I remember feeling incredibly grown up the first time I was asked if I wanted sweet aan from the paan shop.

What is Paan Masala?

Paan Masala is an Indian after-dinner mouth freshener consisting of peppery betel leaf wrapped around a filling of rose petal jam, candied fennel seeds, salted sesame seeds and sweet betel nut (areca) flakes.

You can get it in many different varieties, some containing chewing tobacco and some colourful, fun to eat and delightfully sweet.

Each specialist paan wala will have their own secret blend of ingredients.

Why Paan Masala Cookies?

I want to take my love of sweet paan to the next level by sharing a fun take on it that doesn’t require a visit to a specialist paan maker.

These sweet little cookies are such a great after-dinner sweet to pair with coffee or tea. As paan masala or mukhwas is usually an after-dinner treat, these cookies take that classic ritual to the next level.

How to make Paan Masala Cookies in 4 easy steps

1. Make the dough

Beat together butter, condensed milk and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Add your dry ingredients and use a spatula to form a soft dough.

Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for a couple of hours.

2. Add the paan masala

Break the dough up and add the paan masala. Bring everything together using your hands to press the paan masala into the dough.

The reason we add it as this stage and not earlier is because the colours often run and we don’t want them streaking through or discolouring the cookie dough.

3. Roll and stamp out your cookies

Lightly dust a clean surface with flour and roll the dough out to around 3-4mm in thickness. Use cookie cutters of your choice to stamp out your cookies.

Gather up any dough scraps and repeat the rolling and stamping process until all of it is used up.

Tip: Try to work quickly so the dough doesn’t soften too much. If it does become very soft, wrap it up again and chill in the fridge until firm before continuing.

The warmer the dough is, the more likely it is that the paan masala colours will bleed.

4. Bake the cookies

Place the cookies on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Bake in your oven preheated at 175°C/350°F for 12-14 minutes.

The cookies will not brown a great deal so the colours of the paan masala stand out beautifully.

Where can I buy Paan Masala?

You can pick up a packet paan masala (sometimes labelled mukhwas) in most Indian shops or buy it online. The other ingredients in this recipe are things you’ll probably already have a home.

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Paan Masala Cookies recipe

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Paan Masala Cookies

The ultimate after-dinner cookie to pair with coffee. Buttery, bakery-style biscuits laced with candied fennel seed and rose petal paan masala.

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine Indian

Keyword baking, biscuits, cookies, paan masala

Servings 25 cookies

Author Sanjana

Equipment

• Cookie cutters of your choice
• 2-3 large, flat baking trays

Ingredients

• 200 g plain flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 125g g butter softened
• 100g g sweetened condensed milk
• 25g g icing sugar
• 25 g gulab mukhwas (or paan masala/mukhwas of your choice)

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 175°C/350°F.
• Place the butter in a large bowl. Beat with a whisk until very soft. Add the condensed milk and continue to beat until smooth.
• Add the icing sugar and whip until the mixture is light and fluffy.
• Tip in the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Use a spatula to fold the flour in until no more dry flour is visible. It will be a very soft dough.
• Place the dough onto a large piece of cling film and flatten into a rough 15cm x 15cm square. Wrap well and refrigerate for 1-2 hours. We flatten it so the dough chills quickly.
• Break the chilled dough into small pieces and tip the paan masala on top. Bring everything together using your hands to press the paan masala into the dough. The reason we add it as this stage and not earlier is because the colours often run and we don't want them streaking through or discolouring the cookie dough.
• Lightly dust a clean surface with flour and roll the dough out to around 3-4mm in thickness. Use cookie cutters of your choice to stamp out your cookies. Gather up any dough scraps and repeat the rolling and stamping process until all of it is used up. Try to work quickly so the dough doesn't soften too much. If it does become very soft, wrap it up again and chill in the fridge until firm before continuing. The warmer the dough is, the more likely it is that the paan masala colours will bleed.
• Place the cookies on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Bake in your oven preheated at 175°C/350°F for 12-14 minutes. The cookies will not brown a great deal so the colours of the paan masala stand out beautifully.
• The cookies will seem quite soft when they come out of the oven. They will firm up as they cool. Allow to cool on the baking trays completely before placing in a biscuit tin. These cookies taste better the next day.

