I cannot bake without eggs. Let me rephrase that. I couldn’t even IMAGINE baking without eggs. But I had to, a challenge that I reluctantly accepted because of a vegetarian friend (no, not one of those hipster vegans who are vegans cz it’s cool to be vegan, a kind that I absolutely hate but a real, true vegetarian). It turned out great! The recipe *drumroll* unrolls.
Ingredients
- 250g butter
- 400g flour
- 100g (or as per taste) icing sugar
- 100g cornflour
- Few drops of vanilla essence
- Mixed ground spices (optional)
Method
– Sift together flour and cornflour.
– Beat together butter and icing sugar until well combined.
– Add the flour mix to the butter mixture. Add a few drops of vanilla and a few spoonfuls of spice. Mix well.
– Cover in clingfilm or plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
– Flatten with a rolling pin (about 1/2 cm thick) and cut into desired shapes.
– Bake till golden brown in colour.
The result is buttery, crunchy and deeply gratifying. The nose is immediately taken over by the sweet vanilla first, giving out that particular smell that spells of home, hearth and love. For me, this is the smell of beautiful afternoons of teatime goodies and simply, happiness. The first bite registers the butter and then the sweetness of sugar with a thin lacing of spice that is faint but is very much there. The warm notes of vanilla embraces the entirety of the mouthful leaving your senses enveloped in a beautiful vanilla cloud. Convaincu, one can only sigh in sheer pleasure while reaching for another and then, yet another.
I made it plain this time since I did not want to complicate the dish as I was already freaking out due to the absence of eggs (yeah, I’m not kidding). Well, what do you know, baking without eggs IS possible after all!
You can add peanuts, cashews and whatever additions you want to make the cookies yummier or you can just make it buttery and biscuity plain. I added a pinch of spice (I love spices and love spices in everything) so that you can just about sense a faint whiff of cinnamon as you munch on these. The perfect teatime treat!
I shall now make a confession. I make cookies so that I can eat the batter. There. You can now imagine where about half of the cookie batter went.
Photography – Jayani C. Senanayake. Copying, downloading these images and using them in any which way is strictly prohibited.