Foodie Friday: Red Bean Cookie

Red bean cookie: pastry-like treat with sweet red bean paste inside

C is for cookie! Around the time I was immersed in Sesame Street, I decided to follow in the footsteps of my favorite blue-furred monster. I cracked open our cookbook to create snickerdoodles. Alas, I wasn’t allowed to use the oven, so I substituted the microwave instead. A shout-out to my brother who tried those rock-hard sweets and even managed to swallow a few pieces without breaking his teeth! Thankfully, I soon learned how to properly make the cookies, and our kitchen was filled with the alluring smells of cinnamon and sugar.

The snickerdoodle is a classic American cookie. What’s a good Chinese one? The red bean cookie. (I’ve indulged in other red bean delights before, like the smoothie and the taiyaki.) The inside of a red bean cookie has a textured taste; the consistency of the bean paste is not quite smooth, and the flavors are layered, with the sugary combined with the fibrous. Red bean, like other legumes, is a powerhouse of nutrients: fiber, protein, and folic acid. Here’s a Hawaiian take on the red bean cookie.

Maybe the red bean cookie can be called nutritious. Kind of like the oatmeal cookie, right? You can justify eating the chewy goodness because certain parts may benefit your body.

What’s your favorite cookie?