Up The Nutrition With These

Khapli Wheat Mawa Cookies

, Perfect For Tea-Time

Khapli wheat mawa cookies add nutrients to a usual tea-time favourite with an ancient-grain twist, fused with a festive-season staple in Irani and Parsi bakeries across India. This rich, saffron-and-cardamom-scented tea-time treat is made with milk solids, which is typical of mawa cakes, and this cookie version takes those same flavours – mawa, saffron, and cardamom – and turns them into a buttery, crisp bite instead of a slice of cake. This particular batch takes it one step further by using Aashirvaad Chakki Khapli Atta, which has more protein and fibre per gram. Khapli wheat, or emmer wheat, is one of the oldest cultivated wheat varieties still grown in India today. Using it to bake cookies boosts their nutritional value, but it does change the texture a little. The cookies turn out slightly denser than the original because khapli wheat's gluten structure isn't as elastic or fine as that of refined maida. That denser bite suits this cookie well, pairing nicely with the rich mawa filling rather than working against it. Mawa, also called khoya, is dried, reduced milk solids, which is the same ingredient that gives Indian mithai like peda and gulab jamun their signature richness. Here, it's creamed with butter, sugar, and a generous pinch of saffron until smooth, giving the dough both flavour and a slightly crumbly, shortbread-like texture once baked.