Cat's Tongue Cookies

French folks claim these cookies as, uhm.... French. And Spanish folks claim these as theirs. But growing up, I learned this recipe from my mom, and she's neither French nor Spanish. She's Indonesian (of course), and we do believe that these cookies are ours, and we're pretty much far far away Europe. God knows what other countries claim these little cookies as theirs! They refer these little guys as 'Langues de Chat' in France, 'Lenguas de Gato' in Spain, and 'Lidah Kucing' in Indonesia- all can be translated into 'Cat's Tongue'. You might guessed it already, if you Google image search them, these all refer to the same cookies!


Below is a recipe for basic version of these cookies, just like how mom makes them (sorry folks, recipe is in metrics so you'll need to get the scale out). Oo, it's so unbelievably easy to make and you'll need very few pantry ingredients! You can make simple modifications, such as adding citrus zest (orange, lemon, etc.) into the batter, or dip them (baked, of course) in melted chocolate and let the chocolate set. They are great to be eaten as is, or eat them with couple scoops of your favorite ice cream. I prefer the former.


"Lidah Kucing" aka Langues de Chat, Lenguas de Gato

250 grams margarine or butter (* see note below)
200 grams powdered sugar
250 grams flour
5 egg whites
1 tsp good quality vanilla extract

• Heat oven to 375F.
• Beat sugar and margarine or butter until pale, add vanilla and egg whites one at a time, and continue beating (do your best to combine the egg whites, the batter may look like cottage cheese but it'll do it). Add flour and stir with spoon until thoroughly combined.
• Put batter into ziplock bag and snip one of the corner (~1cm). Pipe batter into cookie sheets lined with parchment paper, about 5cm in length. Space 2cm between cookies, they will flatten as they're baked.
• Bake in preheated oven until GBD (I honestly didn't keep track how long it took them to bake, the edge will be browned).

*) I'm learning tricks here and there as I bake. Here's what I've learned for this recipe: butter creates softer cookies (a bit chewy in the middle), and margarine creates crisp cookies. I like them crispy and not chewy whatsoever, like how they're suppose to be. Here, I used 1/2 butter and 1/2 margarine, just because I felt like it.