Video

Notes

• These Paan Masala Cookies will keep will in an airtight biscuit tin for up to 2 weeks. Store at room temperature.
• You can make the cookie dough up to two days in advance and store it in the fridge until ready to use. Add the paan masala right before you want to bake them.
• The cookie dough freezes well. Wrap the dough (without paan masala added) it well in cling film and freeze for up to 3 months. Add the paan masala right before you want to bake them.

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If you like this, you’ll love my recipe for Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Love Sanjana

The post Paan Masala Cookies appeared first on Sanjana.Feasts.

They’re…

• VEGAN
• NO SPECIAL FLOURS
• ZERO COCONUT OIL
• NO FLAXSEEDS, CHIA SEEDS, BANANAS OR APPLESAUCE
• FREE FROM COMMERCIAL EGG REPLACERS

These vegan cookies spread beautifully. This is thanks to @sarah_kieffer and her revolutionary #bangonapan pan-banging technique. Finally, the flavours are on another level of spectacular.

The perfect vegan cookie

Describing the qualities of a perfect cookie is almost as subjective as trying to describe what breed of dog is the cutest, which Avenger is the most badass or what the coolest kind of shark is. Everyone will give you a different answer.

My choices are as follows: Soft cookies with crispy edges, golden retrievers, Thor and hammerhead sharks. My momma didn’t raise no fool.

I’ve been testing this recipe for Vegan Pistachio & Vanilla Salt Cookies for a long time. I’m pleased to say that finally, even without eggs and dairy, they’re perfect. This is because the cookies spread beautifully. I’m overjoyed with how this batch turned out.

Moreover, they’re exactly how I like them — thin and crispy around the edges, with soft middles that’s cookie perfection right there. Each one is studded with dark chocolate chips and pistachio nibs. I made my own vanilla salt by infusing flaky Maldon sea salt with fragrant vanilla beans. This was sprinkled on top of the cookies whilst they were still warm, too. Amazing!

It’s honestly the most gorgeous thing. Not to mention, I now want to sprinkle vanilla salt over EVERYTHING!

Things to remember when make Vegan Pistachio & Vanilla Salt Cookies

Rest the cookie dough

Firstly, the cookie dough needs to rest for 24 hours. I know, it’s a test of willpower but in order for the flavours to develop, and the moisture and fats in the dough to hydrate and solidify correctly, this resting period is crucial. Make sure you start the day before if you want a perfectly-spread vegan chocolate chip cookie.

If you bake this dough straight away you’ll find the flavour is less pronounced and the texture is very soft and doughy. It will not have the crispiness and chewiness of rested dough. If you like your cookies to have a melt-in-the-mouth quality, go ahead a bake them straight away. This logic is not the same for all cookie recipes, however. It very much depends on the ingredients you use and how they are combined.

Fat, fat, fat

For example, a cookie made with coconut oil instead of vegan butter (equally proportional in the recipe) will yield a firmer, crispier cookie that spreads much less, even before resting because the vegan butter contains hydrogenated fat (basically fat + water) which also hydrates the dough and evaporates slowly whereas coconut oil is considered a pure, non-hydrogenated fat. Again, the final result depends on the combination of all the ingredients in a recipe, as each modification will produce different cookies in both taste and texture.

Replacing eggs

I’ve tried what feels like every trick in the book when it comes to replacing eggs in baking recipes (20 years+ experience), from boxed commercial egg replacers, to soy-based alternatives, applesauce, bananas, yoghurts and the oh-so fashionable aquafaba, flaxseed and chia seed “eggs”. I’m not discrediting the merit of any of them. Their effectiveness at replacing the binding and leavening agents of whole eggs is relative to the food you are making. In short, some egg replacers work better than others, depending on the recipe.

First you need to figure out the purpose of the egg in a particular recipe, and then work out what ingredient/s work best to substitute. For example, in my recipe, a combination of aquafaba, baking soda and cornflour do the job required to achieve my idea of the perfect chocolate chip cookie. That is to say that the cookie is golden and crispy around the outside and soft and crinkled in the middle.

A note on vegan chocolate

Hit up your favourite health food shop, well-stocked supermarket or online retailer for vegan chocolate chips. My current favourite is Sainsbury’s free from chocolate chips and Ombar Vegan Milk chocolate. If you can’t find vegan chocolate chips, chop up your favourite vegan chocolate bar for delicious chocolate chunk cookies with puddles of melted chocolate. I use two kinds of chocolate in my cookies for a more rounded flavour.

