I remembered as young boy, Gem Biscuit was one of my favourite snacks. I used to buy them from the grocery shop at my neighbourhood or get my mom to buy a packet of it from the wet market. Anyway, as a kid I would always try to tag along with my mom whenever she goes to the wet market, so that I can check out the fish monger stalls for any live seafood or what ever animals that are alive out there. I love to keep pets, so sometime I will find small little baby horse shoe crab in heaps of shrimps. I will collect them and bring them home. Then I would make some saline solution from salt and water, tasting it at the same time to see whether it match the sea water saltiness. Horse shoe crab can survive quite well in water with different salinity. Most of the time my baby horse shoe crab cannot survive very long but I managed to observe some of them changing their hard armour shell (skins) a few times!
Oh oh, sorry I got side tracked a little, back to the original topic of Gen Biscuits. I am not sure why we call it Attap Chi (Hokkien dialect) in my hometown. It has got nothing to do with Pua Chu Kang, Attap Chi (Attap Palm fruits) that his mother put in to the ice kacang (shaven ice with sweet syrup).
The base of Gem Biscuit is made from flour and it is top with brightly coloured icing sugar. If you ever visit any biscuit factory or bakeries that produce gem biscuit, get the owner to show you how they make the gem biscuits. The automated machine that produced the gem biscuit is just awesome. The process is very fast and you can see that they make thousands of these in just a couple of minutes. Just pop one in your mouth, you will taste the crispy based and the sweet icing at the same time. Yummy, I am going to eat my gems now!
Related post on biscuits
1)
http://peteformation.blogspot.com/2008/10/penang-roti-tapai-biscuits.html
2)
http://peteformation.blogspot.com/2008/11/beh-teh-soh-roti-gula-putih-hiong-piah.html
3)
http://peteformation.blogspot.com/2009/04/pong-piah-and-hiau-piah-chinese.html
4)
http://peteformation.blogspot.com/2009/07/sheng-hiang-tambun-biscuit-biskut.html
12 comments:
I loved those too when I was a kid. Most kids do - they love the royal sugar icing on top. Gem biscuits...but we did not have a name for it!
STP : Yummy royal sugar icing.....I must agree with you! LOL!
i remember these tiny biscuits...used to eat when i was a kid...i think the colors are pretty attractive to kids that's why plus the bite size =P
Oh, I love those gem biscuits too when I was a kid! I always eat the icing on top then only eat the base. Yummy! I have not eaten them for a very long time now, maybe I should give it a try again! : )
Ayie : Ya, agree kids love the colours, but sometime I ate quote a lot too.....LOL!
Fongpc : Once you pop, then non-stop....very additive biscuits! ha ha!
You know, when i was a lil girl...I used to eat the icing only and throw away the base! LOL....
Cleff : Wah, naughty naughty Cleff!
Actually we called it "navel biscuit". It's my favourite snack when i was a kid. Loved the royal sugar icing, a lot.
Tching : Ha ha, navel biscuits, cute name!
i have fond memories of atap chi. we were poor folks so buying atap chi was a luxury as my dad had kids. we had to share. so one night i went and ate all the colored stuff, replaced the bscuits and pretended ignorance. my sisters were all so angry and i got caned by my dad hahahahah
Oh, oh got caned by dad, sometime I did that too and my brothers would hentam me! he he he!
Can anybody tell me whats the recipe like and how to do it???
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