Updated 12/11/25. This post may contain affiliate links.
Bolo bao and its cousin the bolo yao (which contains a huge slab of cold butter in the middle) are staples of the Hong Kong bakery and dim sum. Despite their name, which means “pineapple bun,” these buns, in fact, contain no pineapple at all, and were named for their physical appearance rather than their contents.
In fact these buns typically feature a crumbly cookie-like topping baked directly atop fluffy milk bread buns. The topping is brushed with egg yolk to give it both its signature glossy sheen as well as its yellow hue.
Bolobao stuffed with egg custard were my favorite treat growing up in LA, but when I moved to the Bay Area for college I quickly learned that the egg custard version was more of a regional specialty and hard to find in Oakland and San Francisco, where the plain bolobao reigned supreme. In my eyes, without the custard, a plain bolobao just became a thin layer of cookie on top of a plain piece of bread — not nearly as appetizing.
I was reminiscing about these years of my life when I only had these plain baos at my disposal and realized there might be a better way — what if the plain ol’ bread was replaced, instead, by a cookie. Like, an actual cookie — resulting in a kind of cookie-on-cookie Frankenstein.
I put my idea to the test and was *so* happy with the result, as was Ben, who remarked: “I feel like I’m not really supposed to say this but I think I might prefer this to the real thing.” Though the base doughs were the same, I shaped the cookies in 3 different ways and I’m still not sure which I like best. Based on my little Instagram poll it seems like options 2 and 3 are the crowd favorites.
UPDATE: I’ve since landed on Option 2 with some slight modifications, which I’ve updated in the recipe below. You can reference this video as well to see my updated technique.
Either way I hope you’ll take a stab at making these for yourself because they are very good, if I do say so myself.
Tips for Making Bolo Bao Cookies
These cookies are good no matter what they look like, but if you want to make a perfectly crackled, golden yellow cookie, follow these tips:
- Use eggs with dark orange yolks, if you’re able to get your hands on them. I found a brand at 99 Ranch that has a line called “Golden Yolks”, and I use them specifically for these cookies. I don’t find that they taste any different but the color difference really comes through, especially for the egg wash.
- When pressing out your bolo topping, don’t be afraid to use your hands/fingers. I find that a topping “disc” in an uneven thickness (aka lumpy) is the best way to ensure great cracks.
- Careful with the broiler! While I find the broiler is necessary to get the right golden brown coloring, your cookies can go from beautifully golden to burnt to a crisp in the blink of an eye. DO NOT TAKE YOUR EYES OFF YOUR COOKIES when broiling them!! You can probably also bake these in the very top rack of your oven to achieve a similar result, though I haven’t done much testing on this technique so I can’t say for sure.
Specialty Ingredients
Bird’s Custard Powder — This powder comes from the UK and is basically instant pudding mix, but is also used in a lot of Hong Kong bakery recipes. It adds a certain nostalgic flavor to the bolo topping, but if you’re unable to find it can be omitted. I reliably get mine on Amazon and Cost Plus World Market.
Dry Milk Powder — This is just dehydrated milk and can be found at most standard grocery stores. I use the low-fat kind, which is most readily available.
Salted Duck Egg Yolks — This is a newer variant that, if you grew up with the flavor of salted egg yolks, is delightful. These egg yolks add another dimension of flavor — similar to adding miso to cookies — that lend another layer of nostalgia. If you’ve never had salted duck egg yolks, they can be polarizing — it’s a bit of an acquired taste. Don’t feel pressure to add these to your cookies in order for them to taste good! I love these cookies with or without the salted egg yolks. If you do want to add salted egg yolks, they can be found at most Chinese markets in the refrigerated egg section. Buy the ones in the vacuum-sealed package and NOT the whole salted duck eggs, which can be hard to work with in this application.
