Eggless Thandai Cookies

Thandai is a North Indian Summer coolant and a quintessential Holi drink made using a nut and spice mix, Thandai masala. How about giving this traditional Indian spice mix a new avatar by adding it to a shortbread cookie? These egg-less thandai cookies are buttery sweet treats with refreshing and cooling thandai flavors. To make it a bit guilt-free, I have used whole wheat flour instead of refined flour and jaggery powder in place of sugar in the recipe. Have studded the cookies with tutti frutti just to make them more appealing and kids friendly. These cookies can be made ahead of time and make up for a perfect on-the-go snack. Make thandai cookies this year for your Holi party and awe your guests!

It is spring time and the most awaited Holi festival is just around the corner. Kids in North India have done with their final exams and it is merrymaking time for them. Apart from my fixed Holi menu of Gujiya, Dahi Papdi Chaat, Onion Fritters and, Mathri, this year I wanted to try out a dish which I could make ahead of time and serve my guests. It was when Kalyani who blogs at Sizzling Taste Buds, suggested #DesiTwist as the theme for this week on #FoodieMondayBlogHop. As per the theme we had to take an Indian dish and give a Firangi twist to it. This Thandai Cookies were apt for my Holi menu and also for this Desi twist theme. Every year, I make the Thandai Masala at home and trust me it is far better than the store bought ones. I make a batch that suffices for one Summer season. These cookies have the flavors coming in from the cardamom, fennel seeds, rose petals, black pepper, and are mildly sweet in taste. I had no plans to add the tutti frutti to these cookies earlier but my little one insisted I had some as it is Holi special and it had to be colorful according to him. You may skip adding tutti frutti as the cookies taste great even without them.

Another reason behind making these sweet treats is that this blog is turning 4 this week! Yes, I gifted myself with 'Annapurna' 4 years back on 20th March and when I started my journey as a blogger, I had no idea I would be able to pull it off so long and that too pretty well. As of now, this blog has registered a whopping 8,24,455 hits with 417 recipes from around the globe. I would like to thank all my readers for the unconditional love and support and hope to get the same as I move ahead in my journey. Thank you for all your likes and comments and for the valuable feedback you all give me after trying out my recipes. I would also like to thank all my fellow bloggers for inspiring me to give my best every time.

Preparation Time: 1 hour
Cooking Time: 15-17 minutes
Serves: 1 1/2 dozen

Ingredients for Thandai Cookie: Measurements used 1 cup =240 ml

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup thandai powder (click here for the recipe)
1/2 cup tutti frutti
1/2 cup jaggery powder
1/4 cup ghee / clarified butter
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt

Method:

In a mixing bowl take whole wheat flour. Add Thandai powder, baking powder and salt to it. Mix everything well. Add tutti frutti to it and mix. Keep aside.

2. In another bowl take powdered jaggery. Add ghee to it. Whisk it with a hand blender until it is
smooth and creamy.

3. Add it to our dry ingredients. Mix with hands. The mixture now appears like bread crumbs. Now add milk, little at a time and gather the flour into a soft dough.

4. Place the dough on a fresh wrap and shape it like a log about 2 inches in diameter. Roll the log in the fresh wrap so as to cover it. Twist both the edges and tie them. Place the log in the refrigerator for at least an hour to get firm and easy to handle.

5. In the last 15 minutes of refrigeration, preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius. Remove the cookie dough log from refrigerator and unwrap it. Cut the log into 1/4-1/2 inches thick segments using a knife. Place the cookies onto a baking tray 1 inch apart and bake for 15-17 minutes in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius.

6. Allow the cookies to cool down on a wire rack before transferring them to an air tight container. The cookies become firm on cooling. Enjoy the delicious and flavorful thandai cookies with your loved ones.

Recipe Notes:

To make the cookies vegan, replace milk with rose water and ghee with coconut oil in the recipe.
Adding tutti frutti to these thandai cookies is optional. They taste great even without it.
Add the milk gradually to the flour as the quantity needed varies according to the quality of whole wheat flour used.
Keep a watch on the cookies in the oven after fifteen minutes as time may vary from oven to oven.
The cookies are a bit soft on baking and become firm after cooling.
I have used homemade Thandai Powder in this recipe, you may use store bought if you wish. If using ready-made thandai syrup, you may not require to add milk while making cookie dough.
The cookies remain fresh at room temperature in an airtight container for about a week, provided they last until then.

Linking this Thandai Cookies recipe to the #187th #FoodieMondayBloghop with the theme # DesiTwist.