Cape Malay Butter Coconut biscuits with cherries or Klapper scraps as they are affectionately called, are a holiday table staple in Cape Malay homes. As ubiquitous as Butter biscuits with candied angelica and cherries; or Soet koekies with their warm spices these biscuits are beloved by old and young.
These crispy and crunchy cherry coconut cookies are made with desiccated coconut and flavoured with vanilla and almond extracts. The almond extract is used sparingly so it doesn’t overpower the flavor.
How to make butter coconut biscuits with cherries
These cookies are incredibly easy to make and can be done with or without a stand mixer or electric hand mixer.
- Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add an egg to the butter mixture and beat until combined then add the oil, vanilla and almond extract.
- Add the cake flour, desiccated coconut and baking powder and mix to form a firm dough.
- Now here is where it gets interesting. Depending on how much coconut you add, you can either make little balls and press down with a fork to get the krap koekie shape (Method 1) or roll out the dough, scrape the surface and cut out shapes (Method 2) before putting on the cherry quarters.
Top tips for making crispy butter coconut biscuits
- Do not place the butter coconut biscuits on top of each other while hot, after removing from the cookie sheet. This will make it soft instead of crispy.Â
- The bottoms of the butter coconut biscuits must be light golden never dark brown so I bake it at a slightly lower temperature than other biscuits – This was a little pointer I got from my Uncle Moosa one day. He had heard that I was selling biscuits and cakes and said ‘Don’t let the biscuits burn or darken on the bottom. Biscuits must never be dark at the bottom’. I was surprised that he had an opinion either way, and when I asked him where he learned that he said that it was from working in the kitchens at the private club that he later became the manager of.
Cape Malay Butter Coconut biscuits with cherries
This cherry coconut cookies dough is crumbly as it contains more coconut and is where the name krap koekies (scratch cookies) comes from. You have to shape the dough with your hands and a fork to get it to stick together as it is quite crumbly.
I used to watch Aunty Dija and Attie (my father’s aunt) make these on a Saturday and was always fascinated by how quickly they worked the dough into shapes with a fork. The only disappointment back then was that when they were served the coconut biscuits were always a bit soft.
I realised when I was older that the third person in the baking trio, Aunty Biba, always packed the biscuits on top of each other when she took them out of the oven to cool. The heat caused the coconut biscuits to soften.
Cape Malay Butter Coconut biscuits with cherries (Klapper scraps)
Ingredients
- 250 grams lightly salted butter at room temperature
- 400 grams fine granulated sugar approximately 500 ml or 2 cups
- 125 ml sunflower or vegetable oil approximately 1/2 cup
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 10 ml vanilla extract approximately 2 teaspoons
- 5 ml almond extract approximately 1 teaspoon
- 240 grams desiccated medium coconut approximately 750 ml or 3 cups
- 500 grams cake flour or fine sponge flour approximately 875 ml or 3 1/2 cups, lightly packed
- 2.5 ml baking powder approximately 1/2 teaspoon
Decoration
- 125 ml whole glace cherries each cut into four pieces
Instructions
- Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer and cream together until light and fluffy, at least 5-7 minutes.
- Add the egg and beat until combined then add the oil, vanilla extract and almond extract and beat until combined.
- Add the sifted cake flour, desiccated coconut and baking powder and mix until it forms a firm dough.
- Leave the dough to rest for 10 minutes before shaping.
- Heat the oven to 170 degrees C or 150 Fan / 375 F / Gas Mark 5.
- Cut each glace cherry into 4 pieces and keep to decorate the unbaked cookies
- Use an ice cream scoop or spoon to measure the dough and roll into make small balls.
- Place the dough balls on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Use the back of a fork to press down and mark a crosswise pattern on the top of the cookies.
- Add 1/4 cherry to each cookie.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes. Do not let the cookies become brown.
- Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes before placing the cookies in a single layer on a cooling rack.
- When the cookies are completely cool you can serve or store in an airtight container.
Nutrition
Disclaimer: Nutritional information for the recipe is an approximation and varies according to the ingredients and products used.
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This will be my next box of biscuits!! They sound really lovely. :))