There is some truth to the adage that practice makes perfect. Pick any recipe, make it continuously for years and it will become your trademark.
Yok Heong “Billie” Ching of Kaneohe tried a recipe for almond cookies 60 years ago and she didn’t quite like it. It was too crumbly and difficult to form into its distinctive round shape. So she kept trying different variations, including adding an egg, until she liked the taste, look and texture.
Others like it, too. So much so that Ching would make large batches to sell at craft fairs under the brand “Best by Billie,” often as fundraisers for organizations.
The cookies are beautiful, uniform in size and shape with no cracks. Three small red dots are her unique mark on a pale cookie that is tender and more cakelike than flaky.
Now 86, Ching no longer sells her signature cookies, but she makes them to give to friends and those who are good to her family – husband Samuel Lloyd Ching, known for Sam’s Barbershop, son Patrick and daughter Cynthia Yamasaki.
She has a total system for the process, as she produces a large volume. First, she says it pays to buy large cans of Crisco when it goes on sale at Christmas, and freeze it.
When making many batches at a time, she recommends presifting the dry ingredients — flour, baking soda and salt — into large plastic bags, so each batch is ready to be added.
She always wears an apron and keeps a plate nearby to neatly rest all the spoons, measuring spoons, spatulas and chopsticks, “so they are not all over creation.”
When measuring the Crisco, she fills a measuring cup with 1 cup of water, then spoons in shortening until the water rises to the 2-cup mark. The Crisco goes into the dough, the water is poured out and the measuring cup stays relatively clean. She then uses a measuring spoon to add 2 additional tablespoons.
“You need to go step-by-step,” she advises. “If you add in all the ingredients at once, it will taste like chewing gum.”
Not one to use a standing mixer, Ching prefers to mix her dough by hand using a spatula in a large bowl to give herself plenty of room. Instead of using an ice cream scoop to dole out uniform cookies, Ching creates five logs of dough from the mix, then portions out walnut-sized pieces that she rolls into balls by hand.
“The more you roll, the softer it gets.”
As a special touch, she will personalize cookies for her grandsons Aaron and Evan, writing their names on the cookies in food coloring. She’ll sometimes do that for other children as well.
The 11th child out of 16 in a Kurtistown family on the Big Island, Ching remembers her mother made a delicious cake using a wood-burning stove. Maybe that is where she garnered her baking ability.
Daughter Cynthia says the baked cookies freeze well, so are perfect to warm up when unexpected guests drop by. Serve them with hot tea or even ice cream!
Ching’s most important technique for the perfectly shaped dessert is to first flatten each cookie gently on a cookie sheet. Then she wraps a cloth napkin around a glass and gently pushes the cookie to a quarter-inch thickness. Every cookie on the sheet needs to be the same height for even baking.
“You press with love. That’s the trick.”
YOK HEONG CHING’S ALMOND COOKIES
By Billie Ching
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons shortening (preferably Crisco), at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 large egg, slightly beaten
- Red food coloring
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl, add sugar to Crisco; mix well with a spatula. Add almond extract; mix. Add beaten egg; mix. Gradually mix in dry ingredients in 3 batches. Slightly knead into a big ball.
Split dough into 5 logs for easier handling. Break into small pieces about the size of walnuts. Form each cookie by rolling dough into a ball in your palm, then lightly press flat on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Cover the bottom of a glass with a clean cloth. Use the glass to very gently press each cookie to a uniform thickness of 1/4 inch.
Dip round tip of a chopstick in food coloring and mark the center of each cookie with 3 red dots. Bake 14-15 minutes. Check at 14 minutes, as cookies should be pale, not brown. Cool on a cookie rack.
Eat immediately, cool and freeze, or store in an airtight container. Yields about 42 cookies.
Nutritional information unavailable.
Lynette Lo Tom, author of “The Chinese Kitchen,” is fascinated by old-fashioned foods. Contact her at 275-3004 or via Instagram at @brightlightcookery. Nutritional analysis by Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S.
