Taking matters in your own hand

Well by matter we mean biscuits or cookies. We love the mughal bakery kind of biscuits like the karachi bakery ones. They are butter cookies with dried fruits or nuts. But over time their overseas packages seem to have got sweeter or our tastes have changed and somehow the nut ones of different brands seem to skimp on nuts. Also getting cookies with saffron is possible in some places in India it is not so common. The sweet fragrance of saffron does replace the sweet feeling that comes from sugar making it a rich cookie. So making your own in that case a great option. Also store bought cookies skimp on nuts or do not use the more expensive kinds like pistachios. When you make them yourself you can really make a flavor packed cookie with real and good quality ingredients.

Getting the best of Saffron

Saffron is very intense and very potent. It is important though to keep it shielded from sunlight when storing and keep it in a cool dry sealed environment. Then when using it you need to make sure to let it bloom to extract the color and flavors. We first crush the threads in a mortar and pestle with some sugar for traction. The sugar absorbs the saffron oils and then later dissolves in warm milk so it works out great.

We add warm milk and let it infuse and it blooms imparting intensely sweet floral fragrance and bright yellow color to the milk.

A few ingredient cookie

The biscuit as India calls it as a British inheritance or the cookie is essentially just 3 ingredients at the heart of it. Good butter, sugar and flour.

Whip the good quality room temperature butter.

Then add the sugar and cream it followed by flour. We measure the flour but add it little by little till it just all comes together. It is important to cut in the flour into the butter gently as it will make the cookie crumbly and melt in your mouth when it bakes.

Finish by adding the infused saffron milk and ground pistachio and folding it in. Dust with some more flour if needed.

Then gently mold it and wrap in zip lock and refrigerate. If molding is difficult you can refrigerate for a bit and then mold. Once refrigerated for a few hours or overnight you can cut the logs and bake.

They bake well on buttered paper or on a silpat.

One thing to note is when they are done baking they will be quite soft. Let them rest for a bit on the silpat. They will start firming up as they cool down. Once they are firm enough to remove from silpat move them to a wire rack to cool down completely. One can bake them for more time to get a more brown butter flavor, but with kesar and pista a cleaner more blonder cookie lets the pistachio come through more.

We enjoyed them with ginger laced chai. They are great for dunking as well. Place them in a air tight tin and enjoy!

Kesar Pista Biscuits

★ 5 Stars ☆ ★ 4 Stars ☆ ★ 3 Stars ☆ ★ 2 Stars ☆ ★ 1 Star ☆

No reviews

Print Recipe

Description

Eggless Kesar Pista Biscuits Recipe Type : snack Cuisine: Indian Author: www.breakingnaan.com Prep time: 40 mins Cook time: 25 mins Total time: 1 hour 5 mins Serves: 30 biscuits

Ingredients

Scale

1 cup butter (2 sticks) at room temperature
120 gm fine granulated sugar
2.5 to 3 cups flour
0.75 cup ground pistachio powder
2 Tbsp Milk
0.5 tsp saffron threads and 1 tsp sugar

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Crush the saffron threads with the sugar in a mortar and pestle (optional – else just use the saffron threads)
Warm and Add the 2 Tbsp milk to the saffron and let infuse for 30 minutes In a stand mixer or a bowl mix butter with paddle attachment or a spatula
Add sugar and mix till the butter and sugar creams into a smooth mixture
Add the flour little at a time to mix gently and cut the butter sugar mixture with the flour.
Add 2 to 3 cups of flour till it starts coming together to form a soft log
Add the milk and pistachio nut powder and mix in and finish with a dusting of flour if needed
Take out on a smooth surface and bring into a ball. Cut it into two portions.
Then roll gently and mold with hands or a bakers bench knife.Wrap gently in plastic wrap making sure to not form cracks and refrigerate for 4 to 8 hours
Pre heat oven to 350 F
Remove log and cut into pieces of desire thickness. We recommend about 7 to 10 mm thickness.
Arrange them at-least 1 inch apart on baking trays lined with silpat or baking paper that is greased. Make sure they are enough apart as they will spread a bit when they bake.
Bake for 12 to 20 minutes checking after 12 minutes.
They will still be soft when done but will have stopped spreading and bubbling at the top.Remove the pan from oven and let them cool down in the pan itself for 20 minutes or more.They will get crispier as they cool down.
Then transfer to a wire rack when they are easy to handle and cool further. Store in air tight tins.