Eggless Desiccated Coconut Cookies

I am very eager to try new Cookies for New Year party. Once you are well versed with preparing cookies, it is very easy for trying varieties. Baking cookies without adding Baking Powder is really a challenging job just like eggless cakes and muffins. Anyone can easily prepare egg-added version of cake and muffins. There the egg will help raise the cake without fail. For vegetarians like us there are not many options for replacement of egg. In markets you get some variety of egg replacements, but I have never tried with that. I like natural products and challenging job for which my husband always praises me.

This time I tried baking Eggless Desiccated Coconut Cookies. Desiccated Coconut in these cookies gives a different taste. It also adds good aroma to the cookies and make it very soft. It just melts in your mouth when you bite it. I used Demerara Sugar which is brown coloured. That gave the cookies brown colour. You can use normal white sugar instead of Demerara Sugar. The actual recipe universally used in bakeries etc., contains Dalda or Margarine, but I replaced it with Butter for healthier version.

Once you know baking cakes, muffins and cookies, baking Eggless Desiccated Coconut Cookies is very simple. You need to prepare little tight dough as usual for Eggless Butter Cookies. Also my recipe does not include Baking Powder. Always remember not to add more Milk and Butter or any type of fat while preparing the dough. The Cookies will spread; become hard outside and chewy inside. Just cream the Butter, Sugar, and Vanilla Essence and add Desiccated Coconut; mix well. Then slowly add Maida and prepare tight dough. Prepare balls from cookie dough and bake it in a preheated oven as given below. So friend, you can try baking this delicious Eggless Desiccated Coconut Cookies in your kitchen and leave your comments here. Enjoy New Year.

Time to Prepare: 15 minutes

Baking Time for OTG: 15 to17 minutes

Baking Time in Convection: 22 minutes

Serves: 14 or 15 Cookies depending on how big balls you prepare

How to Make Desiccated Coconut Cookies

1. Gather all the ingredients by measuring proper proportions either using weighing machine or with Cups.

2. In a bowl add Unsalted Butter, Powdered Demerara Sugar and Vanilla Essence.

3. Beat all these 3 ingredients well with whisk or in hand. No need to use hand blender. Ensure that Sugar dissolves properly. Then add Desiccated Coconut to the creamed Butter-Sugar mixture and mix well properly.

4.  At this stage add Maida or All Purpose Flour one Tbsp at a time and prepare dough by mixing well as you would for Chapati dough. If you find difficult while kneading the cookie dough, add little Milk one tsp at a time. Ensure that the prepared dough should be tight. If the water and fat content is more in the dough then the cookies will spread out, become hard outside and chewy inside. Follow the proper measurement as mentioned above. If you have the weighing machine it is better to measure the ingredients with that itself.

5. Meanwhile preheat the Oven for 200 degree C for 10 minutes. Meanwhile grease the baking tray and keep it ready.

6. Prepare equal sized balls from the Cookie dough while the oven is preheating and arrange them in a cookie tray with the proper gap, as the cookies will spread little. It may be hard to prepare the balls, as the dough is tight and you may not be able to prepare balls out of it. In that case, just grease your palms and make balls. Do not add more milk or butter to dough, it will spread while baking.

7. Once the Oven is preheated, reduce the temperature to 180 degree C and keep the arranged tray in oven. Bake the Eggless Desiccated Coconut Cookies for 15 to 17 minutes or till the edges and base of the cookies changes to brown colour. Once done, remove from the oven and keep it on a wire rack or on a plate to cool. Allow it to cool down completely. Cookies will be soft when it is hot, but turns hard once cold.

In Convection Oven:

1. Follow till step 2. Preheat the Oven for 200 degree C for 10 minutes keeping the lower grill rack inside the oven. Arrange the Cookie balls on a non-stick tray by giving the proper gap in between.

2. Turn the Oven to Convection mode and set the temperature to 180 degree C. Keep the arranged tray on a lower grill rack and bake it for 22 minutes. It again depends on oven. In LG convection oven, it may take less time to bake. Check once before you remove from the oven.

Tips:

1. Taste and colour may vary depending of the Sugar you use.

2. To get softer Cookies like in Bakery, use Butter. Margarine it is better than Dalda.