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These eggless cookies with spices like cardamom and saffron are an amazing accompaniment to spiced tea. We made a trip last year to India and on the street there was this man selling naan kithai. It was fascinating how he was baking them without an oven on a small cart, right there by the roadside. He just had charcoal, two tin plates, and dough. He threw the dough on one plate, put another plate on top, then put some charcoal on top of that, and in 15 minutes we had these delicious, buttery cookies. I had eaten these type of cookies before, but they never made such an impact on me.
Preheat the oven to 300°F. Grease a large baking sheet.
Sift the flour and semolina together into a small bowl.
In a medium bowl with an electric mixer,
Combine the saffron and milk in a small bowl and
Form the dough into 16 to 20 balls, 1- to 1 1/2-inch each.
Place the balls on the baking sheet about 1 1/2 inches apart and gently press down to make domed rounds.
Bake for 30 minutes, until the cookies are browned on the bottom (they won’t brown on the top because there’s no egg in the dough). Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
If you like, mix a pinch of cardamom and nutmeg in a sieve with confectioners sugar and sift over the cookies just before serving. Store the cookies at room temperature in an airtight container.
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup confectioners sugar
Confectioners sugar, ground cardamom, and grated nutmeg, for garnish (optional)
¾ cup fine semolina
1 teaspoon milk
1 teaspoon plain yogurt
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon nutmeg, grated
⅔ cup
¼ teaspoon saffron threads