Pimp your Vegan Pistachio & Vanilla Salt Cookies

• Swap the pistachio nibs for chopped roasted hazelnuts or almonds.
• Use spelt flour for extra nuttiness or for a gluten-free version, use gluten free plain flour for a crispy chocolate chip cookie.
• Vanilla beans are important in the flavouring of this recipe but if you can’t get them, replace the vanilla in the dough with 1 tbsp good vanilla extract and sprinkle with plain sea salt flakes.

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Love Sanjana

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Vegan Pistachio & Vanilla Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies

Perfectly soft and crisp vegan cookies studded with chocolate chips, pistachio nibs and flaky vanilla sea salt.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword chocolate chip cookies, cookies, vegan

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 18

Author Sanjana

Ingredients

• 320 g plain flour
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 200 g vegan butter
• 80 g soft, light brown sugar
• 80 g caster sugar
• 200 ml aquafaba, reduced down to 30ml cold
• 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
• 100 g vegan chocolate chips and/or chopped vegan chocolate chunks
• 80 g pistachio nibs or roughly chopped pistachios

For the vanilla sea salt:

• 25 g flaky sea salt
• 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped

Instructions

• In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and cornflour.
• In a separate bowl, add the vegan butter, sugars and the seeds from the vanilla pod (reserve the pod for the jar of vanilla salt later). Beat until light, pale and fluffy. Slowly beat in the aquafaba until smooth.
• Add half of the flour mixture into the beaten butter mixture and combine. Next, fold in the the rest of the flour mixture until you have a dough. Fold in the chocolate chips and pistachio nibs, reserving some chocolate chips to sprinkle on top halfway through baking.
• Use a medium-sized ice cream scoop or your hands to make the dough balls. Place them on the baking tray in rows leaving a small gap around each one. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for 24 hours. You could also place into a lined airtight container and freeze for up to 6 months.
• To make the vanilla salt, gently mix together the sea salt flakes and vanilla bean seeds. Store in an airtight container along with the scraped vanilla pods used for the salt and cookies.
• When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 170˚C/350˚F. Line three large baking trays with baking parchment. If baking from frozen, add an additional 3 minutes on to the cooking time.
• Place the cold cookie dough balls onto the lined trays with enough room in between each for spreading.
• Bake for 5 minutes, remove from the oven and wearing oven gloves, firmly bang each tray on the worktop a few times to flatten the tops and encourage the cookies to spread. Sprinkle with a few flakes of vanilla salt and more chocolate chips if you like. Return the cookies to the oven and bake for a further 8 minutes (11 minutes if cooking from frozen), until lightly golden around the edges.
• Remove the trays from the oven and allow to cool slightly before eating. They’ll firm up as they cool down.

If you like these cookies, you’ll go LOOPY for these Baked Vegan Vanilla Doughnuts. You’re welcome!

Love Sanjana

The post Vegan Pistachio & Vanilla Salt Cookies appeared first on Sanjana.Feasts.

These days I love to add rose to lots of dishes from sweet to savoury, but mostly sweet. I’ve got a tonne of rose recipes on the blog, some of my favourites being Strawberry Cheesecake Falooda, Eggless Rose Custard Creams, Pistachio and Rose Bombay Halwa, Cardamom Wreath with Rose Drizzle and Candied Lemon Peel. A dash of rose water also doesn’t go amiss in biryani, ice cream and of course, cake.

Here I’ve dunked chewy toasted coconut macaroons in a simple rose icing made with icing sugar and rose syrup – the bright pink kind you find in Indian shops. One of my pregnancy cravings has been rose milk reminiscent of my falooda-crazy days. I add a dash to cold milk and stir for a strawberry pink milkshake that’s so refreshing without the faff of having to make a true falooda.

The macaroons are eggless, switching in a trusty can of sweetened condensed milk instead of egg whites. The result is a delicious, toasty coconut cookie with a coconut ice-like centre. After they’ve cooled, the bottoms get dunked in the rose icing and chopped toasted pistachios. Pistachio and rose are a flavour combo I’d like to eat every day for the rest of my life – I’m obsessed.

If you’re looking for a quick and easy 6-ingredient cookie that’s both egg and gluten free, this one’s for you.

Dust with icing sugar for a pretty snow-topped peak. So pretty!

