These cookies were not meant to be the way they finally came out of the oven…I mean they were really good but when I decided to make them, I had no idea that this would turn out to be a keeper recipe & these cookies would be one of my better attempts at cookie making (a skill which throws me out of the loop most of the times)
It was like one of those rare days when unplanned things go well.It just started with P casually looking at the mixing bowl & asking “What if you dont use maida (all purpose flour) at all? “. I am still to figure out whether he was trying to pose me with a challenge, pulling my leg or this was a casual question which met with an instant reaction ” Let’s try with a small batch then..”. Since I already had mom’s recipe to build upon, I assumed a baking disaster was no where in sight, luckily there were no surprises at the end! These cookies came out cozy & melt -in the mouth kind with a crumbly texture. Highly addictive nom noms with almond meal providing the right amount of richness and chickpea flour making them dense- all in all a superlative taste which is bound to please you. And no all purpose flour..isnt it something to be excited about? In my kitchen it was.. 
I have baked these three times in a month & these give some good company at tea time. Loaded with ghee (clarified butter) & cardamom, these cookies have a typical nutty flavor from besan, (fine chickpea flour ) a common ingredient in indian pantry. Besan is an unusual baking ingredient but with ghee gave the cookies a dense texture which scored on our tastebuds.The aroma of cardamom in the house while baking was therapeutic, I think I ll bake these at times out of occasion just for that. Pair these yellow-hued, eggless & unleavened cookies with masala chai or a warm glass of milk and trust me these will be a crowd pleaser. These will make great sandwich cookies with any tropical flavored jam/icecream or nutella for that matter. You can wrap these up to make up little gifts for the holiday season.
A few teaspoons of sooji (semolina) enhance the crispness of the cookies, so you dont want to skip it. However, from my limited knowledge of gluten-free, I think if you substitute semolina with equivalent amount of almond meal & use GF powdered sugar, these will very well qualify as GF cookies…if someone tries that, please let me know how these came out. The recipe is really simple & needs few ingredients!
Ingredients (Makes approx 18 cookies of the size shown)
- 1/2 cup ghee, softened but not melted (substitute with unsalted butter)
- 10 tbsp powdered / confectioner’s sugar
- 3/4 cup almond meal
- 1/2 cup besan (fine chickpea flour, available in indian stores)
- 2 tbsp sooji (semolina)
- 1/4 tsp green cardamom powder
- 1/8 tsp salt
Ghee = Glee !!
Notes :- - Do not use granulated sugar in this recipe.
- Almond meal can be made at home by fine-crushing dry whole almonds in food processor.
I have made these with whole wheat flour (chappati atta) and they taste scrumptious.
Looking at this post, I feel inspired to make them again. Yum.
Yeah even I make them with chappati atta and they are super easy and quick to fix. As you said, they have loads of ghee in it. I used to make them often but now I am on a break from those gorgeous ghee filled delights
I would never have thought of using besan and semolina in a cookie – they’ve always been laddoo territory for me. I have to try this out! I’m intrigued.
These cookies look perfect! I can only imagine the richness with almond meal and ghee. Yum.
Wonderful! I really like the use of besan in this recipe and the delicate flavor of cardamom you gave to your cookies.
Cheers,
Rosa
Wow these look like fantastic cookies!
beautiful cookies!! I love cardamom scent!
Beautiful… if I can find chickpea flour, I will make them next week for my friend’s Diwali celebration potluck.
Gorgeous cookies!!! I’ve used chickpea flour in savoury crackers but never in a sweet cookie. I will have to try this now
These look amazing and because of being eggless they are perfect for my Aunty
Awesome
Thanx
These sound absolutely tasty, especially because of the cardamom! Yum!
Awesome. Disgustingly awesome.
Delicious looking cookies and beautiful clicks
Yum, they look perfect and great !!!
love these crunchy cookies. very flavourful
These are so beautiful. I love the cardamom! I have to make these. Thanks so much for sharing this one.
Tanvi .. fantastic job girl! Just at the fist look i fell in love. It looks soft .. really soft. I will try this and I have all the ingredients u mentioned
I woke up to this today
. Oh, cardamom…you know I love this stuff! Thanks for sharing, Tanvi! Stunning photos as usual 
.
Mmm these look great! They’d be a wonderful little afternoon snack right now.
I came in from Twitter and thought how disgusting can a cookie be
After seeing this … it is not only disgusting.. it is downright at it.
Such photographs that induce and seduce people to eat
)) need to be banned..is anyone listening ?
You used ghee! I’ve never tried that in cookies! But absolutely must! Your cookies look absolutely scrumptious! xx
I like the combination of ingredients. Defintely will taste great. Will try it soon.
Oh Tanvi! You know how much I love cardamom!!!! The unexpected result sounds awesome. I am terrified of baking because of those “unexpected” result…which I believe mine would go wrong way… We can “fix” cooking but baking, you have to wait until the end. That scares me Tanvi! I love these cookies already!
Wow they look so crisp and delicious, and the list of ingredients is also nciely short (:
These cookies, with those fantastic ingredients, literally sound like my dream cookies!
