10 Modern Kuih Raya You’ll See Every Year On Eid Fitr
Trust us, one jar is not enough for some of these common modern Raya cookies.
Subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest stories and updates.
When Raya is coming, automatically, the ‘kuih raya’ mood is activated! Some people will go through the depths of making their favourite Raya cookies together with their family members and some will just buy buy buy.
Either way, you can’t do all these if you don’t even know the names of the common kuih raya you see every Eid.
“My favourite is the one with the chocolate swirl on top of a cookie. What’s the name again?”
Are you like this every year? Don’t worry we have your back.
Here, we compiled some of the popular kuih raya present on every Raya Aidilfitri.
1. Pineapple Tart / Tart Nenas
Pineapple tarts are always popular during any festive celebration here in Malaysia. They come in many shapes and sizes like these rolled ones, the Tart Nyonya one with the flower, and the Nastar (Indonesian) one with the filled balls.
Particularly during Eid, the rolled ones are popular. They’re made with copper moulds like semperit but have a wider tip instead of the flowered one.
(Credit: @messyena, @cactibyda, @loveleestore, @bella_esabella )
There are a lot more renditions of these legendary tarts which are Cadbury Tarts, Blueberry Tarts, Strawberry Tarts, Green Tea Tarts and even tarts without the filling.
They have a sweet, tangy jam that goes well with their rich and buttery tarts. Check out the recipe here.
2. Almond London
We have zero ideas how the name came about for this one but just to clarify, these didn’t come all the way from London. They’re chocolate-coated little doughs with a whole almond filling and topped with almond bits.
To make these is a bit tedious but the end result is so worth it. You would have to wrap the dough around the almond, bake it, and then coat the biscuits in melted chocolate. After that, directly sprinkle some roasted almond nibs on top before the chocolate harden. And there you go, you’re a Londoner now.
They have a wonderful flavour of chocolate and nutty crunch. The dough taste like tarts: crunchy, smooth and buttery at the same time. Here’s a recipe for you to try.
3. Honey Cornflakes / Cornflake Madu
This one is particularly popular for kids and adults alike every Eid, and well for other festivities as well. And they’re very simple to do on your own too.
It’s just basically mixing your cornflakes cereal in a mixture of butter, honey and sugar and putting them in tiny paper cups with a colourful rice chocolate/sprinkle topping. But just a little tip, do not heat the wet mixture for too long as it can start to thicken rather quickly and caramelize too much, turning your cornflakes bitter.
No doubt they taste super sweet and crunchy. Somehow they do taste a bit like caramelized popcorn too. Here’s a super simple recipe you can try.
4. Marble Shortbread
A regular shortbread is the brown butter biscuit originating from Scotland. For the Malaysian kind, the recipe has a chocolatey twist where a layer of cooking chocolate is poured over it.
To make these require a bit of effort because it has two parts. You would have to bake the shortbread first in the baking pan, then pour the melted chocolate and white chocolate over it. Finally, do your marble swirling and use the cookie cutter to cut these into bite-sized blocks.
With a sweet creamy chocolate and a buttery tart-like taste, these Raya biscuits will have you eating non-stop. Try this recipe here.
5. Cornflake Cookies
These are also called cornflakes but they’re your regular cornflakes with the dough. They’re also popular in Malaysia for several festivities like Chinese New Year too.
You can usually roll the dough into tiny balls and press them flat lightly. To add a little more crunch, you can add almond bits or chocolate chips.
Rich, buttery and crunchy, those are what make them so sought after too. You can browse the recipe here.
6. Ant’s Nest / Sarang Semut
They are named so because of their appearance that looks like little ant hills in cups. Rest assured, they do not taste the same. At least we like to think so? If you have tasted ant hills before, then holler us, we’d like to know the comparison. (Kidding, please don’t)
Although it doesn’t look like much but this one is quite tasty as they taste a bit like the semperit with their custard flour and cornflour.
