Kanom Dog Jok (Flower shaped Thai cookies)

This one's for you, Tomo ;)

On Christmas Eve the girls showed me how to make a traditional Thai dessert. It's a crunchy, crisp, melt in your mouth- flower shaped cookie.

The batter is made from a special flour, coconut cream, toasted sesames, water, and this mysterious bright pink paste:

When I asked what it was, they giggled. Then promised to take me to the shop where they bought it. Then warned me not to try to take it on the plane home, because I would go to the police station. (More giggles.) They were kidding. . . I'm pretty sure. So far the only explanation I've gotten is it comes from a flower. It could be from a sugar beet? Or the Crayola factory?

Once it's all mixed together it looks like this:

To make the cookies, first heat oil in a pan. Then put these special brass cookie stamps into the oil to get hot.

Then quickly dip it in the batter (only halfway) and shake it off into the oil (easier said than done!)If you are lucky, it will look like this:

When it puffs up, flip it over.

This is what it looks like when it's done:

Aroy Aroy! (delicious!)

Success! (You might also want to shower after all the frying, as I did, hence the wet hair.)

Merry Christmas!!!