Eggless Pudding Cookies

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Recently I discovered that the baking powder I have been innocently adding to so many of my bakes contains aluminum in it. I researched on this topic a little and my research did not specifically yield any issues from ingesting this aluminum contained in food, yet I felt it was an unnecessary additive in my food that I was not keen to include in mine and my family's diet. So I switched to aluminum free baking powder. If you, like me think you do not want to include this unnecessary additive in your food, look for aluminum free baking powder, this is available in almost all grocery stores.

While on the topic of baking powder,here are some tips for buying and checking effectiveness of baking powder. Since baking powder has a short shelf life it is better to buy the baking powder in small quantities each time. Also to check the effectiveness of the baking powder already lying in your shelf, stir in 1 teaspoon of baking powder into 1/3 cup of boiling water, if it gently bubbles than the baking powder is still effective and can be used.

Moving on...I came across this cookie on Madhuram's Eggless cooking site. From the very first time I saw this simple and elegant recipe I knew I would not be able to resist making this. I made two batches of these cookies, one with butterscotch flavor and the other with pistachio flavor. In place of all purpose flour I used a combination of ground flax cereal, almond meal and semolina flour in the first and a little milk powder instead of semolina flour in the second.

Both of these turned out fantastic and if you gave it to someone and asked them to guess the ingredients they would not be able to guess that they were actually consuming something as healthy as flax cereal and almond meal in their cookie. I also reduced the quantity of butter, then started getting nervous while the cookies were baking that they would get messed up because I did so, luckily it was fine and we thoroughly enjoyed these quick and yum treats. I particularly loved the pistachio flavored one because I used a little milk powder in that and loved the taste of pistachio and milk together.




Click here for a printable version of this recipe

Ingredients and method to make Pudding cookies Variation 1

1/2 cup finely ground flax cereal ( See notes below)

1/2 cup finely ground almond meal ( See notes below)

1/4 cup fine rava (semolina flour)

1 pkt 3.5 oz of Jello Pudding and pie filling (butterscotch flavor)

1/3 cup Smart balance light (or butter)

Preheat oven at 375 deg F

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and keep aside

Process flax cereal in food processor/ blender until fine, keep aside

Process almonds with skin in food processor / blender until fine, keep aside.

In a large bowl, mix flax cereal, almond meal and semolina flour and keep aside.

In another bowl, cream together the butter (or smart balance) and jello pudding and pie filling until smooth and mixed well.

Add to this the ground flax cereal + almond meal + semolina flour mixture and mix well until it is well blended.

Roll the dough into little balls and place on cookie sheet and flatten gently.

Bake in the oven for about for 15 mins.

Remove and cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container.

This yielded about 16 cookies small

Notes: I used the flax cereal from Trader Joe's which is not very sweet, you could probably use any type of cereal here that is not very sweet.

Or you can use replace the quantity of ground cereal with all purpose flour (maida)



Click here for a printable view of variation 2

Ingredients and method to make Pudding cookies Variation 2

1/4 milk powder
3/4 cup fine powder of flax cereal
1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup smart balance light (or butter)
1 pkt 3.5 oz Jello instant pudding and pie filling pistachio flavor

Preheat oven at 350 deg F

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and keep aside

Process flax cereal in food processor/ blender until fine, keep aside

Process almonds with skin in food processor / blender until fine, keep aside.

In a large bowl, mix flax cereal, almond meal and milk powder and keep aside.

In another bowl, cream together the butter (or smart balance) and jello pudding and pie filling until smooth and mixed well.

Add to this the ground flax cereal + almond meal + milk powder mixture and mix well until it is well blended. Add milk and mix some more

Roll the dough into little balls and place on cookie sheet and flatten gently.

Bake in the oven for about for 15 mins.

Remove and cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container.

This yielded about 20 really small cookies

Notes: You can easily replace the quantity of ground cereal or any of the other two items like almond meal or semolina flour (or even all three if you choose ) with equal quantity of all purpose flour.(maida)