Bolo Bao Cookies
Equipment
- bench scraper
- food processor
Ingredients
For the Topping
- 60 g Unsalted Butter cold
- 60 g Granulated sugar
- 2 Egg Yolks
- 1 Tbsp Bird's custard Powder*
- 1/2 tsp Diamond brand kosher salt for table salt, use half
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 120 g all purpose flour gold medal brand
- 1/8 tsp almond extract
For the Cookie Dough
- 225 g butter
- 250 g granulated sugar
- 50 g brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 250 g bread flour
- 1 tsp Diamond brand kosher salt for table salt, use half
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp almond extract
- 1 Tbsp dry milk powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 4 salted duck egg yolks** optional
For the Egg Wash
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp water
- Pinch salt
Instructions
Prepare the Topping
- To a food processor, add the sugar, custard powder, baking powder, and salt. Blitz for about a minute, then add all purpose flour and blitz again.60 g Unsalted Butter, 60 g Granulated sugar, 1 Tbsp Bird's custard Powder*, 3/4 tsp baking powder, 120 g all purpose flour, 1/2 tsp Diamond brand kosher salt
- Add the butter and pulse until the butter completely "disappears" into the mixture — it'll have the texture of lightly wet sand. Add egg yolks and almond extract and continue processing just until the mixture pulls together.60 g Unsalted Butter, 1/8 tsp almond extract, 2 Egg Yolks
- Dump the loose dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap and firmly but swiftly press the pieces together, kneading lightly if needed, to form a more cohesive dough. If the dough is too crumbly and won't come together, you can wet your hands and flick just a bit of water onto the dough — just until it comes together. Wrap the dough in the plastic and roll into a neat log shape. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.
Make the Cookie Dough
- Add butter to a medium-sized, light colored pot or pan. Heat on medium until butter melts, then stir, scraping the bottom constantly, with a heatproof spatula until you see brown bits at the bottom of the pan. This browning process can happen quickly and may end up burning if you're not watching carefully! *As soon as* the butter solids turn light brown, pour the butter into a medium-sized mixing bowl to help stop the cooking.225 g butter
- Add sugar, brown sugar, and salt to the hot butter and CAREFULLY stir to combine. Let rest at room temperature, giving the mixture a couple stirs with a whisk every 10-15 minutes or so until the mixture is warm (not hot), becomes cohesive (but not completely solid/firm), and starts to lighten in color/become opaque as you whisk. This can take anywhere from 20-60 minutes total depending on the season/the temperature of your house. If your kitchen is very warm you can do this step in the refrigerator but you'll want to make sure the mixture remains soft and doesn't completely harden.250 g granulated sugar, 50 g brown sugar, 1 tsp Diamond brand kosher salt
- Give the cooled mixture a good stir to "fluff" it up. Add baking powder, baking soda, and milk powder and mix to combine well.1 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1 Tbsp dry milk powder
- Add egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract and mix well to combine before adding the bread flour and gently folding it in. Once flour is moistened, mix well to combine. The dough may feel a touch on the dry side, but just continue mixing until incorporated. IF USING SALTED EGG YOLKS — crumble the yolks in with your finger tips towards the end of adding the flour and stir to combine.1 egg, 250 g bread flour, 1/4 tsp vanilla extract, 1/8 tsp almond extract, 4 salted duck egg yolks**
Assembly and Baking
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Remove topping from the refrigerator, unwrap, and carefully slice into 12 discs. If the discs crumble as you're cutting them, simply grab the pieces and press/squeeze/gently knead them in your hand, warming them slightly. They should come together. Set aside.
