Coconut Shortbread is rich & crispy on the outside and crumbly on inside. These shortbread need just 5 ingredients are super easy to make. These cookies are scented with ground cardamom are perfect for when you need a quick treat.

I find my husband raving about coconut cookies from his hometown bakery quite often.The discussion comes up mostly on weekends when we have the time to sit together for morning tea. I took the discussion a little further & asked him last week- after all what’s so special about them? Soft and chewy inside, crispy outside, overly sweet but something with a perfect balance of textures – a cookie that  leaves behind ghee laden coconut taste in the mouth – his prompt reply made me wonder if he waited all this while to be asked 🙂

I knew what was baking for the next few weeks. First few batches were extremely dry, I almost burnt the bottom each time & obviously the ratios went haywire. I felt extremely uninspired to try more so I left it for a few weeks. What can terribly go wrong with loads of ghee (clarified butter),coconut & sugar? A question I asked myself all the while – however I have experienced in all the years that when a recipe calls for few ingredients, getting the right outcome is much more difficult.

What is a Shortbread?

A shortbread is a crumbly rich cookie made with butter (or any equivalent fat), sugar and flour. These are traditional scottish biscuits and unlike usual cooking they do not contain any leavening agents like baking powder or soda.

Coconut Cardamom Shortbread

We are a shortbread loving family. I am a huge fan of baking recipes that call for very few ingredients and I always reach out for such easy cookie recipes which are easy to make. My family is a fan of coconut confections and these cookies are a great after school snack as well. Coconut, ghee & sweet smelling cardamom are clearly the star here – the ingredients make these cookies enchantingly indian. If you are nuts about coconut,then you need to try these.

How I make the Coconut Cookies?

I simply add the dry ingredients to a bowl and start mixing. Freshly pounded cardamom makes a lot of different so make sure you use that.I mix the cardamom powder with flour, desiccated coconut & sugar and add ghee till the dough feels that it is just enough. I have mentioned the exact quantities I used in the recipe card but if you ask me, making a shortbread requires a little bit of impulse and feel as well. The dough will feel just about right when it is so 🙂

Ingredients Needed for the Coconut Shortbread Cookies :-

The recipe is real easy & despite a lot of room for error, it runs good in the oven. I always make small batches of 15-18 which are enough for us. The best part about the recipe – just five ingredients. Quality of ingredients plays a huge role thereby, try using the best.Below are the ingredients you will need :-

Desiccated Coconut :- Unsweetened desiccated coconut is one of the important ingredients in this recipe. Toasting the desiccated coconut lightly is a great way to add extra flavor to the cookies.

Powdered Sugar :- Store bought powdered sugar has cornstarch in it and that lends a structure to these cookies.

Ghee :- We are going to use melted ghee to bind the dry ingredients together and form a dough.

Here is a short video of how to make these shortbread cookies.

Variations :-

1. You can add finely chopped nuts to these cookies. Chopped almonds or walnuts taste really good.

A few more things to be kept in mind when you bake these shortbread :-

1. These cookies are on a sweeter side. If you want them less sweet, reduce the sugar to 1/2 a cup and accordingly use 5 or 6 tablespoons ghee to bind the dough.
2. I have seen that the quality of desiccated coconut also affects the texture of these cookies. I use fine grated desiccated coconut (as you can see in the video). However I have made these cookies with longer grated coconut (as shown in picture) and the texture was a little more chewy in the latter case.