When shortlisting recipes about what to bake for the alphabet, this Persian rice flour cookie recipe caught my eye. I was really attracted to Nan Berenji’s snow-white color and also wanted to experience what a Gluten free cookie would taste like. I have made butter biscuits in the past that have a bit of rice flour in them, but this is the first time I am baking with all rice flour. Apart from baking these with just rice flour, the Nan-e-Berenji is flavored with rose water and cardamom. It also has sugar syrup in the dough instead of just adding sugar directly to it. The recipe for the Persian Rice flour cookies calls for egg yolk, but I wanted to make it eggless. I was debating whether to use yogurt or milk and finally settled down on milk as that is something I have always used in cookies. When beginning the process of making the Persian Rice Flour cookies, I did not realize that I had to let it chill for about 6 hours. I was short on time as I had a busy evening and hence chilled the dough for just 4 hours. I was able to easily roll the cookie dough and hence I can safely say that we can bake the cookies after chilling them for about 4 hours. The rose water in the cookie was a pleasant flavor and it combined really well with the cardamom. My kids did not like the Persian Rice Flour cookies too much and were not crazy about them. I do have to admit that it is sort of an acquired flavor and it does take a little getting used to the rice flour texture in the cookies. Preparation time - 15 minutes Plus about 4-6 hours of chilling timeBaking time - About 14 - 16 minutesDifficulty level - easyRecipe adapted from - Turmeric & Saffron B for Bretzel Rolls from Germany C for Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting from USA D for Danish Cookies from Denmark E for Empanada from Argentina F for Franzbrötchen from Germany G for Grissini from Italy H for Hot Cross Buns from England I for Irish Freckle Bread from Ireland J for Jan Hagel Cookies from Netherlands K for Kiffles / Kiflis from Hungary L for Lagana Bread from Greece M for Monkey Bread from USA N for Nazook / Nazouk from Armenia O for Obi Non from Uzbekistan P for Peyniril Poğaça from Turkey Q for Quesitos from Puerto Rico
Ingredients to make Persian Rice flour cookies - Makes about 30 cookies
Rice flour - 2 cups Cardamom powder - ½ tsp Sugar - 2 tbsp Unsalted Butter - ½ cup (softened) Oil - ¼ cup (I used vegetable oil) milk - ¼ cup Pistachios - a few (finely chopped)
For the sugar syrup -
Sugar - ¾ cup Water - ½ cup Rose water - 1 tsp
Procedure to make Naan Berenji -
Let Naan Berenji cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then carefully transfer it to a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container when completely cooled.
How to store the Rice flour cookies?
Naan Berenji cookies need to be stored in air-tight containers as they get soft much sooner than regular cookies. When I read a little more about it, I learned that rice flour absorbs moisture much sooner than wheat-based cookies and hence it is important to store them airtight.
In a saucepan, add the sugar and water and mix well to dissolve.
Let the water come to a boil and then simmer until it reduces to about ¾ cup. It took me about 7 to 8 minutes.
Let the sugar syrup cool down and come to room temperature.
Sift the rice flour and cardamom in a bowl.
I made the cookie dough in my stand mixer. Whisk the butter, sugar and oil until it is light and creamy.
Add the milk and mix well.
Now add the sifted flour mixture and mix.
Slowly add the sugar syrup to the mixer and keep mixing until all the sugar syrup is used. The dough will be very thin at this point.
Cover the dough and refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours. We can even refrigerate it overnight.
Allow the cookies to cool entirely and then place them in an airtight container. Even then the cookies will start to become a little softer by day 3. They will still taste great but the texture will be slightly different. The rice flour cookies freeze great. Place them in a freezer-safe container and freeze them for a month.
Expert tips
This is a gluten-free cookie made just with rice flour. The flavors are based on the quality of the rice flour. Use fresh white rice flour and do not use glutinous rice flour. Chilling the dough is very important so that the rice flour absorbs the flavor and also thickens. This will help in shaping the cookies as well as not letting them spread when baking. If you have a cookie stamp, use it to make a pretty pattern on the Nan Berenji. Nan-e-Berenji is a very delicate cookie. Do not overbake it. Bake it just until the bottom of the cookies starts to change color. This will allow the rice flour cookies to have a stunning white color. Use poppy seeds, crushed rose petals, or any other nuts to garnish the cookies instead of pistachios.
Frequently asked questions
More Gluten-Free snacks
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