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The Hindu festival of Teej refers to the monsoon festival observed particularly in Western and Northern Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab of India and Nepal. The festival celebrates the bounty of nature, arrival of rain with social activity, rituals and customs. Teej is marked by fasting by women who pray to Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati seeking their blessings for marital The festival for women includes dancing, singing, get together with friends, dressing up with henna-adorned hands and feet, wearing red, green or yellow clothes, sharing festive foods and playing under trees on swings. Traditionally delicacies like Ghevar, Malpua, Kheer, Pooris are made to celebrate this festival. Living faraway from family you miss all the fun during festivals but still I want to follow customs n traditions as much as possible. This time tried making something new n different. Cookies infused with Thandai powder n decorated with Eggless Royal Icing. INGREDIENTS: 🔺2 cups whole wheat flour/Atta 🔺4 Green cardamoms – (seeds only) Crushed coarsely 🔺7 to 8 tbsp butter chilled cold unsalted 🔺½ tsp baking powder 🔺2 to 3 tbsp milk, add more milk if required 🔺2tbsp curd/yogurt 🔺2 cups of powdered sugar 🔺2Tbsp Thandai Powder(I’ve used store bought Thandai powder). 🔺2Tsp Dried Rose Petals 🍪DIRECTIONS: In a mixing bowl, with the help of a spoon or spatula mix together whole wheat flour and baking powder. Add chilled butter. cut the butter into cubes and then add. With your fingertips break the butter and mix with the flour. You can do it with food processor or a stand mixer but I prefer doing with hand to feel the texture. Mix till you get a bread crumb like texture in the mixture. Add powdered sugar.Mix well with a spoon or spatula. Add Yogurt, Crushed Cardamom seeds, Thandai powder n Rose petals. Lightly mix and then add 2 to 3 tbsp milk. Mix entire mixture together to a dough. Don’t knead. Keep this dough in fridge for half an hour.Chill the dough. After half an hour remove the cookie dough and spread some flour on the work surface as well as on the dough. With a rolling pin, roll the dough gently. Roll the dough to a thickness of 0.50 to 0.75 cms. With the help of cookie cutters, cut the dough into cookies.Gather the remaining dough and again roll. Cut with the cookie cutters and repeat the process.
Then place the cookies in a baking tray n keep this tray in fridge for half an hour. This step will make your cookies more crispier. In the meanwhile preheat your oven at 180*C for 15 mins. After half an hour take out the baking tray from fridge n bake your cookies in a preheated oven at 180*C for 15-20 mins. Keep an eye after 15 mins.If you see the edges are getting brown remove the tray from the oven. Otherwise bake more. Once baked, immediately remove them when still hot and place them on a wired tray or rack. Let the cookies cool down. Once they cool down at room temperature, place them immediately in an air tight jar or box. I made the cookies the previous day and decorated them with Icing the next day. 🍧For Royal Icing: For Flooding ****************** Icing Sugar – 1tbsp Cornflour – 1 tbsp Lemon Juice – ½ tsp Milk – 1tsp Food Colors – 1-2 drops of each color For Designing ******************* Icing Sugar – 1tsp Cornflour – 1 tbsp Lemon Juice – ½ tsp Mix everything well in a bowl. You will see a lumpy mixture. Don’t worry about it. Just leave aside for 2-3 mins.( After two failed attempts I got this secret😉), but not more than that as the icing will harden. The sugar in icing sugar will release moisture n corn starch will start absorbing the liquids. After 2-3 mins you’ll see the correct consistency. Mix well again. The consistency should be thick but flowing. Divide the icing into equal portions in different bowls, then add few drops of food colour in each bowl to get the required colour. Fill it up in the icing bags/ziplock bags . But make sure to seal it tightly n properly. Leave it to AIR DRY in an airy, preferably air conditioned room. The icing will take 4-5 hrs to set properly. After 4-5 hrs it should be smooth n hard to touch. If itz still soft n mushy leave it for some more time. When the cookies are completely dry i.e., after 4-5 hrs. prepare the icing for designing in the same way we have prepared for flooding. But for designing, the icing should be a little bit thicker than the flooding one. Fill it up in the icing bags/ziplock bags . But make sure to seal it tightly n properly. You can make designs in the same way as Henna is applied with a cone. Voila! Now bring out the Artist inside you n decorate them the way you like. Just in case you are not good with the cone, just sprinkle some sugar sprinkles. |