In my world, if there is one little thing that can bring a smile to anyone’s face, it will be homemade cookies. Sometimes with chocolate chips hidden in it and sometimes, without any surprising element. Just plain, buttery and delicious with lots of flavor! I think it helps keeping the child inside us alive and that is why, we all love cookies any time.
As a kid, whenever I used to watch movies where moms were shown baking cookies or cupcakes, I used to wonder why take all this trouble when there are so many options available in the market. Little did I know about the fun and satisfaction of baking.. Having said that, baking is not a very easy practice in my kitchen; lots of disasters and wastage happens in the process. It’s either the ratio or the baking time that always goes wrong, resulting in a hard non-edible stone like object.. phew!
I am still learning the chemistry and art of baking. Cake is easy for me, cookies – not so much!
So the other day, with lots of courage, I decided to bake some cookies. My mantra was to keep it plain, simple, add lots of butter and keep my fingers crossed.
Inspired by the compound butter, I decided to flavor it with some crushed cardamom, a pinch of saffron and citrus.
I kept peeking in the oven non-stop. After about 15 minutes, they came out nicely baked. At the first touch, it didn’t feel like a stone. I waited for a while to let it cool and then took a big bite, right in the center. They were chewy, soft and not so overly sweet. Loved the flavor! The cookies came out exactly the way I wanted it. No wastage happened this time. Best of all, Arvind approved it and he is still enjoying it.
Citrus and Saffron Cookies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup butter, softened at room temperature
- a pinch of saffron
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon crushed cardamom
- juice of half lemon
- zest of half lemon
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup semolina
- 1/2 cup chickpea flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- a pinch of salt
Instructions
- In a tiny bowl, mix the saffron with milk and let it rest for 5 minutes.
- Mix the butter, lemon juice, zest, salt and sugar in a separate bowl. Now, add the milk-saffron mixture to the bowl along with crushed cardamom and whisk until its smooth.
- In another bowl, mix rest of the dry ingredients.
- Pour all the dry ingredients in the butter mixture and knead it to form a nice sticky dough.
- Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and let it rest for 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350F .
- Make tiny balls with the dough and press it slightly to form a flat shape .
- Bake it for about 15 minutes or until it pale white in color and forms slight cracks on top.
Comments are closed.
Sara{OneTribeGourmet}
April 17, 2012 at 8:03 PMKankana dahling you always manage to make my mouth water with your delicious recipes! Citrus & Saffron are a perfect pair in these cookies!
Raji
April 17, 2012 at 8:08 PMAahh..these are my type of cookies…slightly sweet with cardamom…mmm..sounds just like heaven to me. Gorgeous clicks. Hugs.
Ambika
April 17, 2012 at 8:09 PMThese cookies are so beautiful Kankana!! I also love to use chickpea flour in cookies, it has such a nice nutty taste!!
Grishma @zabardast
April 17, 2012 at 8:48 PMLovely flavors with beautiful pictures!
Vimitha
April 17, 2012 at 9:20 PMBeautiful clicks as usual and nice flavorful cookies dear
Reem | Simply Reem
April 17, 2012 at 9:32 PMCookies are my weakness, I avoid making them as I end up overloading myself with them…
Anyways these look really awesome…
I love the pics as usual, specially the one with flours… Beautiful compassion Kankana!!
Rosa
April 17, 2012 at 10:27 PMWonderful cookies! That flavor combination is great.
Cheers,
Rosa
Spandana
April 17, 2012 at 10:34 PMDelicious cookies.. love the flavors!!!!!And beautiful pics!
Kulsum
April 17, 2012 at 10:55 PMso pretty! I love the flour pic. This beautiful cookies remind me of a white chocolate and saffron cookie I made a while back sitting in my drafts 🙂
Nandita
April 17, 2012 at 10:56 PMLoved the recipe and the presentation!!! Just beautiful 🙂
Sublime Palate
April 17, 2012 at 11:07 PMThat looks so yum!! Wish I could get my hands on some right now..
Jennifer (Delicieux)
April 17, 2012 at 11:49 PMAbsolutely gorgeous cookies and beautiful photos! You are making me want to go and bake some cookies now. I’m inspired by your use of chickpea flour in these cookies too.
Pia
April 18, 2012 at 1:54 AMlove the styling on this one – stunning photographs, kankana. and it’s something to bake with my daughter today!
Shruti
April 18, 2012 at 3:35 AMlove that you used chickpea flour & saffron in these cookies. as for baking cookies i’m yet to try that
nisha
April 18, 2012 at 3:54 AMoh so buttery n divine they look. even i suck at making cookies n my husband actually prefers the betty crocker mix to home made one, so you can imagine how pathetic i actually am 🙂
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April 18, 2012 at 4:21 AMI love to bake, but sometimes I made my own disasters in the kitchen:).I loved the addition of cardamom, probably gave a special hint
Deeps @ Naughty Curry
April 18, 2012 at 4:27 AMsaffron and cardmom, wow must have been one hell of a cookie!
jeyashrisuresh
April 18, 2012 at 4:52 AMbeautifully done and clicked
Matt @ RecipeLion
April 18, 2012 at 6:08 AMThis recipe looks great! I would love it if you linked up this post to my blog hop for a chance to win a cookbook prize package: http://ow.ly/aj76a
healthfulpursuit
April 18, 2012 at 6:50 AMWow, I wish cake was easier for me than cookies. I can make cookies any day, but my cakes normally turn out goopey, flat, or hard.
