Eggless Cardamom Cookies

sadaf
After nearly two months my faulty oven got replaced and I couldn’t wait to get back to baking , even though I have been down with flu for the last few days. It’s a fan assisted convection oven unlike my previous one which was a conventional electric oven. I’m slowly getting the hang of it . It’s said that the biggest advantage of a convection oven is that the heat is distributed evenly throughout the oven, so there are no hot or cold spots. If we want to bake two batches on two different racks , we don’t need to rotate them midway for even baking. For convection ovens it’s usually recommended to lower the temperature by 25 degrees or reducing the baking time by few minutes. A couple of days ago I baked a classic butter cake in it at the usual 350 degrees F and it was done in just under 25 minutes as opposed to the  30-35 minutes mentioned in the recipe. However,these cookies took the same time as mentioned in the recipe. I guess this was due to the fact that I used a baking tray with raised sides instead of a flat cookie sheet. For convection oven it’s recommended to use flat/shallow baking trays so that air flows all around.What has been your experience with convection ovens ?
 
 

These eggless cookies have a rich buttery taste and a subtle cardamom flavor. They are very similar to nankhatais (tradition Indian cookies) but nankhatais usually contain some amount of semolina (sooji) or gramflour (besan) or both in addition to the  ingredients that I have used. I have used very basic ingredients which are almost always available in my pantry. The process is also very quick and simple. As they say, the best things in life are the simplest. It’s hard to go wrong with this one.

 
 
Ingredients:
Unsalted butter – 1/2 cup (at room temperature)
Confectioners’ Sugar/ Icing Sugar – 1/2 cup
All purpose flour – 1 cup
Baking powder – 1/4 tsp
Salt – 1/8 tsp
Cardamom powder- 1/4 tsp
Few raisins (optional)
 
Method:
1) With an electric mixer or by hand, cream the butter and sugar until it’s pale and creamy.
2) Sift together the dry ingredients.
3) Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter and sugar mixture and mix till a soft dough forms.
4) Wrap the dough in cling wrap and keep it aside for 15-20 minutes. If it seems too soft or sticky to make balls you can refrigerate it.
5) Slightly knead the dough once again and divide it into about 12 small balls. Roll each ball so that there are no cracks.
6) Gently press a raisin into each ball and flatten it very slightly. Do not flatten them much as we want our cookies to have rounded tops.
7) Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place the balls two inches apart.
8) Bake the cookies in a preheated oven at 300 degrees F for about 20 -24 minutes just until the edges are slightly brown. 
9) Cool the cookie sheet on a wire rack for about 5 minutes and then transfer the cookies to the rack to cool completely.
 
 
Variations/tips:
1) You can add 1/4 tsp nutmeg powder also to the dry ingredients.
2) Instead of raisins you can use chopped pistachios, sliced/slivered almonds.
3) You can use vanilla extract instead of cardamom/nutmeg.
4) I have made these cookies with fine granulated sugar also but I have found that the texture is better with icing sugar probably because of the cornstarch in it .
5) It’s important to have the butter at room temperature. When pressed slightly it should have an imprint.It should not be melted.  If it’s melted, the cookies will be flat.
6) If you don’t have unsalted butter, you can use salted butter instead. Just omit the salt mentioned in the recipe.
7) If the dough seems too soft to make balls, you can chill it in the refrigerator for few minutes until it’s suitable for making balls.
 
 
I’m linking this to:
EP Series – Herbs & Spices ~ Basil and Cardamom ‘Event  guest hosted by Cook Ezee and started by Erivum Puliyum
 
Guest Quest hosted by Amina Creations
 

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18 comments on “Eggless Cardamom Cookies”

  2. These look so good! My husband would love them! I got a convection back in February. Prior to that I had the standard electric one. I found when baking I wouldn’t get even browning when I used convection so I stopped using it. Others I spoke to had the same experience.

    Please drop by my blog…I have an award for you!

  7. When I made the butter cake a few days ago I also noticed the uneven browning. I guess I will try lowering the temperature to see if it helps . Thanks a lot for the award. I shall post it here soon inshallah.

  17. This looks so tasty! I didn’t have any eggs the other day, and I really wanted to bake something! Bookmarked for next time that happens 😉

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