These assorted nuts biscuits are sure to be a family favorite & a perfect gift to make & give for festive occasions. These cookies are light, crispy & yum!
Growing up, Diwali was special for more than one reason. Apart from new clothes, fireworks and rangoli time, the only other thing we looked out for was for Diwali gift boxes! A day or two before Diwali, we would notice gift boxes coming in and out of homes and we as bhukkad (perpetually hungry) kids would drool and dream of all the treats in store for us on Diwali day. The whole of pre Diwali week was always filled with a lot of hustle bustle. Each one of us who would come down to play in the evenings would eventually land up discussing what treats were being made in our respective homes that day. We would notice every house facing the front being decked up with lights and lantern and would come home asking our dad for one. Sadly, our flat was located at the backside of the building due to which my dad never agreed that we needed a lantern in our balcony, despite our cries and tantrums. His logic was, "No one can see it so why put it up!" Bummer! But anyways, let's come back to those gift boxes.
My dad would prepare gift boxes for all his office colleagues and store them in our home till the D-day. He would often ask us to help him pack. It was a fun ask for me and my brother. On Diwali day,we would eagerly wait for him to come home as he will be loaded with return gift boxes from his office colleagues. Each box would contain a variety of treats both sweet and savory. Both of us would pick our corners and happily munch on these treats. There was another tradition which all kids of the building followed. On Diwali morning, once all of us got down all ready in our new clothes, we would do this one thing. No one knows who started this tradition, but we religiously followed it till we turned adults. As a big group, we would visit every house in the building to wish every household a very happy Diwali. We were always welcomed with smiley faces, warmth and treats! This was our time to gorge upon all the homemade treats from every house.
As if all that was not enough, mom would prepare so many goodies during this time of the year that me and my brother would prefer skipping meals in order to enjoy all these items. Today, just thinking about the amount of treats we ate back then, makes me nauseous. But I guess as growing kids, our body handles it pretty well. I however, cannot imagine doing this today! But this memory of all of us visiting every house in our building is fondly remembered by everyone even today. Be it the uncles and aunties or we kids, we always talk about this thing that we did back then and have a hearty laugh. Seriously, our childhood was filled with such innocent moments like these where we enjoyed our lives guilt free and carefree. Thankfully our parents were supportive and encouraging and they simply let us be ourselves. I feel so good having shared a bit of my childhood with all of you today. I am sure you too would have tons of memories of your childhood especially during the festive season.
It's time to reminisce those days and enjoy some sweet treats just for old times sake! I have always been a fan of Tarla Dalal. For those of you who may not know her, she was an extremely popular celebrity chef in India. I was in college when my aunt gifted me her cookbooks and ever since then, I have made every recipe from that book. In fact, my friends began to call me Tarla Dalal because of this and that name has stuck with me ever since. The recipe I am sharing with you today is from her book. I have not made much changes to her original recipe and this is one Indian cookie that I can eat happily on any given day. Made with assorted nuts like almonds and pistachios, these biscuits are crispy and crunchy. The recipe to make these Kesar Pista Badam Biscuits is super simple and quick. The first step is to soak some strands of saffron
in warm milk for 15 minutes. Also preheat the oven to 360 degrees F.
Combine ghee
and sugar
in a mixing bowl
. Mix it well with a spatula
. Then add the saffron milk, cardamom powder
and nutmeg powder
to the bowl. Mix it all together and then pass plain flour/maida
through a sieve
and add it to the bowl. Knead into a soft dough by adding enough milk. The milk should be at room temperature. Using a mortar and pestle
, lightly crush almonds
, pistachios
and edible flowers
. Roll a portion of the dough into a rectangle using a little plain flour for rolling. The width should not be very thin nor very thick. Sprinkle crushed nuts evenly over it and roll again lightly so that the nuts stick well to the dough. Now comes the fun part. Shape them anyhow using a cookie cutter
. I gave them the shape of Mickey Mouse! I am from the land of Disney, hence the Mickey fixation. Repeat the above steps to make more biscuits. Place them on parchment paper
covered baking tray
and bake these biscuits/cookies for 15-20 minutes. They should begin to turn golden around the edges but be careful to not burn them.
Eggless Kesar Pista Badam Biscuits or Saffron Cashew Almond Cookies are now ready! Store them in an airtight container
and enjoy them whenever you want! These make a great gift too! Pack them in cute boxes and gift them to your loved ones. I can assure you that they will love it especially the little ones!
Some more cookies recipes without eggs
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Eggless Kesar Pista Badam Biscuits or Saffron Cashew Almond Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¼ teaspoon saffron strands
- 2 teaspoon warm milk
- ¼ cup ghee
- 5 tablespoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon cardamon powder
- pinch of nutmeg powder
- ¾ cup plain flour/maida
- 5-6 tablespoon milk at room temperature
- ¼ cup mixed nuts - almonds, pistachios and dried edible flowers
Instructions
- The first step is to soak some strands of saffron in warm milk for 15 minutes. Also preheat the oven to 360 degrees F. Combine ghee and sugar in a mixing bowl. Mix it well with a spatula. Then add the saffron milk, cardamom powder and nutmeg powder to the bowl. Mix it all together and then pass flour through a sieve and add it to the bowl. Knead into a soft dough by adding enough milk. The milk should be at room temperature. Using a mortar and pestle, lightly crush almonds, pistachios and edible flowers. Roll a portion of the dough into a rectangle using a little plain flour for rolling. The width should not be very thin nor very thick. Sprinkle crushed nuts evenly over it and roll again lightly so that the nuts stick well to the dough. Now comes the fun part. Shape them anyhow using a cookie cutter. I gave them the shape of Mickey Mouse! I am from the land of Disney, hence the Mickey fixation. Repeat the above steps to make more biscuits. Place them on parchment paper covered baking tray and bake these biscuits/cookies for 15-20 minutes. They should begin to turn golden around the edges but be careful to not burn them. Eggless Kesar Pista Badam Biscuits or Saffron Cashew Almond Cookies are now ready! Store them in an airtight container and enjoy them whenever you want!
Nutrition
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