Since moving to Hawaii, I’ve become fascinated by the color purple, especially in foods. Taro root’s purple is modestly so. But what really grabs me is the purpleness of the sweet potato. Its brilliance is just stunning, and its sweetness a pleasure on the tongue.
Filipinos cook and bake with it in a multitude of ways. They turn it into a jam that’s eaten as a spread or added to cakes and cookies. When dried and ground to a powder the flavor is concentrated and adds a punch of flavor to all sorts of baked goods.
On a recent shopping trip, I spied a display of packaged ube crinkle cookies and grabbed a bag.
The texture of these cookies was soft and they crumbled easily. Their flavor—quite mild—came from ube halaya, a commercial jam, and ube flavor. The flavor gives the cookies their special color.
I knew I could do better. I wanted a firm dough that featured the ube taste. After a rigorous searching of the internet, I learned that ube powder gave the best ube taste. It’s pure ube. Nothing added.
One recipe, from theskinnypot.com, drew my attention, and that served as the model for my recipe.
So here’s what you’ll need for these ube crinkle cookies:
Purple Ube Powder and Ube flavor
Make sure you use a very fine ube powder. Some powders are very gritty, and you do not want any grit. A fine strainer can help, but it’s best to buy a brand that is free of grit. What you see in the photo is Suncore brand. It’s the brand I use and it is by far the best ube powder I’ve baked with. It’s also the most expensive. You can order it online and it comes in different weights. The package above weighs 5 ounces. It’s a better deal to order one size up. After testing several brands of ube powder Suncore came out the clear winner. The crinkle cookies made with it tasted the best, had the best texture (slightly chewy), and stayed fresh for almost a week stored airtight at room temperature.
Ube flavoring, made by McCormick, is sold in Filipino or Southeast Asian markets, and it is also available online.
The cookie dough is stiff and very easy to work with. Once made, cover and refrigerate it for 1 hour. Then pat it into a square on waxed paper or cooking parchment; cut it into sixteen squares and roll the dough between your palms into balls.
Line two large cookie sheets with cooking parchment. My aluminum cookie sheets measure 14 x 16 inches.
To give the cookies a surface that’s slightly crunchy when you bite into them, drop them one at a time into a bowl with granulated sugar and roll them around to coat. Then plop the ball of dough into a bowl with confectioners’ sugar and toss them around to give them a white coating.
Transfer the coated balls to one of the lined cookie sheets, spacing them 2- to 3-inches apart, eight cookies on a sheet.
Flatten each cookie with your fingertips to a thickness of about 1/2 inch. The cookies don’t spread much during baking.
Bake one sheet of cookies at a time in a preheated oven—350˚F—on a rack in the center or lower third position for 12 minutes. There is no test for doneness. The cookies will not spread much as they bake. Be sure the oven is at the correct temperature. Some ovens take longer to preheat than others. Always use an oven thermometer to make sure of the temperature.
Let the cookies cool about 30 minutes before tasting. The outside will feel firm and the inside will be soft and tender. The flavor will be of ube and not too sweet.
The cookies are at their best within a few hours of baking. They will keep well and taste of ube up to a week later stored airtight at room temperature. You can also freeze the baked and cooled cookies and store them airtight in the freezer. To enjoy later, thaw as many as you want on a plate at room temperature. The cookies are wonderful all by themselves or with a cup of tea or coffee.
Here’s the full recipe.
Ube Crinkle Cookies
Makes 16 cookies
These cookies, startlingly purple in color from ube powder, are thick and slightly chewy, with a crispy coating of granulated and confectioners’ sugar. They keep well, tightly covered at room temperature, for up to one week. I adapted this recipe from theskinnypot.com.
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (180 grams)
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon table salt
½ cup Ube powder (80 grams), preferably Suncore Foods
1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
¼ cup peanut, grapeseed, or coconut oil
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon Ube flavor
Sugar Coating
1 cup granulated sugar in a small bowl
1 cup confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl
Directions
In a medium bowl, whisk together thoroughly (30 seconds) the flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a large bowl, whisk together the ube powder,1 cup granulated sugar, oil, eggs, and ube flavor until very smooth. Batter will be thick. Stir in the dry ingredients to make a very stiff dough. This dough is not sticky. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour before shaping into cookies. The dough may be refrigerated for up to 3 days.
Scrape the dough onto a sheet of wax paper or parchment and shape it by hand into a 5-inch square. Cut the dough into 16 squares. Roll each between your palms into smooth, round balls.
Set an oven rack in the middle or lower middle position and preheat the oven to 350˚F.
Line two large cookie sheets (14 x 16-inches) with parchment. Mine are Nordic Ware but any large baking sheets will work. Put a ball of dough into the bowl of granulated sugar and roll it around with your fingers to coat. Then transfer the ball of dough to the bowl of confectioners’ sugar and roll to coat. Set the cookie on one of the baking sheets. Continue sugar-coating the remaining cookies, and place 8 on each cookie sheet 2- to 3-inches apart.
Flatten each cookie with your fingers until they’re about ½-inch thick. Bake one sheet at a time for 12 minutes. Cookies will have crackly tops and feel soft, but they’re baked. Transfer cookies with a metal spatula to a cooling rack and bake the second sheet of cookies. Serve the cookies at room temperature.
NOTE: If you wish, uncoated balls of dough may be stored, covered, in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. Bring them to room temperature before coating and baking.
Been obsessed with finding a good ube recipe for a while now, excited to try this one. Thank you for sharing!
You do come up with the most unexpected foods and recipes, Greg! Thanks for a surprise!