Pista Cookies

Its been a long time since I have baked any cookies and I was really itching to try out some different flavour cookies this time. My brother in law wanted the pista complan cookies   that I had made long back. But now I didn’t have a stock of pista flavoured complan with me. So, here comes the jugaad… Added some milk powder and freshly powdered pista and almonds as well as finely chopped pista and almonds to the basic butter cookie recipe and made these awesome looking ones. Rolled and coated the shaped cookies in finely chopped nuts and baked them.

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour 125 gm
• Milk powder 20 gm or 2 tbsp
• Salt a small pinch
• Butter 75-80 gm
• Powdered sugar 60-70 gm
• Baking soda a small pinch
• Baking powder a small pinch
• Powdered pista and almonds 1-2 tbsp
• Cardamom powder 1/2 tsp
• Finely chopped pista and almonds 2 tbsp

Method:

• Cream the butter and sugar well till it is creamy and fluffy.
• Sieve the flour, salt, milk powder, baking soda and baking powder 2-3 times.
• Add the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture and combine to form a dough. Add half of the finely chopped pista and almonds too. Do not knead hard.
• If the dough is too soft, refrigerate it for few minutes.
• Line a baking tray with parchment paper and keep it ready.
• Pinch a small portion of the dough and flatten it in your palm.
• Use a cookie cutter of desired shape and cut it.  Coat it with the finely chopped nuts. Place it slowly on the tray. You can refrigerate the tray with the shaped cookies for few minutes to avoid the cookies from spreading too much. But due to lack of time, I didn’t do it this time.
• Preheat the oven at 160-170 degree Celsius for atleast 10 minutes.
• Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes or till the sides appear a bit golden.
• The cookies will be very soft when you remove it from the oven. It will eventually harden as it cools.
• Remove from oven and let it rest in the tray for 3-4 minutes. Gently transfer onto a wire rack and allow it to cool well.
• Store in airtight containers. Enjoy these with a cup of warm/cold milk.

Notes:

• You can add a few drops of pista essence if you wish, though I haven’t added any.
• For a more healthier version replace the apf with whole wheat flour and maybe add a spoon of butter to bind the dough together. You might need to bake it for few more minutes.