Eggless Whole Wheat Almond Cookie Recipe | Eggless Baking | Cookies Recipe

Eggless Whole Wheat Almond Cookie #Recipe

These eggless whole wheat almond cookies come with the goodness of almonds and whole wheat. So, shun the store bought refined flour cookies and enjoy these with a glass of milk.

Some time back, one of my fellow bloggers - Jolly, suggested that we try alphabet themed blog hop event and I was so excited about the whole idea. But, give it to my planning and execution, I am here with my blog post for the themed event on the very last day! Initially, I thought I would try something with apples. I had a couple of ideas - apple pie, apple crumble pie or applesauce brownies. But, none of those worked. And today, on the very final day for posting the recipe, this idea of almond cookies lit up in my head.

I just went into the kitchen, gathered all the ingredients and bingo - the cookies were done, photographed in good time.

Thandai ~ Spicy Almond Milk ~ Making Thandai Syrup From Scratch ~ Holi Special

It was only sometimes back when we were celebrating New Year and now already 2 months of the new year have passed by and March is here. One thing to look forward to in this month is the Indian festival of Holi. I had ranted a bit about it here last year. I have already geared up with a list of dishes to be prepared for this festival. 

To start off I have made this Thandai. This recipe comes from one of my favorite blogger, Rachana. I had bookmarked this recipe long back, but didn't make it till now since I didn't have the rose petal spread - gulkand, at hand. You can leave it out, but I wanted to follow the recipe to the T. So, I brought it on my last India visit. This recipe is unique from other on the web, cos Rachana gives a step by step method to make thandai syrup which last for months and once it is made, thandai can be whipped up in no time. I can safely say that I am going to make it again when my present stock of thandai syrup is over. Lets hop over tot he recipe.

Recipe Source: Veggi Fare

Ingredients 

1/2 cup almonds, soaked overnight and blanched

Mix and soak these ingredients together overnight

2 tbsp poppy seeds
2 dried melon seeds

Soak these ingredients in ¼ cup of water and then grind it

1/2 tbsp green cardamom
3 tbsp whole black pepper 

1 tbsp fennel seeds


4 cups caster sugar
1 1/4 cup water
2-3 tbsp rose petal spread, gulkand (I used one made by my Grand Mother, you can use store bought as well)
25-30 strands saffron (Rub it in a pestle and mortar with  a few drops of water before adding to syrup for color)
1 tsp rose water
a good pinch of cardamom powder
a good pinch of pepper powder

Process:

1. Grind together the blanched almonds, poppy seeds and melon seeds using very little water. Strain through a muslin cloth and extract all the liquid and keep aside. 
2. Add the rose petal spread to the ground cardamom-pepper-fennel mixture and mix well. Strain through a muslin cloth and extract all the liquid and keep aside. Discard the residue.
3. Mix both the extracted liquids and keep aside.
4. Meanwhile add the 4 cups of sugar and 1 1/4th cup of water in a deep pan and cook until the sugar dissolves. Bring to boil and simmer for a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat and let it cool for a couple of minutes. Add the extracted liquid to it and stir.
5. Heat it again and bring it to a boil and then turn the heat to medium and simmer for 7-10 minutes, stirring constantly.
6. Remove from the heat and cool till warm and then add the saffron strands or rubbed saffron mixture, cardamom powder, pepper powder and rose water and mix well.
7. When the thandai syrup completely cools down store it in sterilized bottle/bottles. It will keep well for months.

Note: 

1. If sugar crystals are formed while cooling the Thandai Syrup, add ½ cup of boiling water to it and stir.

2. I didn't rub the saffron before adding to the syrup so, it did not give out much color, but the flavor was there.

To prepare thandai to serve 1, add 2-3 tsp of the prepared syrup to 200 ml of cold milk and whiz in a blender. Garnish it with chopped nuts. Add ice if you like and serve cold immediately.

Linking it to Holi Fest at Sizzling Tastebuds and Summer Spunk at TomatoBlues

Also sending to Spotlight- Holi. Spotlight series is the brain child of Recipe Junction , Indian Simmer's IndianFoodPalooza and to Priti's Colour N Sweet Holi Fest

Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

Saffron Almond Milk

I have never really loved drinking milk. I used have have it daily as a child but as soon as I left home for studies, I forgo the habit. I love milk based sweets, smoothies, shakes etc but plain milk has never been my choice. Of late, I started having a lot of problem with my skin. It would crack so often. Medicines, ointments didn't help much. It was then my mom said have milk and almonds everyday, it will be good for the skin and it will help build immunity against cold and blustery weather. And she would specifically stress on having 'milk' being very important for women.

I googled about it and found that many people had the same opinion. It is sometime now, I am doing that and believe me I am noticing the changes already.

In this cold weather, I need a hot comforting drink and this saffron and almond milk is perfect option. I know I should have given heed to my mother's advise early. But as the saying goes, 'Better late than never'. I will definitely stick to this habit from now on.

Here is how I make it.

Ingredients:

5 Almonds soaked for 1-2 hours or overnight and peeled.
1 cup milk
1 cardamom pod powdered.
Sugar to taste.
A few strands of Saffron

Process:

1. Blend the almonds with a little milk into a smooth paste.
2. Boil a cup of milk with cardamom and saffron added to it.
3. when it comes to boil add the almond paste and simmer for a minute. Add sugar to taste.
4. Cool the milk to your desired temperature and serve.

You can strain it first if you like. I do not strain it as I love the almonds bits and the cardamom residue actually settles at the bottom on their own.

 Enjoy this healthy drink with biscuits or indulge in some homemade cookies. Thank you for stopping by. Cheers!