George Town (The Star/ANN) - Whenever baker Chan Soo Yen sees a snake, she will flee in a hurry.
However, her love for baking has helped conquer her ophidiophobia, and now she is able to make cute cartoon snake cookies to welcome the Year of the Snake.
"When I eat the cookies, I imagine myself killing' the serpent by snapping it in half," she said in jest during an interview at her mother-in-law's baking goods shop at the Bayan Baru market here.
The 31-year-old said several kindergartens had approached the shop to ask them to make samples for the children.
"The cookies come in several flavours, like green tea, green pea, pandan and chocolate.
"My customers prefer to buy the ingredients to make the cookies themselves as they can make them in different shapes and sizes."
Chan said the ingredients include baking soda, butter, eggs, sugar, flour and flavouring, adding that she used black sesame for the eyes and chocolate for the mouth.
"As a child, I saw my father help a neighbour kill a cobra, and he died in an accident six months later. That was when I started having the phobia," she said.
"The neighbour told my family the accident could be the doing of the snake's spirit and I've been afraid of snakes ever since."
Chan added that she got goosebumps when she tried to make the first batch of snake cookies about two weeks ago.
"But when the cookies turned out to be cute and delicious, I felt happy and relieved."
Chan Soo Yen's love for baking has helped her conquer her fear of snakes. She is now baking cute cartoon snake cookies to welcome in the Year of the Snake.