Krithi
April 18, 2012 at 7:05 AMChick pea flour, semolina?? Wow…you rock! great combo… would love to try this dear..
Yadsia @ShopCookMake
April 18, 2012 at 7:14 AMBaking is still a mystery to me. I never seem to bake the perfect cake, and let alone cookies. The day that I make cookies as pretty as yours, I’d be happy!
thyme (Sarah)
April 18, 2012 at 7:29 AMI just used cardamom to flavor an Easter bread. I now LOVE cardamom. I’ll bet it tastes wonderful in those cute little cookies.
Kiri W.
April 18, 2012 at 8:58 AMYum! I love saffron for baking, these sound delicious 🙂
Priya
April 18, 2012 at 9:23 AMNice clicks and the cookies luks so delicious
Tina (PinayInTexas)
April 18, 2012 at 10:25 AMsaffron and cardamom…wow! I can imagine how good those cookies are!
Kiran @ KiranTarun.com
April 18, 2012 at 1:59 PMYum! I love the combo of flours used in this recipe. Bet it contributes to a great cookie texture.
Athena
April 18, 2012 at 5:47 PMI’d never guess that baking disasters occur in your kitchen. These look fantastic. I’m craving cookies now!
Pencil Kitchen
April 18, 2012 at 8:14 PMI’ve never used saffron before.. btw, I fail cookies a lot too… I don’t get how Cookies are the easiest thing to bake… It is not! I’ve got to give this a try! Any tips?
Ira Rodrigues
April 18, 2012 at 9:04 PMSince i have sunflower saffron, i might give your recipe a try. the cookies looks yummy!
Shabs
April 18, 2012 at 9:08 PMOoooh , that is one delicious looking cookie , can’t believe you have baking disasters , actually I could never get a simple cookie right but now it’s too easy , your flavour combinations are just Super !!! 🙂 .
Sandra's Easy Cookin
April 18, 2012 at 9:47 PMThose look and sound like a perfect cookie! Yes, you are right, nothing better than homemade cookies for kids but for adults too! Thank you for sharing sweetie!
renu
April 18, 2012 at 10:27 PMVery tempting recipe and wonderful clicks ! just wondering, every time I use lemon or orange juice in my recipe, it imparts bitter taste. Have you ever experienced it ?
Maureen (OrgasmicChe
April 19, 2012 at 1:06 AMI love your photos – really impressed by your work.
These cookies look so cute. I can’t wait to try them.
Saguna
April 19, 2012 at 2:57 AMThese look so perfect- flavours sound so good together. They remind me of jeera biscuits! Which, by the way, I am in need of! Do you know of a good recipe for them?
Notyet100
April 19, 2012 at 7:29 AMCookies look so good,…luv the presentation too,.
Charles
April 19, 2012 at 12:57 PMI totally agree – store-bought cookies can never beat a good batch of home-made cookies – these looks gorgeous 🙂
Padhu
April 19, 2012 at 7:42 PMYummy cookies and lovely pictures!
Simone
April 19, 2012 at 10:02 PMI am really no cookie baking expert. In fact; they scare me a little as they always seem to come out wrong! Yours look so pretty. Maybe I should just be brave enough to try again…
Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen
April 19, 2012 at 11:47 PMAny excuse to use a little saffron is good with me!
Maja
April 21, 2012 at 6:36 AMKankana, I love this big photos, they are so bright and tender in the same time! Love this cookies, saffron is actually very often used in our kitchen 🙂 Wonderful!
Nami | Just One Cookbook
April 21, 2012 at 7:36 AMIt’s true – even though I’m not a baker, homemade cookies are worth making than buying store bought cookies. It’s completely different thing! You said baking a cake is easier? Gosh I wish I can bake a cake. That remains my challenge still. You did a wonderful job baking these cute cookies – citrus and saffron sounds wonderful! I bet these are hard to stop eating after a couple… 🙂
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April 21, 2012 at 1:26 PMlove the citrus in these saffron cookies.. i think for me anything that comes out delicious and close to whatever i can call it.. works fine!.. cookie, muffin top. or for cakes, i’ll call it a fudgy cake;). love the new look of the blog.. all sunny, clean, and cheerful!
Magic of Spice
April 22, 2012 at 1:46 PMWhat a delightful flavoring for cookies…they look splendid!
Tes
April 22, 2012 at 11:02 PMWhat a lovely cookies recipe 🙂 It sounds like a perfect recipe for summer 🙂
Nisha
April 22, 2012 at 11:02 PMCookies turning into stones, hehe … the same always happens with me whenever I make Peanut Butter related cookies. Yesterday, again. Peanut Butter and I just don’t get along!
These cookies look good, I find it interesting to try, seeing how you used besan & rava instead of maida or aata.
Mark
April 23, 2012 at 10:42 PMGreat combo – cardamom and lemon. The cookies look delicious, Kankana.
Russell
April 25, 2012 at 7:21 AMI’ve never thought to use saffron in a cookie. This pairing sounds scrumptious!
Jean (Lemons and Anchovies)
April 29, 2012 at 7:43 PMI have the same trouble with cookies and like you, I think cakes are so much easier. But maybe the stars aligned for both of us this time. I baked some cookies today and I was extremely happy with them. Yours are definitely winners, too. Love the flavor combo you selected for yours. 🙂