Persian Chickpea Flour Cookies (Nan-E Nokhochi )

Chef #809940's Note:

These are lovely little 'short' cookies that melt in your mouth.

• Total Time: 45 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 36 cookies

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 2 cups chickpea flour

Directions:

1. Beat butter & powdered sugar together until creamy.
2. Add egg yolk & cardamom.
3. With your hands knead in the chickpea flour until smooth.
4. Pinch off tiny pieces of dough about the size of hazelnuts and roll them into balls between the palms of your hands.
5. Decorate the tops of the cookies by pricking them with the tines of a fork or by pressing the back of the tines horizontally onto the cookies.
6. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake in a slow oven (300F) for about 30 minutes. This dough is very "short" and needs to be well kneeded. For an even "shorter" dough, omit the egg yolk.

Reviews

[Geniale Genie]

I subbed 2/3 of the butter for applesauce and used margarine for the rest. I also doubled the cardamom and omitted the egg yolk as my dough was FAR from short... it was just slightly thicker than cake batter, I didn't bother adding more flour though. They a strong but pleasant taste and work up so quickly! I think I'll be trying different variations such as brown sugar aa instead of powdered and maybe sub a little of that with some molasses to have molasses cookies; or, add some nuts and dried fruit. I cooked one batch form 50 min at 300F and the second 30 min at 350F. We all preferred the ones cooked at a higher temp as they were crunchy on the edges and soft in the centre.

[Mia in Germany]

These are fantastic - one of my DH's new favorites! I omitted the yolk and used brown sugar instead of powdered because that was what I had on hand, and they turned out great. Wonderful fragrant shortbread, really melt in your mouth. Thanks for posting these little gems!

[nott]

I had some besan to use up (chickpea flour) and this was a good use. I used the egg yolk in mine. They are better after aging a few days, that way the cardamom really starts to shine. From the oven they are a little "beany." Maybe my chickpea flour was a little too old. While I enjoyed the cookies, I will probably try something else next time. I bet these would be nice with a light dusting of confectioners' sugar.