Whole wheat almond eggless cookies

In my previous post, I had mentioned that one of the few things I enjoy in India is the friends I have made here. Neelamma is one among them. She is originally from Coorg aka Kodagu and stays in Mangalore in the central jail- or at least that is what she and her “cell-mates” call it, people managing the place call it a hostel.

Since we have got holidays now, her parents had come the day before yesterday to Mangalore to take her to Coorg. Before leaving Neelamma came to my home and thrust a large packet in my hand saying they were honey and chickoos that her dad had brought. I was delighted. Chickoos are one of my favourite fruits.

After bidding her good-bye, I opened the packet in my kitchen. There was a large bottle of locally cultured honey, large home grown chickoos and buried beneath the chickoos was a small packet of aromatic cardamom grown in her estate. Thanks Neelamma!

I have this thing for good smell. I simply have got to smell my food before I eat it. When I’m done with my cup of coffee, I bury my nose deep into the coffee mug to take in the strong aroma of my coffee. So when I discovered this small packet of goodness, I couldn’t help holding it close to my nose for half an hour. It was during this time that I remembered that our February punch was cardamom cookies. Wow! What a coincidence, I thought. I decided to prepare the cookies the next day, which was yesterday. But I didn’t have any butter- bad planning. So I ended up preparing it today, the day of posting the challenge.

Nags had mentioned that the amount of sugar needs to be reduced as the cookies turn out to be a tad too sweet. But I completely forgot about this piece of advice while preparing the cookies. I’ll surely remember it the next time I prepare them. Besides the sweetness, the cookies were perfect. They were crisp on the outside and chewy in the inside. And the aroma of cardamom, ah, irresistible...The recipe promised 24 cookies, but I got 15 large-sized cookies.

Whole wheat almond eggless cookies:
Source: manjulaskitchen.com

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 teaspoon green cardamom seed, coarsely powdered (ilaichi)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (8 tablespoons or 4oz)
• About 2 tablespoons of milk or as needed

Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 360 degree F.
2. In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar, salt, sliced almonds and cardamom powder well.
3. Next add soft butter and milk to the flour mixture to make dough. Dough should be very soft.
4. Divide the dough into about 24 equal parts and make them into balls.
5. Press each ball between your palms lightly; every piece should be about 1/2” in thickness.
6. Place the dough balls on an ungreased cookie sheet about inch a part.
7. Bake the cookies for about 18 minutes or until cookies are lightly gold brown.
8. After they become lightly golden brown remove the cookie sheet from the oven. Let the cookies cool down for two to three minutes before taking them off the cookie sheet.