1. Before I started, all the ingredients were at room temperature.

Making a powder from toasted almonds

1. You can toast ½ cup almonds on the stovetop or in an air fryer, as I did. If using an air fryer, preheat it to 180 degrees C and toast the almonds for 2-3 minutes, as they turn one shade darker know that they're toasted. Make sure to stop the air fryer once in-between to toss the almonds. Once they are toasted, transfer the hot nuts to a bowl and let them cool completely at room temperature before grinding.

2. To grind the almonds, add the cooled nuts to a food processor or mixer grinder and pulse until you achieve a powdery consistency. Be careful not to run the mixer for too long, as this can cause the almond powder to become sticky.

3. Use 2 tbsp of almond powder as the recipe suggests, and store the remaining powdered almonds in an airtight container for later use.

Making the cookie dough

1. Make a powder of cloves and green cardamoms (use the seeds only) by using the mortar & pestle.

2. In a bowl, add oats flour, jowar flour, powdered almonds, salt, and the spice powders, mix well, and keep aside.

3. In another bowl, whisk the butter and sugar together until smooth and fluffy.

4. Add the flour mixture to the butter-sugar mix, and start mixing with your fingers to form the cookie dough.

   

5. The dough may seem slightly crumbly, but take a small handful of it—about the size of a walnut—and gently shape it between your palms, applying light pressure to form small, round cookies. Use your fingers to smooth out the edges of each cookie as you shape them. There's no need to add milk or any other liquid for binding, as it’s not necessary for this recipe.

   

6. As you shape them, continue placing them on a paper-lined baking tray/pan, spacing them 1 inch apart from each other.

Baking in Air Fryer

1. For the Air Fryer baking, I arranged the cookies in a baking paper lined round cake pan.

2. I could accommodate 7 cookies at a time in the cake pan.

3. Bake the cookies at 160 degrees C for 8-10 minutes in a preheated Air Fryer.

4. When using an air fryer to bake cookies in batches, it’s important to monitor them closely. The interior temperature can increase slightly if the air fryer runs for a longer duration, and this can vary between different air fryer brands. From my experience, I’ve found it helpful to check the cookies after the first 5-6 minutes when preparing the second batch. Regardless of the timing suggested in a recipe, this precaution has proven useful for me. Baking in an air fryer is much quicker, which is why I frequently use it for various baked goods.

Baking in the oven

1. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees C.

2. Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes, or until the bottom edges of the cookies start to appear brown in colour.

3. The cookies will be soft after baking, but they will be hardened when cool. Let the cookies cool down for 2-3 minutes on the baking tray itself. Then shift them onto a cooling rack and leave there until they cool completely.

4. Store the cookies in an airtight container. Consume them within 7-10 days.