Lontong Paris (Caramel & Peanut Coated Biscuits)

I tend to get overwhelmed by options. Whenever I have an array of options in front of me I just have so many things that I want to do that I find it hard to focus and choose one. Like choosing electives in high school (even though that was a long time ago now), I couldn't pick just two - I wanted to learn it all! I could have picked ten. I'm the same with choosing degrees, choosing careers, choosing classes. I just want to do so many different things, and learn as much as I possibly can!

I've been getting a lot of requests lately from readers to make a cookbook, which is something I have thought about doing for a little while. Since I am working only two days a week at my clinic at the moment, I decided recently to use that time to make it happen. Nothing huge, just a small, fun ebook. But, of course, being me, I have so many ideas on what kind of cookbook to write that I'm having difficulty focusing on one! So I need some help, please jump onto this facebook poll and vote for or suggest a theme. You can also like this page on facebook so you can get my recipes and news updates straight into your newsfeed. Your help is much appreciated!

But now to the finger-licking point - these little balls of heaven. Well, I say little, but I actually made mine rather big. They are called Longton Paris, an Indonesian sweet comprising of a soft melts-in-your-mouth biscuit coated in crisp caramel and rolled in crunchy chopped peanuts. I used salted peanuts for this, so it has the added flavour sensation of salted caramel. They were quite special, and the guests I was feeding them to expressed unmasked adoration for them - i.e. they were a HUGE hit.

They're a little bit fiddly, I grant you. However, definitely worth the effort. If you want a little less effort you can skip rolling them in peanuts and just put one on top (like I did to some of mine, above), but they don't quite have the same amazing bang of flavour in your mouth without the salted peanuts.

Ingredients
250g non dairy margarine,butter
3 cups self raising flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup powdered confectioners sugar (or use soft icing mixture)
Egg replacer for 2 eggs (I used Orgran), plus a little extra water to make the mixture stay together.
2 tsp vanilla extract

Caramel and Coating
4 tbsp non dairy margarine
1 tbsp golden syrup
300g sugar
2 cups roasted salted peanuts

To Make
1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C.
2. Combine the margarine, flour, cornstarch, powdered sugar, egg substitute and vanilla and beat with a hand held electric mixer until smooth and combined (I'm sure you can do this with a wooden spoon and some elbow grease if you don't have an electric mixer).
3. Line a baking tray with greaseproof baking paper. Roll out piece of the dough about the size of a ping pong ball (you can make them smaller if you wish, just reduce the cooking time). Place on the baking tray, you will most likely need to do two batches.
4. Bake for 18 minutes, remove and allow to cool for 5 minutes on the tray before transferring to a cooling rack. Repeat using any remaining dough.
5. While the second batch is cooking you can get started on your caramel: place the margarine, golden syrup and sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat. Leave on the heat, stirring often, until all the sugar is dissolved. This may take up to 30 minutes.
6. Chop the peanuts up finely and place in a bowl ready to roll.
7. Once the biscuits are cooled and the caramel is ready, start rolling. The caramel will be hot so you'll need to use a couple of forks to dip them in the caramel and then transfer them straight to the peanuts and coat generously. Transfer to a serving plate. You'll want to work quite quickly, as the caramel will thicken as it cools. If you find it becomes too thick to roll the biscuits in, you can put it back on the heat for a few minutes to melt it again.

And then you're done!
Makes 30 biscuits.

This month I'm featuring lots of amazing recipes from Indonesia!

Check out my other Indonesian recipe posts:

Gado Gado

Triple Threat Coconut Cake

Acar Kuning (Hot, Sour & Sweet Vegetables)

Jus Alpukat (Avocado Milkshake)

Rujak (Spicy Fruit Salad)
Lawar Ayam (Coconut and Bean Salad)

Rendang Tofu