These look great! Love the simple recipe
Wow scrumptious cookies, love the addition of chickpeas..
I’m so glad these surpassed your expectations! I love the flavor of cardamom…bet these were fantastic!
I love cardamom. These cookies sounds lovely.
I love cardamom. These cookies sound lovely.
wow, these look delicious with a flavorful bite! love the healthy flours u used here. chickpea flour works great in desserts! have a wonderful weekend!
Gorgeous idea… absolutely love it! My kind of cookie to the max with all that cardamom goodness.
Almond cookies! How gorgeous,Tanvi
I’d never thought to make cookies with chickpea flour and I’m sure they taste great with the flavorful cardamon 
Cute clicks!
HUGS <3
Yummo. Love your bickies, so simple, yet tasty and pretty too.
I’m going to make a bunch of biscuits on the weekend, going to try yours. 
These are called nankhatai right? A friend of mine used to make excellent nankhatai when I was in Charlotte but her recipes were mostly about eyeballing like any typical Indian cook and hence I never managed to get a recipe from her. Thanks so much for sharing this Tanvi. I am sure I am gonna make these one of these days.
God Tanvi this is deliciousness….
You know your blog take me back to my childhood every time girl. Nankhatai freshly made was one thing I ate and never worried about calories in it. I love them.
Infact yesterday I told my mom to check your blog, its like little piece of home online for me….
Lovely… Delhi girls rocks…LOL
How sweet of you Reem..I m touched..thanks so much..hope your mom likes the blog..do let me know how she feels about it
Oh Tanvi, these cookies look so light (in spite of the butter) and elegant. Love the almond flour in it.
Hope you have a wonderful week
Thanks so much everyone..glad that you liked these cookies..
A question… Can I substitute all purpose flour 1-1 ratio with chickpea flour?
Hi Ilke,
Yes you can..it should work.In that case, the cookies will come out slightly dome shaped and not flat as in my case. Bake the cookies till bottoms start turning little brown.After cooling they should be good to go.
Tanvi
Wow- beautiful cookies. I’d say you’ve gotten the hang of cooking making by the looks of these babies. Love the idea of using rich ghee and adding semolina for crunchiness. Great tips!
I just posted a recipe that used cardamom in a roasted chicken recipe. And these Cardamom Cookies looks absolutely amazing. You always do a great job with these post Tanvi
Wow..what a fantastic cookies you made. using ghee in cookies just reminds me of making nan-khatais. but besan is definitely new to me. hope they do not alter the taste .:)
anyways..almond cookies are simply awesome.
I know what I would be baking for Diwali – these scrumptuos cookies for sure! Lovely photos dear
very beautiful, tanvi. see, you are an amazing baker. i am the same, i get nervous about baking. hehe.
i miss you – ive been so lazy about blogging and checking blogs, twitter, etc. give me a big kick.
These look wonderful! Love cardamom in cookies.
I have yet to cook with basin…this looks like the perfect recipe to start with!
What a great experiment in the kitchen. Cookies looks delicious but I’d never be brave enough to use chickpea flour for desserts!! I suauly make nankhatais like this but with normal AP flour. Well done to you.
I have baked both with chickpea and semolina flour but never both in the same recipe. I’m so intrigued by these cookies. Gotta try them, at least a half batch
Thanks!
Ah, I always have coarse and fine semolina and cardamom in my pantry, and was recently given besan flour by my mother-in-law who told me to experiment. No need to look any further – I know what I’m making!
These cookies are fabulous! I made them last night, and I’m going to be doing a post on my site about them. I adjusted the recipe and made them gluten free, as I had guests who are GF and was told that they were the best gluten free cookies, they’d ever had. I’m going to be making a further adjustment and turning them vegan. I’ll let you know when I post and will link back to your site and credit you. Thanks again for such a great treat!
Thanks so much for trying out Kathy. I m so glad that you & your guests loved these cookies. These are one of our fav too. Cant wait to see your GF & vegan versions now!
I made these tonight and brought them over for a special dinner a friend of mine was hosting. They were a hit, big time!:) only dessert brought that was devoured completely . Thank you so very much for sharing.
Hello! These cookies look great
Did you press them down before baking? Also, was the dough the consistency for roll out cookie dough? Thanks..
Hi Adeline,
Thanks. I did not press the cookies much before baking,just pressed the almonds on top.The dough cannot be rolled coz its sticky & the best option is to pinch them & coz these cookies spread as they bake because of the higher amount of ghee! Hope this helps. Thanks again.
Tanvi
Mine turned out to be VERY crumbly and a lot browner than intended by the time they were even remotely cooked. Any guidance for a newby?
I tried this cookies but didn’t turned out good. All the cookies melted and the texture is totally crumble. Please help me out where i went wrong.
Hi Anisha,
Did you refrigerate the dough before baking?..maybe you can try refrigerating it a little longer & see the results.Did you use store bough almond meal or home ground almonds? This can affect the texture since store bought variety is fine ground..maybe try with that??
Hope this helps..
Tanvi
Thank you Tanvi. I refrigerated the dough for 1 hour.