Because of the two types of flour, they taste very soft and will likely melt in your mouth when you eat them. Super creamy and easy to crumble, you’ll finish a jar of these in no time. Try the recipe!
7. Rainbow Cookies / Lidah Kucing Pelangi
We have no idea why somebody named a treat after a cat’s tongue in Malaysia. They’re not that colourful at all. But then again our locals have a lot of food that’s named after animals, like Kuih Lidah Buaya (Crocodile’s Tongue), Buah Mata Kucing (Malaysian Longan), Kuih Tahi Itik (Duck’s Stool) and more.
READ MORE: 5 Strangely-Named Malaysian Kuih You Definitely Have Never Tried Before
But our Indonesian friends do have a kuih like this also and they do look a bit like the cat’s tongue as they’re plain in colour. Maybe the one in Malaysia is just a colourful rendition.
(Credit: @kkulnojaem, @ocotyantie, @pjywanderers / Twitter)
Their texture is a bit like meringue cookies as a large portion of the ingredients is egg whites. The batter is separated into different colours using food colourings and is piped one line by one line onto the specific dented trays.
It requires a bit of effort to do this but they taste sweetly amazing and soft. Check out the recipe here.
8. Florentine
A lot of people say that these cookies came from Florence, Italy and hence the name but they are believed to have Tuscan roots and are made popular in France. They’re popular worldwide and even Malaysians make these for almost every festive celebration.
The recipe is very simple but a bit messy and sticky. The various combination of nuts (usually almonds flakes, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds) is roasted in the oven and then mixed with the ready-mix florentine flour. Pop those in the oven again and when it’s done, make sure to cut those directly with a pizza cutter before they harden (difficult to cut).
Alternatively, you can also put these in round paper cups to make the process easier and you’ll get florentine circles.
They’re crunchy caramelised snacks that you can never get enough of. Try the recipe here.
9. Suji Arab / Suji Kristal / Crystal Ball
These ghee coloured balls topped with castor sugar are also popular during Eid in Malaysia. Although they’re called suji (sugee), they surprisingly don’t have semolina flour in them.
They’re fairly simple to make as you can just separate the dough in different colours with food colouring and combine them bits by bits to be made into balls. After they’re baked, they’re tossed in castor sugar to give the plain cookies a bit of sweetness.
Even if they’re eaten plain, they still taste creamy, crumbly and just melt in your mouth. Take a look at the recipe here.
10. Chocolate Chip Cookies
So one of the most evergreen cookie there is, is the chocolate chip cookie. It’s so timeless, suitable for any festive season, delicious and so easy to make too!
And of course, there are many renditions of the cookies with different ingredients, different flavours and different shapes too. During Eid, these are perfect for those kids who don’t like traditional cookies (ungrateful little midgets).
(Credit: Nor Azliza Mohamed / Facebook, Rizal KingRiz / Facebook)
For these cookies, you can either scop the dough using a spoon, pipe in a piping bag (those with a soft batter), or just make a round shape with your own hands.
Since there are so many different chocolate chip cookies out there, here are two recipes you should try.
Honourable Mentions
These cookies are particularly popular in recent years.
Nutella Choc Buttons
Chocolate Cookies decorated with almond nibs and a Nutella filling in the middle.
Nutella Pods
Tarts but with a generous amount of Nutella.
Biscoff Butter Cookies
Biscoff caramel flavoured butter cookies with biscoff crumbs on top.
Crunchy Chocolate Almond
Almond slices in chocolate. As simple as that.
Onde-Onde
Pandan flavoured cookie with coconut shavings and a sprinkle of gula melaka.
So there you go. Some of the most common and newest kuih raya to date. Savour these by buying them or just, make them yourself. Either way, our Raya mood is on!
If you’re feeling more traditional, you can opt for these traditional Raya cookies.
READ MORE: 7 Traditional Raya Cookies You Might Not Know The Name Of
Share your thoughts with us via TRP’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
