GEORGE TOWN — With one more week to go before the start of the Chinese New Year celebrations, some home kitchens in town have heated up for a cookie-baking spree.
Among them is the small but well-equipped kitchen of the Siti sisters in Sungai Ara, Bayan Lepas.
Supplying festive cookies to their Chinese friends is a joy shared by Siti Hajar Tiniman, 38, and her sister Siti Zaharah, 31.
They started baking cookies as a hobby more than a decade ago.
“My sister and I have a lot of Chinese friends, and we enjoy baking cookies but we never thought of the connection at first,” Hajar said.
“About five years ago, we realised that Chinese families loved cookies, and we started to promote our products to them.”
The response has been overwhelming, with orders mounting every year.
Over the years, the sisters’ baking skills have become more sophisticated and they have carried out numerous baking experiments to adapt their recipes to Chinese taste preferences.
“We learned from recipe books and TV cook shows previously, but now, we search for baking lessons and inspiration on the Internet,” Hajar said.
“Our Chinese friends say they love the ‘Malay taste’ of our cookies.”
With “Sugar Bliss” as their brand, the sisters sell six types of cookies — pineapple tarts, red pearl cherry, chocolate almonds, almonds crunch, chocolate chips and double chocolate chips — at RM12 to RM15 per container.
“We only bake these six types of cookies for Chinese New Year. They may seem traditional and ordinary but their recipes are not,” Hajar said.
“We have modified the recipes with richer ingredients, aiming to serve a taste of bliss for our Chinese friends during their blissful new year.”
The sisters said hundreds of red-capped plastic containers filled with festive cookies had been delivered to their customers, with more being readied before the festival.
Zaharah said the orders kept everyone in their family occupied as every bite-sized cookie had to be produced from scratch.
Baking trays, busy hands, greasy pastry utensils and hoarding of fresh-baked luscious cookies pictured a common scene in the sisters’ home kitchen.
“From buying the ingredients to baking and packaging the cookies, we do everything on our own,” she said.
“We feel proud to serve the Chinese community with our home-made delicacies for their new year.
“Malaysians of all races ought to live together in this melting pot of harmony as we celebrate and take part in each other’s festival celebration.”
The sisters also sell their cookies during other festivals such as Deepavali, Hari Raya Aidilfitri and Christmas.