- Scoop egg-sized balls of dough and roll between your hands to achieve a smooth ball (I use a ~2 Tbsp cookie scoop for this). Place balls 3" apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Taking one disc of topping between your fingers, gently pinch, press, and rotate the disk until it's about 2" in diameter (quite a bit larger than the diameter of the dough balls). Dust your fingers and work surface lightly with flour if you experience any sticking.UPDATE: I've done a lot of experimentation and while the technique above works, this is what I do now. Grab a disc of topping and place it on a cutting board or clean flat surface. Use the heel of your hand to push down and forward to flatten and spread the disc out into and irregular circle about 1.5-2" in diameter. The goal is to create some uneven thickness in the disc, which helps to create that characteristic pineapple texture. Use a bench scraper to swiftly scrape the flattened disc off the surface and transfer it to the cookie dough. I'll link a reference video below so you can see how I do it.***
- Gently drape the topping circle over each dough ball without pressing it down, so the topping circle is sitting on top of the dough ball almost like a UFO (it's ok if it sags or drapes down on its own).
- To make the egg wash, mix egg yolk, water, and salt in a small dish until well combined.1 egg yolk, 1 tsp water, Pinch salt
- Brush the top of each topping layer with egg yolk mixture. Bake for 12 minutes at 350F, then turn on the top broiler of your oven to 450F and broil for 2-3 minutes until the bolo topping starts to brown. Keep an eye on your cookies here and move the pan around as necessary to ensure each cookie receives some color — you may leave the oven door open during this step as well.You can also skip the broiling step entirely and just bake the cookies at 350F for an additional 3-5 minutes until golden brown at the edges, but your bolo topping will end up on the pale side.
- Remove cookies from oven and wait 5 minutes, then transfer each cookie to a cooling rack to finish cooling. I find these are best enjoyed once completely cool, as it gives the bolo topping time to firm up correctly.
Alisha Wong
Not necessarily a review of the recipe as I haven’t made it yet, but the recipe looks so easy to and I can’t wait! Just wondering if I can substitute bread flour for regular flour?
Jess
Turned out so good! I had to skip the custard powder and dry milk powder due to time crunch, but they were still amazing. I made smaller scale cookies to get more! Added some yellow food coloring to the topping to get that extra golden color. The brown butter made these delicious, will be making again!
hana
is it ok to use milk instead of milk powder?
Rachel
No I wouldn’t swap milk in because it’ll make the dough too wet. If you don’t have milk powder I would just omit it!
SVM
Made these. Family loved them. Recipe made more cookies than noted but not a bad problem to have.
Rachel
Yay! So glad you liked them. I think maybe my cookies might be a bit bigger than yours, but like you said, the more cookies the better :)))
Jessica
SO SCRUMP!!! Saw your instagram reel and had to make these. Didn’t have custard powder so I omitted it. Also didn’t have almond extract so I subbed coconut (not sure if it made a difference). Cookies turned out great, super easy to follow this recipe:)
Rachel
Amazing! So glad it worked for you 🙂
Karisa
I’m so glad you’re sharing this! My dad has not been back to Hong Kong in years and I hope this will satisfy him until then. For the topping portion, can I use a blender instead of a food processor? Thank you!
Karisa
I’m so glad you shared this! My dad has not been back to Hong Kong in years and one of his favorites foods from there is bolo bao with a huge slab of butter, I’m hoping that this will satisfy him until his next trip! For the topping portion, would I be able to use a blender instead of a food processor? Thank you!
Tiffany
So good! Easy to follow recipe and it came out beautifully!! Thanks for this gem of a recipe!
Rachel
Thank you so much for testing the recipe and for the feedback 🙂
Heidi
Made this with gluten free flour and it works almost as good. Flavor and texture are amazing. The powdered milk also made the gluten free cookie way more fluffy and crispy than usual gf cookies! (I did 1/3 oat flour and 2/3 1:1 gf flour using the same measurements as the original) Only thing is, gf flour made the topping so crumbly it wasn’t sliceable or moldable but I just slammed chunks into the cookie and hoped for the best and it still turned out. I’ll try to fix that next time by either adding less flour than the original recipe or adjusting with a teaspoon of extra egg yolk stolen from the egg wash.
Rachel
Great tips! Happy to hear it worked with GF flour.