Rice & Rosewater Cookies (Naan-e-Berenji)

The smell of rosewater and cardamom is intoxicating in these cookies. It's exotic and yet familiar to me. My family never used rosewater in homemade desserts while growing up but I ate Irani desserts in Hyderabad (India) where I grew up that had Persian/Irani cafes serving cookies & halvas fragrant with rosewater and orange blossom water. I didn't realize until recently how much Hyderabadi cuisine is influenced by Irani cuisine. It wasn't until I started researching middle eastern foods, and specifically Irani food & culture, that I understood this. And what's funny is, almost all my favorite Hyderabad dishes are Irani in origin to begin with!

There are lots of dairy-free and gluten-free options for desserts in the middle east. I don't personally have any such restrictions on my diet but I have friends who do. I have been meaning to make some gluten free desserts for a friend who keeps bringing me amazing fruits from his orchard and I was finally able to do this week. These cookies are pretty easy to make. You make a quick dough, stick it in the fridge overnight. And then the next, day, you roll them out as balls in your hands and bake. Since this recipe makes quite a big batch, you'll be good for dessert for at least a week!

Recipe adapted from Pomegranates & Roses, by Ariana Bunny
Makes about 4 dozen

Ingredients:
150 gm butter, room temp
200 gm confectioner's sugar/icing sugar
2 large eggs
15 cardamom pods, skin removed & seeds crushed
3 tbsp rose water
1/3 cup olive oil
500 gm rice flour
1 tsp poppy seeds

Instructions:
Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer till light and fluffy. This might take a couple of minutes, depending on how warm your butter is. Add the eggs one at a time and mix it in properly. Add the ground cardamom seeds and rosewater and mix it in. It'll look curdled, don't worry. Add olive oil and mix it in thoroughly. Now using a spatula, fold in the rice flour till well mixed. Refrigerate for 8 hours to overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Lone two baking sheets with parchment paper. Take walnut sized pice of dough in your hands and shape it into a sphere. Flatten it onto the baking sheet and using the edge of a small spoon, make crosswise indentations. Leave a small amount of space between cookies. They expand a small amount. Continue forming cookies till you have the baking sheets full. Sprinkle poppy seeds right in the middle and bake for 14-15 minutes. Let cool on cooling rack completely before packing them in an air tight container.