Eggless Pistachio-Rose Macaroons
Makes 25 macaroons

For the macaroons:
1 x 397g tin sweetened condensed milk
300g sweetened desiccated coconut
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

For the rose icing:
140g icing sugar
4 tbsp rose syrup

Icing sugar to dust, optional

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/320°F. It’s really important you do this. The oven needs to be HOT or the cookies will melt into flat puddles. Grease and line 2 large baking trays with greaseproof paper and butter.

2. In a large bowl, combine the coconut, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract and bicarbonate of soda until you have a thick pliable mixture.

3. Divide the mixture into 25 equal balls and shape each one into a teardrop shape. Arrange on the pre-lined baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden and toasted on the outside. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

4. To make the icing, mix the icing sugar and rose syrup until you have a thick, drippy pink icing. Dip the bottom of the cooled macaroons in the icing and then into the chopped pistachios. Sit them back onto a lined baking tray. Allow to set at room temperature for a few hours.

5. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

The macaroons will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for a week. Although I doubt they’ll last that long.

The post Eggless Pistachio-Rose Macaroons appeared first on Sanjana.Feasts.

So, I united chevdo and chocolate chip cookies and their baby turned out to be a goddamn champion.

Imagine this – the perfect balance of sweet, salty, spicy, crunchy and chewy in one little disc of happiness. The edges are slightly crisp, while the middle is soft, chewy and studded with chocolate chips, peanuts, potato chips, corn flakes, puffed rice and crispy lentils. If you love salted caramel or chocolate with chilli or sea salt, you’re going to go doolally for these egg-free cookies.

The moment when you sit down to masala chai and ‘naasto’ (snacks) is the instant your troubles and stresses fizzle away. The soothing, milky masala tea erases the furrows in your brow and the crunchy, savoury, sweet and spicy snacks fill you with the feeling of home comforts. It’s a simple pursuit that inadvertently becomes an occasion without even trying. Flawless.

Of course, there is no naasto time without chevdo. A crunchy, savoury Indian snack in which every ingredient is fried to golden perfection before being tumbled together with salt, turmeric, cinnamon, cloves, sugar and chilli. The ingredients vary from recipe to recipe but the essentials include: potato sticks, whole mung beans, corn flakes, puffed rice, chana daal, peanuts, curry leaves and sultanas.

So you’re probably thinking that this sounds similar to that notorious bar snack, Bombay mix? Yeah, well it’s definitely not the same as that.

However, Bombay mix is a derivative/form of chevdo in the sense that it’s a whole load of sweet, spicy, salty, crunchy ingredients fried and combined for a snack sensation that’ll set your taste buds alight.

Chevdo can come in a variety of forms. My favourite is the mild kind with a decent ratio of crunchy ingredients to nuts and spices to sultanas. Perfectly balanced chevdo is a tough thing to come by but once you find your brand, you’ll always be able to count on it.

You can buy it from the supermarket in the Indian snacks section, from speciality shops that are probably still using the family recipe, perfected over decades or order it online.

For my recipe, I went for a mild corn flake chevdo mix but you Kenya chevdo (mild and not spicy in the slightest) is also a delicious option. The only thing I’d say is steer clear of commercial Bombay mix packets or really spicy chevdo mixes. They will overpower your cookies and the balance of sweet, salty and spicy will be all out of kilter.

These cookies are bonkers-awesome and you should definitely make them. Your friends and family will welcome the surprise of flavours and let me tell you now, they are the most addictive things that will ever come our of your oven.

Sweet and Salty Chevdo Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 18-20 cookies

Ingredients

225g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g caster sugar
80g soft light brown sugar
150g milk chocolate chips
130g unsalted butter, room temperature
100g mild chevdo mix (regular or Kenya chevdo)
30g dehydrated potato powder
40g liquid from a can of chickpeas (aquafaba)
½ tsp vanilla extract
Melted dark chocolate, for dipping (optional)
More chevdo for decorating (optional)

Method

1. Whip the butter in a stand mixer until light, fluffy and pale. You can also do this by hand or use a hand-held electric mixer.

2. Add the caster sugar and brown sugar and whip for 3-4 minutes until super light.

3, Add in the dehydrated potato powder and chickpea liquids (this is the egg replacer and will make your cookies super soft, chewy and delicious – you won’t taste them in the finished cookies). Add the vanilla extract and beat for a few minutes.

