Butter cookie dough is piped to form beautiful flowers and swirls and topped with glazed cherries and baked to perfection. These buttery and crumbly cookies are popular for occasions like Christmas, Chinese New Year and Hari Raya.
What is kuih dahlia/semperit?
Kuih dahlia or semperit is popular in Malaysia and Singapore. In Indonesia, we call it kue semprit, or sometimes semprit susu if milk powder is added. It is basically piped butter cookies topped with glazed cherries. Kids to adults love kuih dahlia. I mean…who doesn’t like good ol’ butter cookies!!
When I was still in middle school, I would go over my aunt’s house to help her baking trays and trays of cookies to distribute to families and relatives for Chinese New Year. We took about 1 week to bake several different kinds of cookies and cakes. Several of the cookies that she often made are these Kue Semprit, Kue Bangkit, Kue Salju, Kue Skippy, Kue Nastar, Kue Kapit, Lapis Legit Prune, Kastengel, and Bika Ambon.
The recipe rundown
1. Taste: Buttery, lightly sweet
2. Texture: Crisp on the edge and soft buttery texture
3. Level: Intermediate
How to make kuih dahlia/semperit
1. Line baking sheets with parchment papers. Cut the butter into smaller pieces. I usually let the butter sits out at room temperature for 15-30 minutes (depending on the temperature where you are) before I plan to start making the dough.
2. The butter should be soft and not melting. When you press on it, it should yield without resistance. Remember, the butter shouldn’t be melty, if it is, it’s way too soft, refrigerate it a little bit
3. In a mixing bowl, mix all the dry ingredients and set aside.
4. Crack one egg in a bowl and whisk with a fork to combine, measure out 25 grams to be used later. Once the butter has softened, place the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl, use the flat beater (if using standmixer) and mix at low speed for 1 minute and then increase the speed to medium and mix until the sugar and butter are mixed through, about 2 minutes. Do not overmix the butter here. There’s no need to beat until pale and fluffy.
5. Add the egg and continue to mix.
6. Lower the speed and then gradually add in the dry ingredient mixture in 3-4 batches until you get a thick batter. Do not overmix. You will still see some loose flour. Use a rubber spatula to gently mix it into the batter
7. Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Arrange one rack o be 3rd position from top and another 3rd position from the bottom. Cut off about 1-inch of the piping bag and place the piping tips into the bag and fill up the piping bag with the dough. Push as much air out as possible. The 1M tip will create dahlia design.
8. Pipe the cookies from the straight angle and pull up and twist a bit to “cut” off the dough. Pipe it a bit high as the cookies will flatten a bit as they bake
9. Pipe the cookies about 1 inch apart as they will spread when baked. Place one cut glazed cherries. Place in the freezer for about 15 minutes before baking
10. Place on the racks you have positioned earlier. Bake for 15 minutes rotating the pan front to back, top to bottom halfway through baking.
The cookies will still be very soft when they are just out from the oven. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer the baked cookies to a cooling rack and let them cool off completely. Store in an air-tight and dry container and it can last for a month
Family’s feedbacks
The first time I made these, the family thought the cookies weren’t sweet enough and so I increased the sugar a little bit and they think this amount is perfect without being too sweet. They love the buttery aroma and slightly crisp edge but still has that soft buttery texture.
Important tips
1. Please make sure the butter is soft but not melty
2. Do not cream butter and sugar too much or the pattern will be blurred when you bake the cookies
3. Preheat your oven when you start working on the batter
4. Bake until the edge just started to turn brown. They will appear very soft when they first out of the oven and that’s normal. Let them cool down on the tray before transferring to a cooling rack
5. The butter cookies taste best the next day as the flavor has developed
Did you make this kuih dahlia recipe?
I love it when you guys snap a photo and tag to show me what you’ve made 🙂 Simply tag me @WhatToCookToday #WhatToCookToday on Instagram and I’ll be sure to stop by and take a peek for real!
