Old-fashioned Cantonese Shortbread

These cookies go by many names: Chinese shortbread, Cantonese shortbread, and Chinese white biscuits. Pronounced gwōng sōu béng (光酥餅) in Cantonese, they’re an old-fashioned and traditional cakey cookie popular across Hong Kong and Guangdong, especially during the early- and mid-1900s. Typically snow white, large, fluffy, and crumbly, they’re the perfect snack to pair with afternoon tea (matcha, oolong, or jasmine, preferably). Given these cookies’ muddy origins (I’ve searched extensively and am unable to pinpoint a single inventor or bakery of this treat), I can’t help but wonder if they reflect British influence. After all, Hong Kong was a British colony for over 150 years.

The first time these cookies came out of our oven, my mom immediately knew what they were, even though, growing up in Hong Kong, she never got to try them. While they only cost pennies during the mid-1960s, my mother saved up her money for more substantial meals, like instant noodles. When she bit into one of my Cantonese shortbread, she got teary-eyed and said, “So, this is what they taste like. I finally get to eat them, in my seventies.”

Note that with each bite, it’s intended for the flour to coat your lips. If you feel there’s too much flour atop the cookies, feel free to brush it off before eating.

Excerpted from 108 ASIAN COOKIES by Kat Lieu. Copyright © 2025 by Kathleen Lieu. Photographs by Charity Burggraaf. Used with permission from Voracious, an imprint of Little, Brown and Company.

Weight-volume equivalents and recipe style may differ from recipes developed and published by Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street.