Taiping Fragrant Biscuits or Heong Peng

Crispy and mouth-watering

Fragrant biscuits or the locals called them "heong peng, heong peah, or heang peah" which is literally translated to "Fragrant Biscuits". These are flaky and crispy pastry biscuits filled with a sticky and sweet maltose.

Many Malaysian towns boast of their own famous "heong peng" and some have special ingredients such as onion or shallots. But the basic ingredients are maltose, wheat flour and sesame which are sprinkled on the outer skin or shell of the biscuits. Taiping fragrant biscuits have butter added to them for the extra flavour.

These delicious biscuits emit a very characteristic sweet fragrance of maltose. They are traditionally produced by broiling or roasting the biscuits in an enclosed oven-like clay jar fired by burning dry coconut shells. These roasted and slightly smoky but sweet fragrant biscuits remain crispy for more than 6 months when kept in an air-tight container. However, they taste best if they are eaten within one or two weeks from the oven, and they go down well with hot black coffee.

The nutrition facts for 100g serving of fragrant biscuits are:

• Sugar -22.51g
• Carbohydrates - 72g
• Fat - 12.11g
• Protein - 8.82g
• Energy - 434 kcal

Fragrant biscuits make good gifts or souvenirs and many tourists buy them from hawker stalls by the road sides.

 

The well-known clock tower and rain-trees landmarks of Taiping displayed

prominently on the package