4. Combine the flour, baking soda and baking powder. Gradually add this in to the butter mix in two stages. Do this slowly so you don’t overwork the mixture.

5. Fold in the chocolate chips and chevdo and use your hands to bring the cookie dough together. It should be soft, not sticky.

6. Pre-heat the oven to 160C. Line three large baking trays with non-stick baking paper and roll the dough into ping-pong ball sized rounds using your hands.

7. Space each cookie dough ball onto the trays, leaving space around each one – they will spread in the oven. Place the trays in the fridge for 10 minutes.

8. Bake the cookies for 7 minutes, remove them from the oven and use the back of a teaspoon to press them down gently. I find this results in a chewier middle. Return to the oven and bake for a further 7-8 minutes until golden. If you prefer your cookies cakey, skip the flattening step and bake for 14-15 minutes.

9. Remove the cookies from the oven – they will be super soft and delicate so leave them to cook on the trays for 10 minutes.

10. Gently lift the cookies onto a wire rack using a spatula and allow to cool completely.

Once cooled, you can serve them as they are but if you want to be fancy, dip each one in melted dark chocolate and sprinkle with more chevdo. Chill until the chocolate sets.

Store the cookies in an air-tight container at room temperature. They are best eaten fresh but will keep for 3-4 days.

I doubt they’ll last that long.

Love Sanjana

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And said bribery always involved sweets.

Chocolate Limes to be precise. She had a stash of these retro classics stowed away in her top drawer for when you answered a question correctly, or were simply doing something that was out of your comfort zone. Even though it was a single sweet you probably wouldn’t have given a toss about if your nan had offered one up at the weekend, it was the status, power and sense of achievement that came with that limey shell and chocolate middle. It made you feel like you had truly taken a step forward that day.

Don’t even get me started on the time one kid mapped the entire family tree of Henry V111 on the wall and earned himself a tidy SIX Chocolate Limes – one for each deceased wife. The whole class was seething with jealousy.

My point is, it’s always important to reward yourself. Someone I look up to very much once said to me, ‘Don’t be fixated with end goals. Reward your successes every step of the way, recognising the things you’re learning and how they’ll ultimately contribute to a bigger picture. Learn new skills and collect a multitude of new experiences. Consistently accomplish your aspirations, however small.’ This is something I believe can keep us motivated and not overwhelmed by long-term goals.

If I learnt anything in year five, it was that the chocolate limes reward system was the dog’s bollocks and a legit way to make you feel great about achieving something – when you’re ten. Now we’re all grown up, I felt the need to take standard sweets to the next level.

These Lime and Dark Chocolate Melting Moments are incredibly soft and almost Viennese Whirl-like in texture. A combination of flour, icing sugar, butter and cornflour creates the most wonderful melt-in-the-mouth feel. Inspired by those retro Chocolate Lime sweets, the biscuits are packed with lime zest and extract, while the chocolate buttercream filling gives them the most delicious bitter sweetness. Add a smidge of lime marmalade for added indulgence. I’m a life-long advocate of Rowse Shredded Lime Marmalade.

So tell me, what have you achieved today? Whether you saved a life or simply managed to have a great conversation with someone new, treat yourself to one of these Lime and Dark Chocolate Melting Moments. You deserve it.

Lime and Dark Chocolate Melting Moments
Makes 18

Ingredients

For the biscuits:
200g plain flour
200g unsalted butter, softened
40g icing sugar
30g cornflour
Zest of 2 limes
Drop of lime extract (optional)
Drop of green food colour (optional)
Pinch of salt

For the chocolate filling:
120g unsalted butter, softened
90g icing sugar
100g dark chocolate, melted
30g cocoa powder

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160C. Line two flat baking sheets with greaseproof paper.

2. Place all the ingredients for the biscuits into a food processor fitted with a rotating blade and switch it on to high. Process until you have a smooth dough that leaves the bowl fairly clean.

3. Place the dough into a piping bag fitted with a large, star-tip piping nozzle and pipe an even number of rosettes or swirls onto the sheets. Try to make sure they’re all a similar size to make sandwiching them together easier later on.

4. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until lightly golden. Allow to cool on the sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

5. To make the filling, beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the cocoa powder and chocolate and continue to beat for 10 minute.

6. Pile the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a star tip and pipe onto the biscuits before sandwiching with another, or simply spread the buttercream on with a teaspoon.

Love Sanjana

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