Thandai is the name of a cold Indian drink that is prepared with a mix of various nuts and spices. With Amisha Gurbani’s (of The Jam Lab blog) recipe, instead of a drink, it’s in the form of a shortbread cookie, which is perfect for the colder winter months. Get more inspiring cookie recipes in our Holiday Cookie Special Issue!
Thandai Shortbread Cookies Dipped in White Chocolate with Pistachios and Rose Petals
Makes 70
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups (284 grams) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon (13 grams) vanilla extract
- 2½ cups (313 grams) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (70 grams) Thandai Powder (recipe follows)
- ½ teaspoon (1.5 grams) kosher salt
- 2 cups (340 grams) high-quality white chocolate morsels
- 2 teaspoons (10 grams) coconut oil
- ¾ cup (85 grams) finely chopped pistachios
- 4 tablespoons (1 gram) powdered dried rose petals
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar at medium speed until creamy, 3 to 4 minutes, stopping to scrape sides of bowl. Beat in vanilla.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, Thandai Powder, and salt. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating just until combined. Turn out dough, and divide in half. Shape into disks, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll half of dough to ¼-inch thickness. Using a 2½-inch fluted round cutter, cut dough, and place on prepared pans.
- Bake on lower and middle racks of oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking. Let cool on pans for 5 minutes. Remove from pans, and let cool completely on wire racks. Repeat with remaining dough.
- In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate morsels and oil. Microwave on high in 30-second intervals, stirring between each, until chocolate is melted and smooth (about 2 minutes total). In another small bowl, stir together pistachios and rose petals.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Dip one-third of each cookie in chocolate mixture, letting excess drip off. Sprinkle pistachio mixture onto chocolate, shaking off excess. Place on prepared pan. Freeze until chocolate is set, about 5 minutes. If chocolate begins to thicken while dipping cookies, microwave for 10 to 15 seconds to rewarm. Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
Dough will keep refrigerated for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 1 month.
Thandai Powder
Makes 1½ cups
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup (45 grams) almonds
- ¼ cup (36 grams) pistachios
- ¼ cup (36 grams) cashews
- ¼ cup (36 grams) poppy seeds
- ¼ cup (3 grams) dried rose petals
- 20 black peppercorns
- Seeds from 8 cardamom pods
- 1 cinnamon stick (5 grams), crushed
- 6 cloves
- 2 tablespoons (18 grams) fennel seeds
- 2 star anise (4 grams)
- ½ teaspoon (1 gram) ground nutmeg
Instructions
- In a small bowl, roughly stir together all ingredients. Working in batches, add mixture to a coffee grinder; blend until finely ground.
If the Thandai Shortbread recipe is a correction, please point out what part of the recipe is being corrected. Thanks.
Hey Jacquelyn,
In this recipe, we originally had 6 cloves of garlic, when we really needed to use 6 cloves in the Thandai Powder. We list all of our corrections on our Recipe Corrections page found here: https://bakefromscratch.com/recipe-corrections/. We hope this helps! Happy baking.
Are the pistachios roasted? Salted?
These were fantastic! I amended the thandai powder ratios after looking at other recipes. Decreased fennel to 1.5tsp& poppy seed to 2T, added a few saffron threads. Used salted butter, also cut the cookies out into 2inch circles but still baked for 15min and they were perfect. Used Ghirardelli white chips on double boiler and had perfect consistency for dipping. I only dipped half of the front of each cookies so they wouldnt be too sweet and I thought it was the perfect balance. A moorish salty/sweet, spicy, buttery shortbread that is wonderful with tea& coffee
These Thandai Shortbread Cookies dipped in White Chocolate are a game changer! ✨ The fusion of traditional Thandai flavors with the classic shortbread is pure genius. Dipping them in white chocolate and garnishing with pistachios and rose petals not only makes them look stunning but I bet it tastes heavenly too! Perfect for a cozy winter treat or a unique addition to holiday cookie collections. Can’t wait to try baking these beauties. Thanks for sharing such an innovative recipe! #WinterDelights #FusionCookies