Eggless Naan Berenji- Persian Rice Flour Cookies

For the third day of Blogging Marathon for which I am baking with whole grains, I decided to use rice flour. Rice flour is gluten free and it is tough to bind it together to bake a cookie. This Persian cookie uses egg yolks for binding. As I was changing it to eggless recipe, I substituted the egg yolks with milk and had my fingers crossed while the cookies were in the oven. I took out the first batch slightly brown. So the crust was crispy while the inside was chewy. So I took out the next batch little early retaining the white colour of the cookies and they came out super soft and chewy. They were so cute to look at and we just loved them. Making sugar syrup was the toughest part of making these cookies. At first I added water as suggested in the recipe and got some crystalised sugar at the end. So again I added some water and made the syrup again. This time I added 2 tsp of lemon juice and boiled it. I ended up with exactly half a cup of thick sugar syrup. That is what is needed for the cookie. Prepare the syrup ahead because it needs time for cooling. I made it during the noon and made the dough in the evening. Then I refrigerated the dough overnight and baked the cookies at 4:00AM today. As the process has three stages plan accordingly. 



Recipe Adapted From Turmeric and Saffron
Makes 3 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
For The Syrup:
Sugar-3/4 cup
Water-3/4 cup
Lemon Juice-2 tsp
Rose Essence-1/2 tsp

Other Ingredients:

Rice Flour-2 cups
Milk-1/4 cup
Butter-1/2 cup
Oil-1/4 cup
Cardamom Powder-1/2 tsp
Vanilla Essence-1/4 tsp

Pistachios-20-25 crushed for topping

Procedure:
1. Add water and sugar and bring it to boil.
2. Reduce flame and let it boil until it comes to half a cup.
3. Add lemon juice and rose essence and allow it to cool completely.
4. Beat butter and oil until creamy.
5. Add the milk and vanilla and beat until incorporated.
6. Mix rice flour and cardamom powder.
7. Beat until well incorporated.
8. Add the sugar syrup and beat well. The dough will be sticky and thin. 
9. Place it in a cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours. I kept it in the fridge overnight and baked them in the morning.
10. Preheat oven to 175C.
11. Pinch small portion of the dough and roll into a small ball.
12. Place it on a lined baking tray 2" apart.
13. With a flat bowl, press each ball into a thick cookie.
14. With the help of a knife or fork make some designs on the top of the cookie.
15. Sprinkle crushed pistas on top.
16. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the bottom of the cookie is golden. The top needs to be white.
17. Remove from oven and allow it to cool in the tray for 5 minutes.
18. Using a small spatula remove the cookies from the tray and allow it to cool.
19. Finish baking the remaining dough.
20. Store in airtight jar.



Make sugar syrup and allow it to cool.



Cream together butter, oil, milk, vanilla.



Add cardamom mixed rice flour.



Add the syrup and mix.



The dough will be thin and sticky.



Place it in a cling wrap and refrigerate for minimum 6 hours.



Roll out small balls and place 2" apart.



Press with a bowl to flatten, do some markings with a knife or fork and sprinkle pistas on top.



Bake, cool and serve.



Aren't they cute??


Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#25

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