Kuih Dahlia Butter Cookies( Kuih Semperit/Semprit Susu)
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 135 gr cake flour
- 35 gr corn starch
- 10 gr milk powder
- ⅛ tsp Small pinch of salt
Wet ingredients:
- 135 gr butter unsalted, softened
- 65 gr icing sugar
- ½ large egg beaten
Decoration:
- 5 Glazed cherries
Tools you need:
Instructions
- Cut one cherry into 6-8 tiny pieces. Line baking sheets with parchment papers. Cut the butter into smaller pieces so they soften faster. I usually let the butter sits out at room temperature for 15-30 minutes (depending on the temperature where you are) before I plan to start making the dough. The butter should be soft and not melting. When you press on it, it should yield without resistance
- In a mixing bowl, mix all the dry ingredients and set aside. Crack one whole egg in a bowl and whisk to loosen the egg. Measure out 25 grams to be used later. Once the butter has softened, place the butter and sugar in a bowl of the stand mixer, use the flat beater and mix at low speed for 1 minute and then increase the speed to medium and mix until the sugar and butter are mixed through, about 2 minutes. Do not overmix the butter here. There's no need to beat until pale and fluffy. You can even do this manually without the mixer
- Add the egg and continue to mix. Add the dry ingredient and stir to combine until you get a sticky dough
Piping:
- Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Line two baking sheets with a parchment paper. Place your baking rack 3rd from top and 3rd from bottom. Cut off about 1-inch of the piping bag and place the piping tips into the bag and fill up the piping bag with the dough. Push as much air out as possible. The 1M tip will create dahlia design.
- Pipe the cookies from a straight angle and pull up and twist a bit to "cut" off the dough. Pipe it a bit high as the cookies will flatten a bit as they bake. Pipe the cookies about 1 inch apart as they will spread when baked. Place one cut glazed cherries. Chill the cookies in the freezer for about 15 minutes before baking
Baking:
- Place on the racks that you have positioned earlier. Bake for 15 minutes and rotate the pan front to back, top to bottom halfway through baking
- The cookies will still be very soft when they are just out from the oven. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer the baked cookies to a cooling rack and let them cool off completely. Store in an air-tight and dry container and it can last for a month. These butter cookies taste best the next day onwards. They may appear a bit dry on the same day you bake them as the flavor hasn't developed
Recommended products:
Nutrition
11 comments
Hi, thank you so much for the recipe. It’s delicious. However, the beautiful piping becomes flatten after baking. 🙁 I tried to be careful not to overmix the butter and sugar, but maybe I did. The batch that I baked with silicone mat turned out better (the piping is less deformed, but it’s still quite blurry). Anything else I should have watched out for or do differently? Thank you!
Hi Maggie, did you chill the dough before baking? that helps to keep the shape of the cookies so the butter doesn’t melt too quickly in the oven, that’s usually the main cause.
Recipe says 10 g of egg, then 1 whole egg, then 25 g of egg ?
Not sure how much to use
It’s 25 grams, about 1/2 egg. I forgot to update.
Hi! I love all of your Indonesian recipes and cant wait to try them! I was wondering if I could replace butter with Blue band (indonesian margerine) instead?
Hi Angie, yes you can use margarine instead of butter 🙂
So many beautiful patterns from just 2 tips! I lost all my baking tips from last move, maybe it is time to buy some again. 😉
Yes..it’s time to get some new one Anita 😉 I’m sure you will do wonders with those tips too 🙂
Piped butter cookies? Huge yes! My soon is eagerly awaiting Lunar New Year Festival this year, we are going to a party with his Mandarin teacher, maybe I can help him make these cookies.
These cookies look buttery and delicious — I rarely use my piping bags and tips, so this would be an excellent excuse to pull them out of storage.
Hi Lisa,
I’m in the same boat. Rarely use my piping bags and tips too. This is one of my excuses to get them out of the storage 🙂