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Nan-E Nokhodchi
Serves 8 Prep 2 hr 30 min Cook 18 min Total 2 hr 48 min Type Snack Origin Persian

Nan-E Nokhodchi

Persia's chickpea-flour cookies: tiny clover-shaped shortbreads scented with rosewater and cardamom, dusted with crushed pistachios.

Serves 8 Prep 30 minutes (plus 2 hour dough rest) Cook 18 minutes Units Rate

Overview

Chickpea flour roasts briefly in a dry pan or oven to remove the raw flavour and develop nuttiness; cooled fully. Butter (softened, not melted) creams with icing sugar and ground cardamom until pale and fluffy. Rosewater works in. The cooled chickpea flour folds through (no other flour added; gluten-free). The dough rests for 2 hours at room temperature. Rolled to 1 cm thick on a board dusted with extra chickpea flour. Cut with a small four-leaf-clover stencil OR rolled into walnut-sized balls flattened slightly. Topped with a pinch of crushed pistachio. Baked at 150°C 15-18 minutes, gently, no browning. Cool fully before lifting (very fragile when warm).

Ingredients

  • 250 g chickpea flour (besan / gram flour - sold at Indian / Middle Eastern shops)
  • 200 g unsalted butter (softened to room temperature; NOT melted)
  • 120 g icing sugar (sifted)
  • 1 ½ teaspoons ground cardamom
  • 1 tablespoon rosewater (Persian or Lebanese)
  • A pinch of salt

Topping

  • 50 g shelled unsalted pistachios (chopped fine, almost powdered)

Equipment

  • A small flower / 4-leaf-clover cookie cutter (3-4 cm across) OR a small flute / round cutter
  • Baking trays lined with paper

Method

Stage 1 - Roast chickpea flour

  1. Spread chickpea flour on a dry baking tray.
  2. Roast at 130°C 10 minutes, stirring once - the flour should smell nutty but NOT brown.
  3. (Or toast in a dry pan over medium-low heat 5-6 minutes, stirring continuously.)
  4. Cool completely.

Stage 2 - Cream butter and sugar

  1. In a wide bowl, cream softened butter with icing sugar and ground cardamom - beat with electric beaters or a wooden spoon for 4-5 minutes until very pale, fluffy and almost white.

Stage 3 - Add rosewater

  1. Mix in rosewater and a pinch of salt.

Stage 4 - Add flour

  1. Fold in the cooled roasted chickpea flour in 3 additions.
  2. The dough should come together as a soft, slightly crumbly Play-Doh consistency.
  3. If it's too dry, add another teaspoon of rosewater; too wet, a tablespoon more chickpea flour.

Stage 5 - Rest

  1. Cover with cling film; rest at COOL room temperature 2 hours (don't refrigerate - refrigerated, the butter firms too much and the dough cracks when rolled).

Stage 6 - Roll and cut

  1. Heat oven to 150°C (130°C fan).
  2. Dust a board with chickpea flour.
  3. Roll the dough to 1 cm thick (THICK - the cookies are short and dense).
  4. Cut with a small clover / flower cutter into 40 small shapes.
  5. Re-roll scraps once.
  6. Transfer to lined baking trays with a spatula (cookies are fragile).

Stage 7 - Top

  1. Press a tiny pinch of chopped pistachio into the centre of each cookie.

Stage 8 - Bake

  1. Bake 15-18 minutes at 150°C - the cookies should look pale-and-just-set, NO browning. They should still feel slightly soft on top; they firm as they cool.

Stage 9 - Cool

  1. Lift the baking paper with the cookies onto a wire rack.
  2. Cool 20 minutes WITHOUT moving the cookies - they're extremely fragile while warm.
  3. Once fully cool, lift gently onto a plate.

Stage 10 - Serve

  1. Eat with strong black tea (Persian-style, sweetened with sugar cubes held between the teeth).
  2. Store in an airtight tin.

Notes

  • Roast the chickpea flour: Without roasting, the cookies have a slightly raw-bean flavour. The brief toast removes this and adds nuttiness.
  • Don't bake to brown: These cookies are pale by design. Any browning gives a bitter edge and changes the texture. 150°C is right; 180°C is too hot.
  • Very fragile when warm: Don't try to move warm cookies - they'll crumble. Let them cool fully on the tray.
  • Snack or dessert?: In Persian custom, nan-e nokhodchi is eaten as both a tea-time snack and an after-dinner sweet. Listed here as a snack because it pairs with tea; equally at home in desserts/.

Storage

  • Keep airtight at cool room temperature 2 weeks.
  • Don't refrigerate - they go stale faster.
  • Doesn't freeze well (texture suffers).

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