One of my favourite Chinese New Year snacks. I have no idea why they are called love letters because the direct translation from Mandarin should be egg rolls. Maybe people in the past used to roll up love letters in these biscuits. Anyhow, to make these biscuits, you will either need the old school charcoal machine or the electric press (which looks like a sandwich press but specially made for love letters).

I found making love letters extremely therapeutic. Simply because it is repetitive and you can watch television while making it. However, it is extremely time consuming because it takes at least 1 min to make 2 love letters and you can’t rush it unless you have more than one machine. I got the recipe from my uncle and in the past, they used to use their hands to roll the biscuits and it is a painful process because the biscuit is really hot. To save his blistering hands, he fashioned a stick with a slit in the middle to roll up the love letter – ingenious isn’t it? Thanks to his creativity, my hands are blister-free.

Nutrition per love letter (one batch makes 100)

Ingredients

1. 5 medium size eggs
2. 300g caster sugar
3. 300g plain flour
4. 3 tbsp rice flour
5. 450g coconut milk

Directions

Preparation time: 3hr
Cooking time: approximately 1 min – depending on how hot the machine is

1. Using a hand mixer, cream the eggs and sugar together until pale and thick
2. Sieve the plain flour and rice flour into the mixture and continue to whisk it at low speed
3. Add in the coconut milk and stir the mixture until consistent
4. Warm the pressing machine and lightly grease both surfaces with cooking oil
5. Once heated up, add in one tablespoon of mixture and spread it evenly across the press
6. Press the machine together for one min
7. Once ready, roll out the love letters and leave it on the cooling rack to cool

There you have it – delicious, crispy love letters!