Pandan Coconut Sandwich Cookies

Hiya! Hope everyone had a great weekend, here in Australia we had a long weekend which is why this post is coming a little late. As expected, the last week has been completely nuts with the wedding and then a week spent with my relatives visiting from overseas. I am exhausted, but in a good way. The wedding was amazing, A & I had such a perfect day and night and we were so happy to celebrate with all our closest family and friends. Even with all fingers and toes crossed and my Mum doing an anti-rain dance, it poured the entire day and my dress got a little muddy but we didn't let it affect the day at all. I knew my bad luck when it came to the weather, so all our venues were totally under cover, and I had a big pile of cute polka dot umbrellas. Karen was sweet enough to take some amazing photos of the food at the reception at Quay with her shiny new camera, so when I get the chance I'll try to put together a post.

These are some of the flowers that we brought back from the wedding, our house was full of lovely smelling flowers all week. I actually had quite a disappointing experience with my florist/decorators but I won't go into the details. Anyway, it was just great to get back into my kitchen and do some relaxing baking yesterday, after days of running around shopping and sightseeing with my cousins and nights of eating out. I finally started feeling human again once I had my favourite purple silicon spatula in my hand. With all my cousins around my Malaysian accent has come out of hiding, and it seemed appropriate to bake something with a uniquely Malaysian flavour. I have mentioned pandan flavouring many times on this blog, and will use any opportunity to tell others about how awesome it is. The aroma and flavour of pandan leaf is so pleasant and works so well with coconut, so I decided to make some simple pandan flavoured shortbread and sandwiched a sticky coconut filling in the middle, similar to the filling you get in Bounty or Mounds bars.

The cookies are REALLY good, in fact they tasted so good on their own that we polished off half a batch before I made the filling. The bright green colour comes from the colouring in the pandan paste, and the strong flavour from the paste combined with a super short, buttery and slightly salty shortbread makes these incredibly addictive. The filling on its own seems pretty sweet, but when you sandwich it between two of these biscuits, it melts in your mouth and it all makes sense. Of course, you have to be a fan of coconut to like these. I have had these weird cravings for Bounty bars recently, so I mixed up dessicated coconut, sweetened condensed milk (YUM) and a touch of icing sugar to make this sticky, delicious filling.

My one big tip when making these biscuits; make sure you leave the dough to rest for a long time. The more time you chill them, the longer the dough holds its shape in the oven. I was too impatient and baked my cookies too soon, and they expanded heaps and I had to trim the edges to make them neat again. It wasn't too bad a mistake since it meant I had lots of offcuts to nibble on :D Anyway, my life is slowly heading back to normal and I could not be happier. But I'm about ready to collapse from exhaustion, I think it's time for a nap!

Pandan Coconut Sandwich Cookies

(makes about 30 cookies, adapted from this recipe)
2 1/2 cups (approx 300g) plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1/2 tsp salt
280g (2.5 sticks) butter, softened
1 1/4 cups (approx 200g) sugar
1 large egg yolk
1/2 tsp pandan paste (use more if only using essence, adjust to taste)

For the coconut filling:

1 1/2 cups dessicated coconut

8 tbsp sweetened condensed milk

2 tbsp sifted icing sugar

Prepare the dough well ahead of time; sift flour, bicarb, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. Beat butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 mins. Add egg yolk and pandan paste and beat to combine, scraping sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure it mixes evenly. Beat in dry ingredients at a medium-low speed until just combined. The dough should be easy to handle and quite firm. Roll dough into 3 separate logs, about 4cm (1.5 inches) in diameter, wrap well in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or preferably overnight. You can refrigerate this dough for up to a week, or freeze it for up to a month (defrost overnight in the fridge).

Prepare at least two baking trays with baking paper. Take dough out of fridge and unwrap. If making rounds, use a sharp knife to cut rounds, about half a centimetre thick. Place rounds on dough, leaving at least 4cm space between each one to allow for any expansion. Keep prepared trays in fridge while cutting the rest of the dough. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and bake each tray for 10-14 minutes, or until the biscuits start going brown on the edges. Keep an eye on them after 10 minutes as they will brown quickly after that. Leave cookies to cool on trays for 5 mins and then cool completely on a wire rack. Prepare the coconut filling; place coconut, icing sugar and condensed milk in a large mixing bowl and stir until it comes together and is mixed evenly. If the mixture is not sticking together well, gradually add more condensed milk to the mixture until it clumps easily. Place about 1/2 tsp of filling between each cookie, press together and then store in the fridge in an airtight container for about half an hour before serving.