My last trip to Kolkata in November was heavy, sudden, and chaotic. A lot of things happened and changed forever as I lost my father. One cannot welcome a change like this with open arms, but then you’ve to accept it, they keep saying that Change is the Only Constant.
Then how about changing our perception of certain traditional things, how about putting the age-old Sandesh Chanch (moulds) into good use? You don’t use them anymore, right? The process of Sandesh making seems tedious, the moulds you got from Granny or Mom are lying at a quiet corner in-home, isn’t it? I keep reminding myself that these are our inheritance, and we must keep the practice alive. Let’s make some Nolen Gur Cookies instead by using the moulds. Oh! You don’t have Nolen Gur in stock, not to worry you can also use regular caster sugar or sugarcane jaggery for this recipe.
Months ago, when this idea came into my mind, I didn’t have much time to make these cookies. Because while using moulds, the cookie-making process becomes slow, but as you go on with demoulding each cookie from chanch to the baking tray, the experience becomes therapeutic. Ma tasted the cookie dough when I was making the cookies, and to her surprise, the dough tasted like Sandesh. The magic of Nolen Gur, I said.
When I was in Kolkata My MIL gifted me generations-old two Sondesh Chanch. One has Satyabhama written over it, and one is a fish mould, this one is a bigger fish mould than what I already had in stock. After coming back home, I finally squeezed out some time and made a batch of these beautiful cookies. They came out perfect, looked more pretty than I imagined, and tasted great! I felt so happy gazing at them.
The recipe is easy to try. They taste amazing just after cooling down, you’d be able to get all the aroma of Nolen Gur from the freshly baked cookies. Buttery, flavourful what not to love, bake a batch for your family & friends and let me know how they turned out. 🙂
Nolen Gur Cookies
Nolen Gur Cookies made using Bengal’s traditional Sandesh moulds (Chanch). The unique cookies are made with atta, flavourful, buttery, what not to love.
Ingredients
- 1 cup / 120g- Atta/Wheat flour
- 100g- Nolen Gur (read notes)
- ½ cup / 113g- Unsalted butter
- A pinch- Salt
Instructions
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Before I start all the ingredients were at room temperature.
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In a bowl, sift flour and salt, keep aside.
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In another bowl add butter and jaggery, whisk well until the jaggery granules dissolve. Tiny bits of jaggery are fine in this mixture, they would dissolve afterward in the process.
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Now add the flour mixture into the butter mixture, and combine everything well to make a dough by using your fingers.
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Divide the cookie dough into 2 logs, wrap with cling film, and keep refrigerated for 30 minutes.
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Line a tray with baking paper.
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Take out the cookie logs from the refrigerator and start making cookies.
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Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
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The dough might appear crumbly at the time of shaping the cookies, but you’d be able to give shapes to the cookies. It happens due to the fiber present in Atta/Wheat flour, if you use All-purpose flour/Maida, you can rule out this.
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If you’re making cookies using the Sandesh moulds as I did, grease the moulds with vegetable oil (you don’t need to grease them for each cookie, this step needs to be done only once at the beginning).
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Now make cookies by taking small portions from the dough and fill the moulds with them, shape the other side of the cookie flat by pressing the dough portion gently, smooth out the edges. Sandesh making is an art, so like making cookies with the Sondesh moulds, it requires patience, and practice helps to become good at it. The sweet makers of Bengal called Karigar means Craftsman due to their skillful practice in Sandesh (Sondesh) making.
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If you’re not using sandesh moulds, then take a small portion from the dough, and flatten them between your palms as rounds, smooth out the sides.
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Arrange the cookies carefully in the prepared tray by putting them one inch apart from each other. Bake for 12 minutes. During the baking time, the bottom edges of the cookies will start browning, then you know that the cookies are done, keep an eye.
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After baking, cookies will be soft to touch, but they will become munchy when cool. Let the cookies cool down for 4-5 minutes on the baking tray itself. Then shift them onto a cooling rack carefully and leave them there until they come to room temperature. Store the cookies in an airtight container. Stay good up to 2 weeks.
Recipe Notes
- I used semi-solid Nolen Gur for this recipe. The jaggery was such that it would start to melt at room temperature. So, I just mashed Nolen Gur with my fingers and creamed it with butter.
- If you’re using solid Date Palm Jaggery (Patali) or Sugarcane Jaggery, you’d be able to grate and use it.
- Nolen Gur is lighter in colour, if you’re using different jaggery varieties the colour of the cookies might change and that is absolutely normal.
Where we can get n buy
Address pls