Eggless Indian Custard Powder Cookies (Shortbread)

These eggless custard powder cookies are some of the best Indian cookie recipes using custard powder! Using just a handful of ingredients, these vanilla custard shortbread cookies are easy to make quickly; and become the perfect tea time snack!

Remember that feeling you get when you eat peanut butter and it sticks to the roof of your mouth? I just love that! But there’s only so much peanut butter I can eat. Cookies, on the other hand, I can eat quite a few. Which is why I love these Indian custard powder cookies. They give you that exact same feeling, the powder dissolving and you not being able to speak or do anything for a few seconds. Fun!

These crisp eggless custard powder cookies are found at tea stalls all across Mumbai, but they can be easily made at home too. But I’ve experimented a bit and modified my recipe to make it more powdery so that the almost choking feeling lasts a little longer. Talk about gruesome! But it is an acquired taste. Sis loves the gulab jamun mix cookies instead.

Did you know that if you’re afraid of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth it’s called arachibutyrophobia? Why not just peanut butter phobia? Okay okay, someone told me, because “arachi” means “ground nuts” and “butyr” means “butter”. Anyways, if you don’t suffer from arachibutyrophobia and you enjoy that feeling, try my homemade custard powder cookie recipe. You’ll love it!

What are the ingredients for Custard Powder Cookies?

These eggless custard powder cookies are made with just a few ingredients – custard powder, maida or all-purpose flour, icing sugar, vanilla essence, butter and baking soda. Easier than the custard with fruits.

How to make the easiest Custard Powder Shortbread Cookies?

Start by creaming the butter and sugar together for a minute. Then add the vanilla essence or vanilla extract and mix it again. In another vessel, mix together the custard powder, maida (all-purpose flour) and baking soda. Add this flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar mixture and form into a dough.

Now depending on how much time you have, you can skip the next step. Once the dough is formed, you can either refrigerate it for an hour or go straight to forming the cookie balls. We don’t refrigerate these cookies. We used to, but we don’t. The cookies become perfect even when you put them straight in the oven. Like custard powder magic. 🙂

Of course the other cookies that we make, rose cookies or heart cookies, yep, they need refrigeration because the dough is different.

Roll the cookies into inch sized balls or logs. Now comes the fun part of creating a ridge-shaped design on it. To create this design, all you need to do is take a clean fork and use the tines to press down on the cookie till the lines are formed. If you want the tyre shaped rises on the round cookies, do the same thing again with the fork at 90 degrees to the first impressions. For cookies with holes, just hold the fork vertical and press down in three rows. For the long cookies, just create impressions with a roller pin. If you don’t have a roller pin, only make the round cookies. They’re pretty good looking. 😉

And that’s it. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and bake the cookies for about 20 minutes. With this recipe, you’ll make about 80 cookies.

If you have butterscotch nuts, add them to the top of the cookies just like you add them to a cake. These are not part of the traditional recipe. We just add them if we have them lying around. So it’s optional!

Cooking tips for the best Custard Cookie Biscuits

• If you want to make the cookies less powdery, swap the portions of custard powder and all-purpose flour.
• Use salted butter. If you’re using unsalted butter, add about 1/4 teaspoon of powdered salt.
• If your custard powder is flavorless, add in an extra 1.5 teaspoon of vanilla essence or 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
• Add butterscotch nuts on top if you want to, but it’s not essential.
• Use the tines of a fork to create a design on the cookies. But it’s okay to leave the cookies without any design too.
• If you want something totally different, try gypsy creams filled with chocolate

Questions We’re Asked about Making Custard Powder Cookies

What Does Custard Powder Do To Cookies?

Created by Alfred Bird in his pharmacy in Birmingham, UK in 1837, custard powder is a mix of cornflour or cornstarch, yellow food colour and vanilla flavouring that tastes similar to the vanilla custard made with eggs but does not have any egg in it.

Using custard powder in cookies gives them a vanilla flavour, and makes them lighter and crumblier than usual. A larger amount of custard powder will also cause the exciting and scary effect similar to peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. Some love it, some don’t.

How Long Will These Soft Powder Cookies Last?

After baking, these soft custard powder cookies can be stored in an airtight cookie jar for 3 to 4 weeks.

How Long Should I Refrigerate The Custard Shortbread Cookie Dough?

If you want to, you can refrigerate the cookie dough for an hour or so before baking. However, this recipe is so good that you can bake the cookies straightaway after forming the dough. We bake instantly. So these are the perfect vegetarian cookies to make when you need a batch in a hurry.

I Made Too Much Dough. Can I Refrigerate It For Another Time?

Yes, if you have extra dough, wrap it in a cling film and refrigerate it. It will last for weeks or months in the freezer. When it’s time to bake it, make sure you let it thaw to room temperature before baking these melt-in-your-mouth eggless cookies.

Other Recipes you might like

• Custard Powder Halwa Recipe
• Christmas Cookies Recipe
• Semolina Date and Orange Cake
• Homemade Breadfruit Chips
• Kwarezimal Cookies