element theory (Wu Xing).
Probably one of the most
famous dishes it is used in is peking duck.
So, as I have never
used this spice mix before, I wanted to try something basic with the
powder providing most of the flavour. I found this amazing quick
recipe over at Dispatches
From Whitcomb Street for snickerdoodles. Can it get more basic
than that? I don't think so.
They turned out amazing. Crispy and
airy on the outside but nice and chewy in the centre. Scrumptious.
My family liked them so much that I had
to make them again two days later.
Five Spice Snickerdoodles
Adapted from here.
- 1 cup (225g) of butter
- 1.5 cups (340g) of sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2.75 (345g) cups flour
- 2 ts of baking powder
- 1/2 ts salt
- 1/2 ts five spice powder
- Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
- Beat in eggs.
- Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and five spice and fold into wet ingredients until just incorporated.
- Roll dough into 1'' (about 2,5 cm) balls and roll in a mixture of sugar and five spice powder (the original recipe said 3 tbsp of each was enough but I almost used 6 tbsp of each)
- Put on lined or greased baking sheets at least 2'' (5cm) apart and bake at 400°F (about 200°C) for 8-10 minutes.
Enjoy!
Love 5 spice..but never thought of using them in snickerdoodles!!
ReplyDeleteMy mom used it a lot in making stewed pork belly and sausage..
I am going to bake those cookies too.
What a clever way to make snicker doodles! Unfortunately, I'm allergic to cinnamon and five spice, so I can't indulge (dang it), but I just love them!
ReplyDeletedelicious looking snickerdoodles
ReplyDeleteThese cookies look delicious.
ReplyDeleteThis is gorgeous in every way. Simple in a really thoughtful way. Love it!
ReplyDeleteI love accidentally finding things in stores which you think you've never thought of using because you've never thought you'd find it ;) I'm Asian, so we've had five spice powder in our kitchen all my life (it's pretty much the only type of spice we used to have in the kitchen before I started playing with them!) but I only heard about it for the first time a couple of years ago, from a cooking show and I'm still not too sure what it smells/tastes like! haha....
ReplyDeleteI've never seen 5 spice used in cookies before- these sound really interesting! And they must be pretty damn good if you have to make them again two days later! ;)
In Chinese cooking, we used a lot of 5 spice to marinade our meat too. Have not really used 5 spice in dessert before and in this case a snickerdoodle. Looks delish.. I must give it a try. I bet it goes really well with tea ;), Hugs Jo
ReplyDeleteSo glad you made these and enjoyed them!
ReplyDeleteMmm I might have to try this recipe.
ReplyDeleteHaha love the name snickerdoodles! We dont really get them in Oz but these look delicious! Love how you've used the fice spice and now, thanks to you, I'll be singing Ice Ice Baby all day hahaha
ReplyDeleteFantastic recipe! I have never thought of using five spice in baking, very interesting indeed. Must give this a go :D
ReplyDeleteCool...! 5 spices in Snickerdoodles! This sounds so intriguing but I can somehow imagine that the taste must be wonderful :)!!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a really creative way to use 5 spice - I'm intrigued!
ReplyDeleteFive spice and snickerdoodles? Brilliant! I will be trying these... Nice job!
ReplyDeleteSince we are Norwegian, our family tends to experiment with Cardamom. These sounds wonderful. I have never tried Snickerdoodles with Cardamom. Off to the kitchen we go!
ReplyDeleteWow I have never seen 5 spices in cookies or dessert (maybe I might have seen in dessert, but don't remember). I love the photography of the snickerdoodles - they look really delicious! You have Asian mug cup too! =)
ReplyDelete