Last year I had shared a recipe for fruit biscuits, Karachi bakery style. It was loved by all those who tried it and I did get some wonderful feedback. So I thought of sharing another variant of fruit biscuit- eggless badam pista biscuits. Badam is almonds in Hindi and pista is well, the short form of pistachios 😀
These biscuits basically use the same principle as slice-and-bake cookies. Practically like an Indian version of shortbread cookies. Except for the fact that they are called ‘biscuits’ in India. In this recipe, we simply replace the candied fruit with chopped almonds and pistachios. As simple!
This dough is very versatile, swapping the mix-ins results in different types of cookies. Swap the almonds and pistachios with cashew nuts and pistachios and you have kaju (cashew nut) pista biscuits. Add a tablespoon or so of cumin seeds for jeera (cumin) biscuits. For jeera biscuits the dough recipe is the same, just skip the cornflour, add the same amount of flour, reduce the sugar to 1/4 cup. Shape the dough in the form of a disc, chill for 15 minutes, roll it and use cutters to cut out the dough.
STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS TO MAKE EGGLESS BADAM PISTA BISCUITS
(p.s. The first 3 pics are from the fruit biscuit post for reference) 1.Sift the flour and custard powder in a sufficiently large mixing bowl.
2.Place butter in the bowl of your stand mixer ( you can use your hand mixer or a whisk too), sift in powdered sugar, beat on low heat initially, until the powdered sugar is mixed with the butter, then increase the speed to medium and beat until light and creamy.
3.Add cardamom powder, rose essence, chopped almonds, and pistachios. Mix well.
4.Now switch to the lowest speed and add the flour in 3 parts incorporating the butter into the flour. Gently bring the dough together. Do not knead. If at all the dough is dry, sprinkle few teaspoons of milk at a time, do not add too much. I didn’t require any milk. The dough should be soft.
5.Shape the dough into a log and wrap in a cling film. Refrigerate it for 3-4 hours or overnight.
6.Preheat the oven to 180 C /350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove the log from the refrigerator and cut slices about a quarter inch thick.
7.Lay the cookies on the sheet at least 2 inches apart as they expand when they bake. Sprinkle the remaining 1 to 2 tsp of chopped almonds and pistachios, press it in lightly.
8.Bake for 12-15 minutes. When the bottom of the cookies begins to brown, they are done. They will be soft in the middle but will firm upon cooling. Cool in the baking tray for five minutes and then transfer to the wire rack to cool completely.
The cookies are good for up to two weeks when stored in an airtight container.
HOW TO MAKE EGGLESS BADAM PISTA BISCUITS?
PIN IT FOR LATER
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