Persian Chickpea Flour Cookies (Nan-E Nokhochi )

"These are lovely little 'short' cookies that melt in your mouth."
 
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photo by Jonathan Melendez photo by Jonathan Melendez
photo by Jonathan Melendez
photo by Jonathan Melendez photo by Jonathan Melendez
photo by Jonathan Melendez photo by Jonathan Melendez
photo by Jonathan Melendez photo by Jonathan Melendez
Ready In:
45mins
Ingredients:
5
Yields:
36 cookies
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ingredients

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directions

  • Beat butter & powdered sugar together until creamy.
  • Add egg yolk & cardamom.
  • With your hands knead in the chickpea flour until smooth.
  • Pinch off tiny pieces of dough about the size of hazelnuts and roll them into balls between the palms of your hands.
  • 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.
  • 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.

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Reviews

  1. 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.
     
  2. 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!
     
  3. 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.
     
  4. I made them just as directed (with the yolk) and they were a big hit in my house. They really do just melt in your mouth and the flavor that the chickpea flour gives them is unexpectedly good!
     
  5. I was going to rave like Mia in Germany but here is what happened. The first batch was amazing for gluten free, crispy (I didn't even bake the full time), the batter was no where near short as another reviewer mentioned but I did still use a large egg yolk. I powdered my own organic cane sugar to be corn free in a spice mill/coffee grinder, used sweet butter (unsalted), freshly ground cardamom, plus the chickpea flour. The batter was impossible to roll into balls but I did not add additional flour as another reviewer. I put it in the refrigerator a little while and then it was a bit easier to roll but still sticky and pricking it with a fork resulted in no indentations in the cookies as they just really spread. I left some of the batter in the refrigerator over night and the second baking came out as soft cookies like another reviewer experienced which we definitely did not enjoy as much. I will try another recipe for these type of cookies to see if proportions are different as I want the crispy ones we experienced the first time and it seems there are some issues of amounts with this recipe. Made for Visiting Iran(Persia) in June 2012!
     
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Tweaks

  1. 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.
     

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