Kesar Nankhatai Recipe | Saffron Cookies (Egg free) | Saffron Infused Indian Shortbread Cookies

Today I am posting Kesar Nankhatai recipe here. These are saffron infused shortbread cookies. I love Nankhatai Cookies and have already posted its recipe here. This Diwali, I wanted to bake a variation of the usual nankhatai and came up with this recipe - Kesar Nankhatai. They were aromatic, crunchy and tasty cookies. These are egg free too. My kids loved it so much. Not only for Diwali, this cookies can be baked anytime during the year and can be great as edible gifts too. Why not bake these Egg free Indian inspired cookies for this holiday?

Kesar Nankhatai - Egg Free - Recipe

An easy recipe for egg less saffron Shortbread cookies. These aromatic shortbread cookies are perfect as edible gifts during any festival or holiday season.
Prep time: 15 mins  Cook time: 20 mins  Total time: 35 mins
Yield: 16 Cookies

Ingredients :

• All Purpose flour : 3/4 cup
• Besan / Gram flour : 1/2 cup
• Sooji / Fine Semolina : 1/4 cup
• Baking soda : 1/8 teaspoon
• Powdered Sugar : 3/4 cup
• Saffron strands : 1/4 teaspoon
• Milk : 2 Tablespoon + 2 Tablespoons
• Ghee : 1/2 cup + extra as needed
• Cardamoms : 5 nos
• Granulated sugar : 1 or 2 Tablespoons

Instructions :

1. Pre heat the oven to 170 C and prepare the cookie sheet by lining with silver foil or parchment paper.
2. Soak Saffron in 2 Tablespoons of Warm milk for at least 10 minutes.
3. Peel the skin and powder the seeds of cardamom with 1 or 2 Tablespoons of Sugar.
4. In a bowl, combine all purpose flour, gram flour and sooji. To this add baking soda and powdered sugar and mix well.
5. Now add the soaked saffron along with the milk and powdered cardamom and mix well.
6. Melt the ghee and add it little by little to this flour mixture and mix well. The mixture will be little crumbly but will come together if rolled. If you feel the mixture is not coming together add some more ghee (1 or 2 teaspoons) and mix.
7. Divide the mixture into 16 equal parts. Roll them (they will be approximately in the size of a small lemon) and flatten them slightly. Press chopped nuts in the centre.
8. Arrange these in the prepared cookie tray. These cookies will expand while baking, so leave enough space in between.
9. Bake them for about 15-20 minutes till the sides turn slightly golden.
10. When removing from the oven the cookies will be soft. Let them cool completely. Then they will get the cookie texture.

Notes :

• I have used Besan / Gram flour here. If it is not available, you can replace it with all purpose flour itself.
• If you don't have saffron strands, you can use saffron extract too.
• Instead of clarified butter / ghee, you can use melted butter too.
• Baking time varies with each oven. Mine was done a little over 15 minutes, in about 17 minutes. So keep an eye after 15 minutes. If it is not done, bake for couple of more minutes, check again, repeat the process if needed.

Recipe developed, baked and clicked by Divya Prakash