The cookie version of mawa cake, these cookies are filled with warm spices like cardamom and saffron and flavored with mawa (milk solids). These eggless Mawa Cake Cookies are best enjoyed with chai!

I love baking with Indian flavors, they are some of my favorite. The Indian festive season gives me the perfect time and opportunity to play with flavors and bake my heart out.

Last Diwali, I shared this eggless mawa cake recipe with you guys which you all loved and so this year, I thought why not transform the same flavors into cookies and make Mawa Cake Cookies. Sounds good, right?

We are talking about the exact flavors here- the mawa, cardamom, saffron but in a cookie form. They are buttery, crispy and just go so well with a cup of chai.

My entire kitchen was filled with this beautiful aroma when these cookies were in the oven. It smelled heavenly. If you can’t be bothered making a cake but still want to bake something for the festive season, then may I suggest giving these mawa cake cookies a try.

These got over in my house pretty quickly. Also the rose on top makes them look so festive. Isn’t it?

These Mawa Cake Cookies

• make the perfect festive treat.
• are filled with the wonderful aroma or saffron, cardamom.
• addition of mawa gives them a rich flavor.
• can be given as edible gifts to friends and family.
• are eggless and easy to make!

These cookies are really simple to make. You only need a prep time of around 15 minutes to bring the dough together. Once that’s done, you chill the dough for a bit, then roll and bake.

Chilling isn’t essential but I recommend doing it. Cookies don’t spread as much when the dough is chilled and also the dough is much easier to handle. These mawa cake cookies need some very basic pantry ingredients. Mawa is the only thing that I had to get from store when I decided to make these. I had everything else in my kitchen already!

Ingredients

Mawa/Khoya: use soft mawa for this recipe. In US, you can find mawa in the frozen section of Indian grocery stores. My favorite brand is vadilal (not sponsored, I think it’s the best from the available options in US).

Flour: I have used all purpose flour aka maida here. You can replace the recipe with whole wheat if you would like. The cookies might turn out little denser.

Sugar: for this recipe, I have used granulated white sugar. Probably brown sugar will also work but that would make the cookies softer.

Saffron & Cardamom: for flavoring the cookies, we use saffron and cardamom. Use good quality saffron and cardamom, it makes a difference.

Butter: you can use either salted or unsalted butter. If using salted butter, skip the salt in the recipe. You can also use ghee but butter in cookies just goes so well.

Step by Step Instructions

1- In a bowl sift together flour, cardamom powder, baking powder and salt. Set this aside.

2- To the steel bowl of your stand mixer (or use your hand mixer), add butter with sugar and generous pinch of saffron strands.

3- Beat using the paddle attachment on medium speed until it’s creamy.

4- Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and add mawa.

5- Mix until it is combined and then add in the dry ingredients.

6- Mix again until the dough comes together. The dough is quite soft and comes together easily when using a stand mixer. If for some reason yours isn’t coming together, you can some milk. Wrap the dough in cling sheet and chill for 30 minutes.

7- After the dough has been chilled, roll in into 1/4 inch thickness. Cut cookies of any shape you like. I used a square cookie cutter (1.5″ square). You will get 25 to 27 cookies (more or less depending on how big or small you make them).

8- Arrange them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Top with pistachios, almond and dried rose petals (if desired). Bake at 350 F degrees for 18 to 20 minutes until they are crispy. Remove from oven and transfer onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Storage

Keep these cookies in an airtight container. They are good for a week at room temperature, if you wish to keep them longer, refrigerate them.

Tips & Notes

• If you prefer you can even add nuts in the batter. I just like topping the cookies with nuts and keeping them plain.
• The baking time will depend on thickness of the cookies and how big the cookies are. They will bake quicker if the thickness is 1/8 inch and will take more time if you cut them 1/2 inch thick.
• Each oven is different so keep an eye after 15 minutes. You don’t want the bottom of the cookies to burn.
• Chilling the dough is not essential but recommended. Chilling makes the dough easier to handle and prevents spreading of the cookies in the oven.

More Eggless Cookies

Eggless Danish Butter Cookies

Coconut Rose Cookies

Masala Cheese Cookies

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