These Pandan Gula Melaka Butter Cookies bring together two familiar Southeast Asian flavours in a simple, crisp butter cookie. Here, fragrant pandan is incorporated into the buttery cookie dough, while finely grated gula melaka is sprinkled over each cookie for little pockets of caramelised sweetness.

The cookie base is adapted from my well-received butter cookie recipe series, so it remains light, crisp and beginner-friendly. Instead of mixing gula melaka through the dough, which can affect the cookie’s texture and make the cookies spread, the gula melaka is added as a sprinkle on top. This also makes the flavour nicely noticeable while creating a beautiful speckled finish!

Why You’ll Love these Pandan Gula Melaka Butter Cookies

  • Fragrant and buttery: Pandan complements the richness of the butter without overpowering it
  • Not overly sweet: The cookie dough uses a modest amount of icing sugar, with just a light gula melaka topping
  • Crisp and delicate: Use of icing sugar, over granulated sugar, creates a lighter, tender bite
  • Easy to make: No complicated equipment or decorating techniques required. These Pandan Gula Melaka Butter Cookies look impressive with simple piping or shaping
  • Delicious local flavours: The green pandan cookies and caramelised gula melaka topping make them attractive for gifting and filming too!

Choosing your Pandan Flavouring

Pandan paste is the most practical choice for these cookies because it provides both flavour and colour without introducing too much liquid into the dough.

The strength of pandan paste varies considerably between brands, so start with 3/4 teaspoon. You can increase it to one, or one and half teaspoons if yours is mild. If you’re using a colourless extract or essence, I recommend adding a small amount of gren food colouring.

I would not recommend adding fresh pandan juice directly into this recipe. The additional water can soften the dough, encouraging spreading and reducing the cookies’ crispness. However, you can concentrate fresh pandan juice or use the bottom sediment layer after resting the juice overnight.

Preparing the Gula Melaka Topping

I recommend purchasing Gula Melaka that already comes powdered or granulated. However, you can also finely grate or chop the gula melaka so that it melt evenly in the oven. Use only a small pinch on each cookie as too much gula melaka can melt into a puddle around the cookie, causing it to become bitter from prolonged baking.

Without further ado, here’s the recipe and enjoy!

Crisp Pandan Gula Melaka Butter Cookies
by Javier Tan July-20-2026

These crisp Pandan Gula Melaka Butter Cookies combine fragrant pandan, butter and a lightly caramelised gula melaka topping in every bite!

Ingredients

  • 1/2 Cup or 115g Unsalted Butter, Softened at Room Temp
  • 1/3 Cup + 2 Tsp or 45g of Icing Sugar, sift if clumpy
  • Pinch of salt, to taste / optional
  • 3/4 Tsp Pandan Extract + More (Up to 1.5 Tsp, depending on brand)
  • 1/2 Tsp or 2.5ml Vanilla Essence
  • 1 Cup + 3 Tbsp or 145g of Plain Flour, sift if clumpy
  • Approx. 30g of Gula Melaka, granulated form

Instructions

  1. In a large bowl, cream together softened butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy, approx 2 mins.
  2. Mix in the salt, pandan extract and vanilla essence. For the pandan extract, start with 3/4 tsp first before deciding how much more to add, as it varies from brand to brand and some might get overly green.
  3. Fold in the flour until a dough is formed. Transfer to a piping bag with a desired tip and pipe on a non-stick baking tray without parchment paper. Refrigerate for 5 – 10 minutes if its too soft.
  4. Top off with a sprinkle of gula melaka at the centre.
  5. Bake at 160C for 18 minutes until crispy. The cookies will be nicely golden brown.
  6. Serve and enjoy! Do let it cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Details

  • Prep time: 1 hour
  • Cook time: 20 mins
  • Total time: 1 hours 20 mins
  • Yield: Makes approx. 30 Crisp Pandan Gula Melaka Butter Cookies

Notes:

  1. If you would like to be updated for more recipes which I strive to create to perfection for sharing and for free, do check out my Instagram, Facebook Page, or YouTube 🙂 Thank you so much for all of your support! Feel free to tag me or link back here!
  2. Stores well at room temperature for up to 3 weeks, best consumed within the first couple of weeks.
  3. Please do not copy and paste the recipe without my permission, but feel free to link back here!

Enjoy!
– Bakeomaniac, Javier Tan