My Favorite Chinese Marble Cookie Recipe: Two-Tone Cookies with Double Flavors!
Homemade cookies have a special thing aside from the ingredients; the love of the baker. Still, delicious cookies can become boring just because of their looks. If you want to bring variations in the appearance of homemade cookies, this Chinese marble cookie recipe is the perfect option.
For all the new home cooks out there, I will share the detailed recipe with the list of ingredients. You will also get some quick tips at the end to take your cookies to the next level. If you follow the recipe properly, I can guarantee your house will be filled with a maddening aroma when you bake these cookies. Let’s start making marble cookies.
Table of Contents
Recipe At a Glance
The following overview chart has critical information, such as baking time, calorie count, serving size, etc. This chart will help you plan your baking in your busy schedule.
| Course: Snack | Cuisine: Chinese | Difficulty: Medium | ||
| Total Time: 30 minutes | ||||
| Serving | Preparation Time | Baking Time | Calories | |
| 6 persons | 10 minutes | 20 minutes | 90 kcal | |
Ingredients Needed for Marble Cookie Recipe
Chinese marble cookies can be made with a few common ingredients. I made a list of the ingredients so that you can organize them easily. Check it out.
- Sugar: ½ cup of powdered sugar
- Oil: ½ cup of vegetable oil
- Butter: ½ cup of butter
- Flour: 2 cups of all-purpose flour
- Corn Flour: 2 tbsp
- Custard Powder: 1 tbsp
- Cocoa Powder: 1 tbsp
Chinese Marble Cookie Recipe: Step-By-Step Instructions
Making the perfect marble cookie requires carefully made dough. Focus on the following steps to make the cookie dough properly.
You Can Also Try: Chinese New Year Cookies Recipe
Step 1: Make a Liquid Batter
Take ½ cup of powdered sugar in a bowl. Mix ½ cup of vegetable oil, ½ cup of butter, 2 tbsp of corn flour, and 1 tbsp of custard powder to make a liquid batter. Make sure there is no lump in the batter.
Step 2: Add Flour to Make the Dough
Start adding all-purpose flour to the batter in small batches. As you add flour, mix it well until the dough starts to take shape. Keep kneading the dough until you get a moderately smooth dough.
You Can Also Try: Chocolate Chinese Chews Recipe
Step 3: Divide and Flavor the Dough
Divide the dough into two portions. Add 1 tbsp of cocoa powder to half of the dough and knead it until the cocoa powder is mixed evenly. After mixing properly, this dough will have a dark chocolaty color. The other half will be of the original whitish color.
Step 4: Combine Flavors and Shape the Cookies
Form small balls like marbles with both types of dough. Take 3 marbles of each kind and put them in a circular shape. The white and chocolate marbles should be in alternating order. Press them together and roll the dough with your palm. Finally, press the dough firmly to give it the traditional cookie shape.
You Can Also Try: Chinese Pretzel Recipe
Step 5: Bake the Cookies
Preheat your oven to 170 degrees. Then, place the cookie dough on a baking tray and bake the marble cookies for 20 minutes. Voila! You can now enjoy delicious marble cookies.
Nutrition Facts of the Recipe
Each of these cookies will be about 18-20g and have 90 calories. Besides, you will get the following nutrients. Remember, the percentage of sugar in these cookies is quite high. So, you should eat marble cookies carefully.
- Total Carbohydrates: 10g
- Protein: 0g
- Total Fat: 4.5g
- Saturated Fat: 2g
- Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g
- Monounsaturated Fat: 1g
- Total Dietary Fiber: 0g
- Total Sugar: 4g
- Cholesterol: 5mg
- Sodium: 25mg
- Potassium: 11mg
- Calcium: 1mg
- Iron: 1mg
- Vitamin A: 0IU
- Vitamin C: 0mg
Besides the high sugar content, this cookie has a good amount of fat, almost half of which is saturated fat. It also has a lot of carbohydrates, but no protein and dietary fiber. You will get a small amount of minerals but no vitamins in these cookies.
Overall, these cookies are not highly on the nutritious side. Still, you can munch on a few cookies occasionally. I don’t recommend eating these cookies regularly.
Do’s and Don’ts of the Recipe
Though this cookie recipe is easy, some tips and tricks can help you avoid unwanted mistakes.
Do’s
- Let the cookie dough rest for some time if possible. It will make the texture of the cookies better.
- If butter isn’t readily available, you can use margarine instead of butter. But, it won’t be as healthy as butter.
Don’ts
- Don’t place the cookie dough too closely on the baking tray. Otherwise, the cookies can stick together while being baked.
- Don’t add flour without sieving it. It increases the chance of lumps in the dough. If the dough isn’t smooth, the cookies will have uneven edges.
Can I Use Gluten-free Flour for Chinese Marble Cookies?
If you want to avoid gluten, you can use gluten-free flour for marble cookies. But gluten-free flour won’t give the perfect texture. It might also change the taste of marble cookies. Gluten helps the cookies rise while baking.
Marble cookies made of gluten-free flour will be dense. Also, the cookies will be crumbly because of gluten-free flour.
Can I Use Regular Sugar Instead of Powdered Sugar for This Recipe?
It will be too hard to dissolve regular sugar in the batter. As there is no milk in this recipe, you need to put a lot of effort to dissolve the sugar. Powdered sugar can be easily mixed with the batter. So, you get an even sweetness throughout the dough with powdered sugar.
However, you need to use powdered sugar in a higher quantity than granulated sugar to achieve the same sweetness level.
Which Oil Is the Best for Chinese Marble Cookies?
Any neutral oil is good for these cookies. If you use flavored oils, they might alter the flavor. So, using unflavored vegetable oil is the most suitable option. Among neutral oils, canola oil is the best option.
Canola oil has no flavor, so it won’t interfere with the natural flavor of the cookies. Also, it has a high smoke point, so baking in hot ovens with canola oil is much safer.
Do I Need to Use Baking Soda for This Recipe?
No. You don’t need to use baking soda or baking powder for this recipe. These cookies won’t be too fluffy. Instead, they will have a medium texture between dense and fluffy. If you use baking soda or baking powder, the cookies will be too flaky.
Also, baking soda or baking powder might alter the authentic flavor of these marble cookies. So, it is best to avoid baking soda or baking powder.
Conclusion
Chinese marble cookies are visually more appealing than regular cookies with just one color. Due to the addition of cocoa powder, these cookies have a nice contrast. So, people easily fall for these cookies. Besides, marble cookies taste awesome because of the combination of custard and chocolate flavors.
I recommend you try this Chinese marble cookie recipe at home and surprise everyone with your baking prowess. You can give these to kids in their tiffin or even munch on the cookies in your leisure time. The nice colors and bold flavors of marble cookies make them unique.
