The Secret of the Recipe : Kuih Ros/Cap 蜂窝饼

It is called Beehive Cookies or honeycomb cookies by the Chinese and is a popular Chinese New Year Cookie in West Malaysia.


In Sarawak, we are very familiar with store bought Kuih Ros or Kuih Chap . It is served in longhouses too. For years,  strangely we associate this biscuit mainly with our Iban friends and have always considered it is kuih from the longhouse.

On the other hand,the conversative Foochow housewives also considered it, in the past, a cookie made by Bek Sek Nerng. Today, with recipes available on Youtube, nothing is too difficult and housewives are more adventurous in cooking up a storm. Perhaps the cultural barriers have been broken down by technology!! For the better in fact.




But my mum had this to say. In her opinion, many Foochow housewives (coming from frugal, humble and village background) would not make them because they are deep fried, time consuming and also a little expensive. For Chinese New Year, peanuts and melon seeds would be enough.


Besides, the brass mould is also like a kind of family heirloom. Not every family has this mould. So in a way, not every family can have this cookie for CNY celebration. It is not something the family would lend out. And you must never try to borrow one.

In fact, when I was young, I dreamed of owning one but it could not be found in shops in Sibu, a very Foochow town. I was only able to buy one much later in life, in Penang.

This brings to the point of this posting. You do realize it is the ONE TRUE friend who will tell you a cooking secret. I used to ask friends for the recipe but I never could get a good one.  (I found this special friend who taught me a successful way of making it) Do value that friend for life.

Well made Kuih Ros is crunchy and delicious and you will be always grateful to the friend who gives you the tips for sucessfully making your cookie. There is a little secret : add a bit of kapur (buy in the local wet market) and the cookies would be very very crunchy.Treasure this GEM!!

Some mothers, who are so happy with their outcome bring a whole tin all the way for their children overseas and more often than not, most of the biscuits would be crushed along the journey.

A friend once told me that Beehive Cookies are symbols of her love as it takes so much of her time to make them.